"But tonight I think I'd rather just go dancing -

[devi]

- There'll be time enough for rocking when we're old, my love."

Who's coming to Synthetic Culture tonight?

And a poll, because this has been on my mind lately. Which genres of music do you like? And I mean really like, makes hairs stand up on the back of your neck or tears come to your eyes or your foot to tap uncontrollably or makes you feel all's right with the world, that sort of like.

This isn't supposed to cover all genres. My purpose will be explained shortly. (I should have put in an 'Other - please state' thingy, so please state your others in the comments.)

[Poll #387696]

Comments

[nisaba.livejournal.com]

I should be out tonight, once I work out where it is, anyway... :)

Some elaboration:

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I hesitated over 'goth with guitars', but so much of it just sounds cheesy to me these days that I find it hard to like unironically....

Oh, hang on, I danced like a loony to The Cult last time I was at B-Movie. And I still like the Sisters. And I only stopped listening to Fields of the Nephilim because I lost my CDs and the minidiscs broke. I am a hypocrite and am going back to change that.

And for 'mainstream dance', I mean things like Orbital and The Orb and the Chemical Brothers and stuff, not *shudder* Eric Prydz and his ilk.

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

Which category does Nick Cave come into? The things I love are so varied that I had to limit myself to about five of the categories, and I love them for so many different reasons that I couldn't tick anything in the second question as a must. I don't know what Synthetic Culture is for something, but suspect I'm too old to go clubbing - have fun!

[darklily.livejournal.com]

...oh, hang on just a jiffy there. Would that be 'R&B', the original kind, such as has harmonicas and hard luck stories, or 'R&B', the modern kind, such as features on MTV?
I like to be sure about what I'm voting for...

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Rhodri, apparently, likes every single one of these genres. Really, Rhodri?

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

You missed out Ambient. And Jazz...

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

The 'MUST' in the second question prevents me from ticking any of the boxes. In spirit, though, I'd tick all but the first and last.

[hoshuteki.livejournal.com]

I suppose the genre definitions are a little broad. No jazz, either. I'd tick Jazz. And Scott Walker needs a tick box ("doomed existential romanticism"?). Etc. Etc.

I haven't been to any goth-related events for a while, so there's a whole swathe of my flist I haven't been able to catch up with for a while. I don't have enough black eyeliner, sigh.

[mooism.livejournal.com]

I’m up for Synthetic Culture tonight. There a plan to meet up somewhere first?

Music that makes my hair stand up on end is music that can make me believe it is all of existence. Not sure where cause and effect is going here. Usually has unusual (for music) sounds. Might not make me feel that all is right with the world, but at least keeps me from being so botherred that it’s broken.

Music that makes me cry is usually something I haven’t heard in a while. I often find myself fighting back tears when I go into Safeway‘s (they play 70s/80s/90s pop). But it’s not specific to that type of music.

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

I can't answer this poll properly. So I'll leave a comment explaining why instead.
First question:
I think almost every category in that list has at least one instance of such a piece. I like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's "Red Eyes And Tears"; Echobelly's "Great Things" and Menswe@r's "Daydreamer"; Darkthrone's "Straightening Sharks In Heaven" and Iron Maiden's "Aces High"; the Sisters of Mercy's "Adrenochrome" and Fields of the Nephilim's "Last Exit For The Lost"; VNV Nation's "Darkangel" and :wumpscut:'s "Totmacher"; Duran Duran's "Rio"; Foreigner's "I've Been Waiting For A Girl Like You" and Pat Benatar's "Suffer The Little Children"; the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK" and the Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen In Love"; Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise"; John Tavener's "The Protecting Veil" and. I'm not terribly well up on the house/techno/yadda category (though if the Prodigy qualify, that's that covered), IDM, or R&B, so can't comment yea or nay (though I suspect R&B probably gets a downcheck).
Now, the highest frequency of such moments (and the most intense examples) are probably in metal and guitar-goth.
Second question:
Lyrics - Not necessary, I like orchestral music.
A really good voice - Not necessary, I like first-generation punk.
Skill - Not necessary, I like first-generation punk.
Originality - Not necessary, I like some of the finer examples of extruded pop product.
Catchy hummable melody - Not necessary, I like Diamanda Galas.
Danceable beat - I like unstructured dark ambient.

