Welcome to my music page! As I am typing this, I don't have much content here, so like, I'm typing, you know, to put something here. Yeah.
I am one of those people that is like. Music is my life. The music I love is so important to me. When I find an album I connect with, it feels as if I have discovered a part of myself, rather than something external. I am very dramatic about this stuff, as you can see. So if you want self-indulgent ramblings about music you probably don't know AND don't care about, from someone who heavily overuses the word "atmosphere", this is the place for you!
But also, now that I've got my chart available on here, it is my hope that one of you at least tries out a song or track that I have included. Am ALWAYS excited to share what I like, and by extension my passion, although the latter is a tendency that is usually favorable to withhold for the sake of the receiver's enjoyability, and my own humility. But fuck it this is my own website BITCH!!!
1. Goth
This is my main musical passion and what I listen to most. My favorite music genre is darkwave. This is closely followed by gothic rock. The most accurate answer to the question of "what music do you like?" for me would be darkwave and gothic rock. I enjoy a bit of coldwave (more or less depending on how you define it) and ethereal wave at times. I do not listen to deathrock. This is because deathrock is often noisy and harsh, while I prefer music that is mysterious and melancholy, or brooding and mopey. And because I love those synths and melodies. I heavily focus on the 90s when it comes to goth music—it's absolutely my favorite period.
To sum up what I like about goth, it would be that it revels in the beauty of the darkness, which is a feeling that I find profound meaning in. I feel at one with the dark, and that is what goth is all about. The themes of darkness, death, blood, the cold, the supernatural, the magical, the mysterious, the BLACK... the dreary, melancholy, grim, sullen, and the gloomy.... the winter, the night, and the moon. These themes are represented in the lyrics that my personality consists of, and in the music, with haunting synths, brooding voices, deep bass, and of course, the guitars from straight out of the void, all reverberated as if being played in a spacious Gothic castle at dusk, fading moonlight shining through the shattered windows, painting everything in a bleak grey... yeah.
2. Metal
I have a different relationship to metal because rather than enjoying specific metal subgenres, I connect more to themes and lyrics of metal albums. This may be superficial of me because it means I am probably highly influenced by cover art and titles, but it gives me something to latch onto aesthetically apart from the music itself, which I generally passively enjoy but don't adore and need time and relistens to access. That being said, what I am drawn to is gothic metal, death doom metal (as well as death and doom on their own), and maybe melodic black and atmospheric black. I have no interest in power, folk, groove, prog, thrash, or early heavy metal.
As it tends to be with me, what I value above all else is atmosphere, so I prefer a slow, ambient section over a technically impressive and shrieking guitar solo. If a metal album has occult themes, I am way more likely to listen to it—vampires, witches, ghosts. I am also more likely to listen if there are any synths, organs, church bells, or music boxes, for that creepy spooky feel. Clean, growled, and shrieked vocals are all fine for me, but I do not like shouting. (It's silly, annoying, and difficult to take seriously.) Generally prefer female over male vocals but both are fine. And I prefer when songs are not in a pop song structure, and are inconsistent in structure and length throughout an album, cause it contributes to the atmosphere by making it more mysterious. It's difficult to find metal albums that I really click with because of all this pickiness, but when I do, it's pretty magical.
3. Electronic
In this category I am specifically talking about music that is about the rhythm, so mostly EDM. I didn't think I would ever get into this that much, but as of writing this I'm obsessed. The origins of my taste here lie in Infected Mushroom, Four Tet, and Moderat. My exposure to EDM was from popular genres like brostep, hardstyle, and big room house, all of which I have a distaste for. After delving into the obscure, I have found so much music I love. This music isn't just about the groove, although there's nothing wrong with that... it's about what is built around the groove, how these aspects affect each other, and how that influences the overall vibe. My taste in order is like this:
a. Psytrance. My introduction into this cybernetic world by way of an RYM list that featured Y2K aesthetic style album covers, most of which were psytrance. Therefore my interest in Y2K and psytrance was simultaneous and linked. As a result, I primarily listen to psytrance that was released in the early 2000s, and all other music in this category has followed suit, which means I'm currently not interested in modern EDM.
