if someone asks you what kind of music you like and you want to give an honest answer, what do you say?

if you go to the record store and they have stuff broken into lots of different genres, which one(s) do you dig through?

i ask cuz i struggle with this sometimes, and it seems folks round here like the same kinda stuff i do.

say i like the avalanches, lemon jelly, soulwax, groove armada, rjd2, fatboy slim and david holmes (just a quick rattle-off). does that mean i like dance/electronic? pop? or is there a more specific term that's better?

when i go to the better vinyl shops, i'm never sure where to look, so i usually end up digging through everything, which is fun but time-consuming. some genres are specific enough -- like dnb or two-step -- but others can be vague. i generally wouldn't say i'm a big house or techno fan, but then i find titles in those bins that i like. then when i was at a store in detroit a few weeks ago i found the most stuff i like filed under "groove," a category most stores don't even have.

i'm guessing this kinda labeling varies a lot, but i'm curious about what others have to say.

if someone asks me what music i like, i'll usually tell them i'm into a bit of everything, and then tun it round and ask them - i probably find it easier to talk about the music that they like. it's rare that i mention specific acts.

i have a problem with my local record shop cos it breaks things up into genres i can't discern between. it usually means that if i end up going through all the genres i am even a little interested in, often going through piles of records i am not. why was the manitoba album in abstract electronica rather than electronica?

saying that, if i am limited for time, i always look in the hip-hop section first. then the mo'wax/dj shadow section, then the beats section, then electronica, house (!), electro, and finally the indie bit. (this could take hours though...)

I tend to just say I like 'eclectic' music, and people just nod and go 'oh yeah, yeah....'....

Simon

hmmm... yeah, eclectic... & funky

It's tricky because if you describe The Avalanches or Soulwax on paper ("oh yeah, they mix Cyndi Lauper with Jimi Hendrix" or "yeah, they do this great thing with 10cc, Destiny's Child and Dolly Parton") it doesn't sound so clever....

It's music that needs to be experienced rather than described, which is why I think that these two, as much as anyone, have done rather well out of file sharing....

After all, in the UK at least, I doubt many people would've experienced The Avalanches without Napster, and Soulwax were just a vaguely dodgy indie band from Belgium until 2 Many DJs went through AudioGalaxy like a dose of salts.....

Simon

i just reply that i dont listen to music. but if i really do care to elaborate for some reason then i go on about naming acts rather than classifying the stuff. hihi, it often ends up being a list where i put delinquent habbits, triptik, esthero, sage francis and the avs in the same sentence. a lotta people want me to elaborate.... at that point i usually either leave or turn the question back around at them. i do feel like it's hard to explain my musical tastes though.

why do they (record stores) persist in breaking the stuff down into genres?

Surely it'd be easier and quicker for all concerned to just chuck it all in one big alphabetical list. So much electronic/dance/hiphop/alternative/ new jazz crosses over that it is almost pointless

I suppose that the downside is that browsing would take longer

I have been saying lately that I like Breaks. That seems to encapsulate the avs, soulwax etc, mix genre somewhat - as far as I can make out, these dance genres can be a bit obscure. I hate techno and house.
I also listen to JJJ, so sometimes its also easy to just say that - JJJ music. You either get a ohh, your into that kind of stuff, or a yeah like what from ppl familiar to with the station.

sounds like you all have made similar attempts as me. i've tried the "eclectic" route, but around here people take that to mean folk music cuz there was a radio station that promoted its "eclectic mix" and played a lot of folky crap.

i also like "breaks," but others seem to take that differently, too. i mean, i've read reviews of records that the writer says are breaks, then when i listen it doesn't sound anything like avs/soulwax/etc and more like house or techno. like plump djs or tayo or layo n bushwacka or the last sasha record, but i usually like those better than run-of-the-mill house or techno, so breaks is good.

the evolution control committe has a new record out, and since he's from columbus the local papers have done some features on it, and they've used "bastard pop" to describe it, so maybe that term is sinking in a little bit around here. i might like that best of all.