[ki.livejournal.com]

other - mainstream rock? ambient? whatever ben folds five, color theory, dead can dance, tori amos, black tape for a blue girl, better than ezra, black crowes, bush, and the like would fit into.

[philipstorry.livejournal.com]

You missed blues as a genre. Gotta have me some blues some days...

(And I'm surprised that we haven't had a complaint about a lack of folk yet. Not my cup of tea, but I was expecting it.)

As for what makes something good - competence/excellence on instruments, I guess. Composition plays a large part as well - a good tune played badly is still better than a bad tune played well, IMO.

I'm interested to see that you put "a singer with a really good voice". I'm very into vocals, but I seemd to be thinking more and more these days that vocals are best as part of the soundscape. This probably comes from the last few gigs I've been to, where it was pretty clear that a good vocalist knows (or just subconsiously knows) when and how to use their voice to best effect. I can think of lots of singers who have good voices, but that doesn't mean that they sang well... Or were used well in the arrangement, for that matter.

[triskellian]

Missing category from the first question: girlie acoustic (eg Tori Amos, Suzanna Vega).

My answer to the second one... technically, I shouldn't've picked any of them, because there are songs I like that are missing each of those things, but all of my favourite music is lyrics-based, so that's what I ticked.

Do we get to hear what your theory is, and whether the results confirm it?

[ravenblack.livejournal.com]

I said a singer with a really good voice as a must, which isn't really fair since there can potentially be instrumental music, even, that I enjoy. But it's very much a rarity in comparison to well-voiced music. And 'good' is meant not only subjectively, but also contextually - Mr Rammstein isn't a voice I think of as "a good singing voice", but it's fantastic in its own environment.

I would also like to add whatever genre the good .hack//sign soundtrack songs are, which might be J-pop, but I wouldn't want to say that I like J-pop because the J-pop that I *don't* like, I dislike quite a lot. So I shall call it "wispy J-pop", and would also tend to lean my goth-with-guitars and lack of goth-with-bleeps together into a single category of "wispy goth". And Indie must also be reselected as "wispy Indie", probably. So really I'd just select the single category of "wispy", and then add a few Rammstein and Bathory songs or something as the exceptions that prove the rule. Even though they disprove it, that's proof in rhetoric-world.

Aargh

[a-llusive.livejournal.com]

No jazz/blues and I don't want to put R&B instead cos it would be wrong
rap is different to hip hop

I can't put in one or more of the following... as my favourite tracks don't nec have more than one of these, or all the same attribute which attracts.

There's no "sublime associations with a period in your past/youth" in the second list.

I don't know what intelligent dance is, but I can't put mainstream, as that's not right either.

How can I find an anser wich includes Billie Holiday, Otis Reading, Outkast, Eminem, Goldfrapp, PWEI, Scissor Sisters, the first NIN album, Beastie Boys and Nirvana?

[plasticsturgeon.livejournal.com]

I just realized that I lied. Lots of the music I find thrilling is a capella.

[arachne.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure which type of R&B you meant - the drek that gets called R&B these days, or good old classic R&B, the type that can be found on Blues Brothers soundtracks, etc?

No SC for me tonight, as I barely have two pennies to rub together :(

[haggisthesecond.livejournal.com]

If I had to name a genre of music that most consistently stirs me I'd have to say old Motown/soul. Also folk-influenced indie rock, but not as reliably.

[fabulousfrock.livejournal.com]

My favorite songs span a wide spectrum, from the Kinks to Neutral Milk Hotel to Enya to opera. But the genre that probably affected me the most is glam rock especially Bowie and Roxy Music. I clicked on a catchy, hummable melody as being most important, but it actually isn't really necessary to me that the melody be catchy and hummable (although a lot my favorite songs do have this), just that the melody has to somehow affect me. Somehow the notes sound just right.

[caescarna.livejournal.com]

Hmmn...I'm drawn most towards indie-pop, twee-indie pop and goth with guitars. However, I can't see how the Cocteau Twins would fit into any of the above categories above, broadly speaking they're more Ethereal than goth. This Mortal Coil however definately fall into the neo-classical mould.