The long track lengths and album lengths of EDM greatly contribute to my enjoyment of the music, but especially in psytrance. It's immersive and subtle, with lots of depth that calls you to become lost in the rhythm. This is added to the psychedelic, surreal sounds of squelching acid that are intensely pleasing to my ears to create a wonky, technological headspace, where robotic insects rule the world. Progressive psytrance is a microgenre I heavily enjoy because of its further focus on individual components that are carefully added and subtracted, hypnotizing the listener with its minimalistic craftsmanship. Psybreaks is another related genre that I also like.
b. Trip hop. I think this is not EDM but it is still electronic music that often focuses on the beat. Along with this is downtempo and big beat. These syncopated drum patterns are fucking groovy!! I only want female vocals in this type of music! I enjoy the combination of the funky rhythms, deep bass, surreal or dreamy backgrounds, and other things that can be fused with them, like synthesized leads, jazz and lounge elements, and turntablism. As with psytrance, I associate this stuff with Y2K, but I also associate it with graffiti, which is something I gained an interest in alongside this music thanks to Jet Set Radio. (I find myself wanting this music, except with female rap over it, preferably cute-sounding and rapping about... cute girl things. I don't know.)
c. Techno. Specifically, minimal techno and ambient techno. This music is more abstract because apart from having a pulsing 4/4 rhythm, it plays with rhythm a lot and isn't defined by a type of beat or bassline. This is darker, perhaps quieter, more cerebral, more skeletal. I feel like the focus of this music is often about the rhythm itself and how it evolves rather than what is around it. I'm into it. Acid techno also interests me.
d. Microhouse. This overlaps with minimal techno from what I've seen so I think of them in the same way right now, and I need more experience to differentiate what they are, but of course the defining feature of house is its distinct beat. Other house genres can be more melodic, have more vocals, or have more DROPS WOOOAAAHHH THAT DROP WAS INSANEEEE but my preference is in the quieter and more minimal sound. I'd like to try out more house though, namely in tech house, ambient house, acid house, and progressive house.
I have zero interest in DJs, festivals, clubs, or anything like that when it comes to this music. I think of this music as being for headphones personally. It's music to hear closely to pick out all the little details. Speaking of that, much of the fun I have with it is learning what sets the genres apart. Drum and bass sounds nothing like any of what I've listed. I have a bit of interest in exploring that more, particularly in techstep, maybe in minimal or atmospheric, maybe in neurofunk. Also have interest in braindance, acid breaks, acid trance, and even bubblegum dance. The breadth and variation in this category is vast and fascinating, and it is atmospheric in its own way.
4. Abstract music
This is a category I'm using for the sake of convenience here that is arbitrary and specific to me. By abstract I mostly mean things that are in the ambient realm or related to it. This mainly refers to dark ambient. Other terms that fit here are musique concrète, electroacoustic, tape music, drone, and industrial. I have not listened to enough music to have a firm grasp on all of these labels. They have simply been applied to some music that I like.
What I like about this type of music is its abandonment of structure, allowing itself to explore any environment it pleases. I like releases that emphasize dissonance, and sound dark, lonely, eerie, and otherworldly. Free from the constraints of musical tradition and familiarity, it holds the power to completely envelop me in specific atmospheres, and create feelings and moods inside of me that can't be accessed any other way.
5. Atmospheric forms of rock/pop
Hmmm this isn't a genre name either!! Well, this kind of thing all loosely fits into the same category in my head as well, so that's how it is. Between traditional, mainstream forms of music, and more experimental, dreamy forms, you get this broad concept of stuff that has evolved into being accessible enough in some way for the average listener but weird enough for the alternative listener (me!). For me, goth is a part of this, but it's a separate category for me because I particularly enjoy and seek out that specific form.
