Some of the Weirdest and Awesomest Music Genres You Probably Have Never Heard Of

Are you an avid music geek like I am?

You’re not just a keen music lover. You’re a fanatic. You’re a votarist.

Do you have a knack for exploring the awesomest and weirdest music around the world?

Everybody knows what pop, rock, hip hop genres of music are. if you’re an enthusiast and have an expansive music collection, you will know genres like dubstep, progressive house, trance, psychedelic, reggae etc. But you must be a one-in-a-million-music-geek if you know these music genres. If you don’t know, you can surprise your peers with your overwhelmingly cool and geeky knowledge on music genres- like a boss.

Here are some surprisingly common, yet utterly unheard of music genres you’d want to listen to:

1. Math Rock: Yeah, you read that right. You did hear of many sub-genres of music, and yes, math rock is one of them. And the name sort of gives you a rough idea about this genre but wait, how on earth is math merged with rock? Well, you could say math rock is the one of the nerdiest genres of music around; and is basically a rhythmically complex, often guitar based, style of experimental rock that was influenced by progressive rock of the 1980’s. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures,odd time signatures, and extended, often dissonant chords. Awesome right? Listen to acts like tool, slint, meshuggah if you want your inner music nerd to feast.
2. Grindcore: Again, the name says it all. To get a brief idea about this genre, take the thrashiest of thrash metal, heaviest of heavy metal, hardest of hardcore, darkest of death metal, the most techno- sort of music you can think of and the most electronic of electronic music; grind it all together and ta-dah! There, you have grindcore. So, essentially this genre is pretty extreme and very abrasive sounding. So imagine heavy growls, high pitched shrieks, downtuned guitar riffs and some super-grinding, over-driven bass, and you get grindcore. Oh wait though, I didn’t tell you the interesting part yet. One interesting trait about this genre of music is that it produces songs only seconds in length, called “microsong”. British band Napalm Death holds the Guinness World Record for shortest song ever recorded with the one-second “You Suffer” (1987). It also has some interesting “micro” genres like goregrind, noisegrind , electrogrind to name a few.
3. Intelligent Dance Music (IDM): Don’t be offended, gentlemen(and ladies). Judging by its name, it may be derogating but its only a catch-all term for electronic music utilizing more than a typical beat and a tired, rehashed melody looped for 7 minutes. This genre is basically electronic music made to listen to instead of just dance to. It often uses syncopated and heavily processed percussion as the underlying foundation for the songs. Perky, eh?
4. Ska Punk:  This is a fusion music genre that combines ska and punk music genres. What is ska? Ska is a genre of music originated in Jamaica and served as a precursor to Reggae (yes, the Bob Marley and Sean Paul music genre). Basically, this music sounds like Bob Marley meets Green Day. The more punk-influenced style of ska punk often features faster tempos, guitar distortion, onbeat punk rock-style interludes (usually the chorus), and punk-style vocals. The more ska-influenced style features a more developed instrumentation and a cleaner vocal and musical sound. This genre is definitely a must-listen. Try artists like Rancid for starters.
5. Acid Jazz: This is also a fusion genre like the one above, and it combines elements of jazz, soul, funk, disco and hip hop. Its basically classy, jazzy hip-hop. Also called club jazz, it gained popularity in the mid 1980’s and also suffered a major decline in the late 1990’s due to the spreading popularity of electronic dance music(EDM) genre. But this was a cool version of hip-hop. Listen to A Tribe Called Quest if you don’t agree.
6. Psybient: Psybient is short for psychedelic ambient and this music genre is a form of slow ambient music that contains the elements of psychedelic trance. Ambient music is essentially a genre that focuses on the “atmosphere” or “feel” of the song rather than the rhythm and the melody. So, psybient basically contains this super-chill slow music with meditative singing (get the “feel”) and has has a slow rhythmic bass. It may use ambient elements, filtered and reworked with many effects, to achieve a particular psychedelic sound. Most psybient songs are electronic-based, but they may include organic tones as well. Its no surprise that this music is played in yoga practices and in the chill out room or areas at music festivals (mostly trance festivals and rave parties).

 Bemused? Delighted? Let us know in your comments!