Sorry, gotta disagree here. If she’s not New Age, what is she? In fact, if I had to classify her, I’d say she performs “New Age Celtic Neo-Folk” music. She relies heavily on synthesizers and layered, looped vocal tones and strings to create an airy, atmospheric sound - that sounds a lot like New Age to me…she’s just not as annoying as most of the other New Age performers.
I wouldn’t define her music as “Celtic”, because Celtic music is the traditional folk music of the Celtic cultures - even brand new Celtic music maintains the framework and traditional “sound” of the music as it’s been played for centuries. While Enya’s music has a definite Celtic flavor to it, and its roots are clear, her style leans heavily toward New Age.
There are plenty of subgenres of music, as anyone who’s familiar with Konami’s Bemani line or Winamp (both of which spurred me to ask about them) can attest. Most of the distinctions are pretty minor, though; unless you’re actually in the biz, you really shouldn’t sweat them. If all you’re doing is labelling youre mp3 files, just put what you think it is; I doubt anyone will actually complain.
Enya is most definitely new age. I know there are plenty of Celtic singers out there inaccurately pegged as new age (like Loreena McKennitt), but Enya isn’t one of them. Listen to some of her earlier works sometime.
As for classic rock…for a number of reasons, I’ve set 1982 as the dividing line (it’s been a looong time since putting a dime in a jukebox accomplished anything useful).
BTW, just search for “subgenres” and you’ll get the earlier discussions. Some of which are mirrored here. And of course, I heartily recommend http://www.ishkur.com/features/music/guide.htm for a glimpse at the extremely crowded, extremely convoluted world of dance music.
Tarrsk – Welcome to the Boards, and thanks your good post that set the record straight with regard to ska. You saved me having to type that post.
And Moe, I overheard this comment a couple years back, and I liked it: “Saying that the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are Ska is like saying that Kenny G is Jazz.”
New Age started in the 80s? Bah, I guess that was before you kids were born. Old-timers like me may not be able to distinguish the many subgenres of today, but we can fill you in on the history.
New Wave started in the mid-1970s. It first began to gel in 1975, when Television and Patti Smith were playing at CBGB’s, and when punk (Sex Pistols, Ramones, The Damned, the Dead Boys) was added in 1976, it became a definite trend. Punk was considered one branch of New Wave, in addition to non-punk New Wave like Devo, Pere Ubu, the Clash, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Television, and Talking Heads.
In retrospect, everyone considered the New York Dolls (active back in 1973) to have been New Wave even before there was a New Wave. One of the first indications that New Wave was happening was the compilation album Max’s Kansas City 1976 which included the New York Dolls, Pere Ubu, Suicide, and Cherry Vanilla.
Right, this looks like a good place to ask: what’s the diff between Speed Garage and Garage, and how do these relate to Jungle? And can anyone have a go at defining the diff between Chillout and Ambient?
Also, further up the thread, someone described Bizkit as Alternative. Sorry, but
the minute you get a Grammy you stop being an alternative to anything (except
maybe to the people who don’t sacrifice virgin musicians to Hillary Rosen?)
Enya is Enya. It’s been said in interviews that Enya and the Barans don’t like the label New Age and don’t consider themselves New Age. I’ll take their word over every record store on the planet.
New Age as a genre has a lot more requirements than just being pleasant-sounding.
A lot of the time Techno and Rave can be considered interchangable. Definately a much faster beat, more hyper sounding.
For some good examples of Rave hie thee to Kazaa and download some ‘Happy Hardcore’. This is not one specific person but rather a number of different DJ’s who sometimes mix together, sometimes on their own and such. It can be hard to find the new stuff though as like was stated it is usually mixed at the rave. I actually have some new stuff that is pretty much impossible to find anywhere in North America thanks to a friend of mine who DJ’s (both mixing his own stuff at Rave’s and just a general host of evenings at the bars and such). LOL I had to promise not to share any of the stuff he let me rip off of his CD’s because it is so rare here. Just so he can play it in places and honestly say he is the only DJ you’d find with these songs.
It can be odd listening to Dance music right after Rave though, as in comparison it seems so slow, while Dance is generally faster than other music.
True, true. But you have to realize that “alternative” these days seems to mean “not techno” or even simply “rock” more than anything else. The last time I can remember “alternative” as a somewhat meaningful label was the 80s and possibly early 90s, when bands like REM, the Pixies and Sonic Youth really were outside the mainstream.
These days, “Indie” seems to be the label that best describes what “alternative” meant in those days.
“Indie” and “alternative” were pretty much used interchangeably in the UK in their '90s heyday, although “alternative” tended to be levelled at US bands where UK bands were “indie”. I suspect the subtle difference was that the US acts had a greater ‘rock’ heritage whereas the UK bands borrowed from glam, Madchester and anything else they could use.
I’d say that the difference between Speed Garage and Garage is the speed, but it’s only a guess.
Chillout and ambient differ in that chillout simply refers to relaxed, downbeat music - it often still contains vocals, song structures and beats, whereas ambient is more floaty, Eno-esque soundscapes. I’m not a great listener to the genre, but I don’t often hear ambient music with an emphasis on beats, but chillout isn’t afraid of playing with some beats.
In my view, chillout is just a marketing tag anyway. The chillout collections just group relaxed music together, be it trip-hop, slow funk or electronica. There isn’t any music that comes to my mind that is first and foremost chillout.
That was me, I believe, and you’ll notice in the same post that I said
It’s the third time that I’ve said it in this thread, but etymology and defintion are not the same thing. The label developed because the music it originally described was an ‘alternative,’ but that does not mean that is what the label means today. You know, once upon a time “humour” meant “state of mind,” but that doesn’t mean that we can’t use it today to mean “the quality of being funny.”
