Spotify has 30 million songs in its library. Based on an average of three minutes per track, that's 171 years of music. I think it's fair to say that you'll never hear all that music. 5 Ways To Discover New Music Without Being Overwhelmed 5 Ways To Discover New Music Without Being Overwhelmed How do you discover new music? These five easy tools will help you find new songs and new albums without feeling overwhelmed. Read more.
That poses a problem:how are you supposed to find all those great niche songs that are buried within the collection? Luckily, Spotify classifies all of its music by genre. The classifications extend beyond simple designations like "popular" or "rock" - there are more than 1,400 different genres. Discover new music by mapping music genres and artists Discover new music by mapping music genres and artists Mapping music is not as strange as it may sound at first glance. In the same way that locations can be charted, so can music genres and artists, with one style feeding into the next, a band… Read More connected to the system.
Join us on this journey as we navigate through some of the service's weirdest and most wonderful genres. Be sure to check out the playlist at the end of the article which features a sample track from each genre we cover.
Before I dive into the genres themselves, you need to know how to access them. Spotify music genres are a bit like Netflix secret codes. 20 secret Netflix codes guaranteed to help you find new content. 20 secret Netflix codes guaranteed to help you find content. Here is our list of the 20 secret Netflix codes that will help you find new content. Read more . And you can see them all using Every Noise At Once.
Once you've found one you want to explore further, you can explore them from both the web player and the desktop app. Click in the search box and type genre:followed by your selection (for example, “genre:home alternative”). Be sure not to leave a space between the colon and the first word of the genre, but respect the spaces in the title of the genre.
Tipping - If you're searching for a genre and have no idea where to start listening, sort the results by popularity. This will give you a quick idea of which tracks fans rate as the best.
No, this is not what your pet does when hunting for food. It's actually a subgenre of the immensely popular filthstep (!).
Canadian record label Monstercat is the largest producer of catstep. Popular artists include TheFatRat and Tristam.
Who remembers the old Ecto mailing list? Unless you were already a keen music listener in 1991, you won't.
Ecto is the name of an album by American singer-songwriter Happy Rhodes, but the genre now includes music by artists who have a similar musical approach to the band. It encompasses singers like Sarah McLachlan, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, and Jane Siberry.
Zouk grew out of street carnivals on the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique in the early 1980s. He is known for his upbeat tropical vibe and his fast pace..
Jacob Desvarieux, Pierre-Edourad Decimus and George Decimus made the genre famous, but its most prominent international band is the French West Indies band Kassav'.
Fado has its origins in the 1820s Portugal. The lyrics of the songs can be about anything, although the themes have historically focused on the lives of poor people. The music itself needs to follow a strict traditional structure.
Madredeus and Rodrigo Leao are some of its most recognized exponents..
This is one of the real hipsters out there. Spotify describes the genre as "experimental laptops only" - and it's everything you'd hope it would be.
The most popular artist seems to be someone called Mystery Skulls.
I'm going to let Spotify do the talking here:
“Neurofunk is drums and bass that emerged in London in the late 90s. It replaces breakbeats with backbeats and industrial timbres with funk harmonies, juxtaposing hard funk with influences ranging from techno, house and jazz.”
Did you understand any of that? Me neither...
The straight edge can best be described as "anti-punk." While the musical composition of the songs is in the punk mold, the lyrics focus on avoiding alcohol, tobacco, recreational drugs, and caffeine.
If you like either of those things, give this one a wide berth.
This is probably the least descriptive genus name on the entire list.
Like Ectofolk, the genre grew out of an album. In this case, it was a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986. The name of the album? You guessed it - C-86.
Tinkling guitars and pop structures of melodic power sustain the musical structure.
People refer to Soca as the "soul of calypso", and it's easy to see why. It draws its influences from cadence, funk, and soul, and quickly spread to countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Saint Lucia, and Barbados in the 1970s.
Also known as skramz, screamo is a subgenre of emo that was prevalent in the early 1990s. While emo is known for its expressive and confessional lyrics, screamo is inspired by emotional pain and human rights.
Hardcore punk heavily influences the sound of the genre.
Qawwali is a very popular form of music in South Asia, but hasn't really made it to western shores.
It is a devotional music dedicated to the mystical aspects of Islam and has a history dating back more than 700 years.
I'm sure you've heard of ambient music; It's that incredibly boring, monotonous stuff you hear played in elevators and public toilets.
Lowercase takes it to a whole new level. It's extremely minimalistic, with typically quiet sounds amplified to extreme levels.
Steve Roden is undoubtedly the most famous artist of the genre..
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Music pundits have often described it as the British counterpart to 1960s American rock.
I take it back:C-86 is not the least descriptive genre. CCM is worse.
It actually stands for Contemporary Christian Music, which isn't too obscure, but we thought the name deserved a mention!
Enka is a type of Japanese music developed in the 1950s, although it gets its name from the country's traditional music from the late 19th century.
Stylistically, it resembles traditional Japanese music, but the lyrics focus on life in the years after World War II. Featured artists include Hachiro Kasuga, Michiya Mihashi, and Hideo Murata.
Gamelan is percussion music from Indonesia, and specifically, from the islands of Bali and Java. Despite its declining popularity in recent years, the music is still used by locals on formal occasions and in traditional Indonesian ceremonies.
Complextro is a subgenre of electro music that has at least 128 beats per minute. It is heavily influenced by the heavy bass lines seen in dubstep and electro house.
It is based on the use of many different synth sounds in each two-bar loop.
If these summoned visions of bouncing around your living room to the Sonic soundtrack, prepare to be disappointed (although you can if you visit Spotify's gaming portal How to Find the Perfect Music to Listen to While Gaming How to Find the Perfect Music to Play Listen While video games are now considered an art form, and their soundtracks are an important element, however, sometimes you need to listen to something else while playing, which is where Spotify comes in. Read More ).
Sega is one of the biggest music genres in Mauritius. It has its roots in the music of the island's former slaves and is usually sung in Creole.
Soukous is dance music from the Congo Basin in Africa. It started in the 1960s before becoming popular in France during the 1980s. The best way to describe it is as a higher tempo version of the rumba.
Popular artists and bands include Fiesta Africana, Papa Wemba, and Pepe Kalle.
Zydeco is a fantastic hybrid genre that sees Louisiana blues collide with the music of Louisiana's indigenous tribes.
The accordion, the violin, the frottoir vest and the washboard are the four most typical instruments, but there are also many guitar sounds.
I thought it would be helpful to share a playlist with a song from each of the listed genres. Given the wide range of content we've covered, it's a really mixed bag, but it's sure to make you think of all the dark genres you're missing out on.
I've shown you 20 weird and wonderful genres from the depths of the Spotify library, but I'd love for you to contribute your own.
Spotify Has Helped You Discover How To Discover New Music With Spotify – 7 Key Tips And Tricks To Know How To Discover New Music With Spotify – 7 Key Tips And Tricks To Know The main reason I love Spotify is that it has helped me so much. New music throughout the years. Here are the built-in features of Spotify that I used to discover amazing music. Read More Any weird genre you want to share with your fellow readers? Has this list sparked a new passion for Caribbean dance music? Or are you happy with traditional categories like rock and pop?
Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