Examples of what I'm talking about here are things like ambient pop, dream pop, post-rock, synthpop, noise rock/pop, and alternative rock. I fucking love reverb. I'm into a bunch of stuff that definitely has structure and melody, and definitely has evolved from mainstream styles, but has been twisted into something morose, melancholic, strange, or surreal. I like electronic effects that produce a dreamy, ethereal feel, and I like experimentation of instruments, structure, and whatever other equipment or concepts music artists use to make their work.
So, I like to think that my music taste can be described as dark, depressive, melancholic, eerie, creepy, and alternative. Which... is pretty much how I like to think of myself as an individual as well.
Things that interest me to some extent that are apart from my current four main obelisks.
Neoclassical darkwave. This is not goth music but it's definitely adjacent. I've come to enjoy some of this music that uses traditional instruments with dark sensibilities. Any organs and church bells are a huge plus for me.
Hypnagogic pop. Surreal, alien, weirdcore type sounds that feel like they originate from an entirely different planet, yet still feel warm and faintly familiar. This is a subgenre of neo-psychedelia which maybe I'll explore at some point as a whole because of my high enjoyment of Pram.
Vaporwave. I had a brief interest in this in December 2023. Related to hypnagogic pop and exotica. There is a certain surreality in this concept of retrofuturism, of the optimism of the past, and the twisting of nostalgia. Likely solely because of when I was born, I enjoy retrofuturism of the late 90s into the 2000s. I like the heavy focus on the visual presentation of the music as a part of the art form. Mallsoft is what I was primarily interested in but I wouldn't be opposed to trying some new stuff maybe.
Progressive electronic. Vaguely interesting to me and is separate from the electronic category because it is not about the beat. I appreciate this type of music for its experimentality but I have yet to really like an album consistently.
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Now onto what I dislike/don't like!!!
As for my music journey, I started off with pop music, because it was the most accessible, and it gradually evolved from there into the more "artsy" territory like Radiohead and Kate Bush that was still super popular but made me feel like I was smart. I have no categorical aversion to all pop music, but it tends to be too formulaic for me to enjoy much. I'm also annoyed at the overplaying of so many songs that I probably would be fine with normally, but from overexposure have transformed into being grating. I hate the expectation that I should like this because everyone else does, and the commercialization of art, in which it is turned into a marketing tactic.
If you happen to be a fan of country music, then you just might be tired of hearing people say they hate it. Too bad for you. I hate country music. I pretty much hate everything about it. I am probably overgeneralizing it, but every time I hear it, I immediately want to forcefully turn it off.
If there is any genre of music I despise more than country, it is Christmas music. Every year, Western culture attempts to ruin the darkest time of year by making it about brightness and happiness and all that shit. It's all so fucking fake and in no way is this exemplified more than in the abomination of humankind that is Christmas music. I wish I could eradicate all of it from existence, as well as the ability to create any more of it.
Trap music. Please.... no more hi-hats. I have nothing against rap itself, or hip-hop, although the most I've ever been interested in it was during that time in high school I found a group called "Gravediggaz". AhHAhaaHAhahAHHAahAh. I was even played some Public Enemy by my father growing up. But this shit is so insufferable. It's the beat. I don't even know if they're different, they all sound the same to me, but when it's this type of beat, it annoys the fuck out of me. Related to this, when vocals in music like this are mumbled and/or autotuned, or the lyrics devolve into "ay"/"yuh", I feel my brain melting.
Any type of religious music. I am an antitheist. Huge no on that.
I don't really care for any music that was made before, like, 1970, and that's being generous. I don't have an interest in classical music. I also don't care for blues, soul, gospel, R&B, opera, folk, reggae, rock and roll, easy listening (whatever that means), disco, funk, and anything that might possibly be termed a "classic" or "oldie".
I take music seriously and do make fun of myself for being sort of snobby, but eh, I just know what I like. And what I dislike. At the end of the night it's just my opinions and that's why it's here on my website and not anyone else's, because why would they care?
Last updated July 8, 2024