Obscure Music Genres You Should Check Out

You might be one of the few whose ears feel like they’re about to fall off from listening to today’s music. If you’re tired of auto-tuned vocals and anemic lyrics, perhaps it’s time to take the off beaten path for something totally different.

Chiptune
Sometimes called 8-bit music, it’s a type of synthesized electronic music that will remind people of beats from old arcade games and computers. Remember the background music from one of those old platform games? This genre will take you down memory lane.

Lowercase
Lowercase is a type of ambient minimalist music in which sounds we don’t often hear in the background are amplified. Like a clink of a glass or the rustle of the leaves. Don’t be surprised too if you don’t hear anything in some parts of a composition.

Spacesynth
Sometimes called spacedance or spacedisco, this type of music focuses on melodies and is like a mix of disco music and futuristic sounds. It’s almost similar to house music when you listen to it, but it’s more relaxing and less noisy.

Throat Singing
Throat singing has been practiced by some ethnic groups. It’s a form of overtone singing or chanting. The most famous types are Tuvan, Inuit, Tibetan and Rekuhkara. Tuvan throat singing is practiced in Mongolia, Tuva and Siberia. The singer produces one pitch along with one or more pitches together.

Drone Music
This is another minimal music type similar to lowercase. It focuses on repeated and sustained notes or tones. These notes are collectively called drones. It’s perfect for those times when you need to listen to music that isn’t distracting you with lyrics and beats.

Bubblegum Dance
Do you like lively beats and happy, cute music? You don’t need to limit yourself to the Japanese pop group AKB48 anymore when you listen to this Eurodance subgenre. If you like bubblegum pop, bubblegum dance isn’t that far off. The group Aqua who sang “Barbie Girl” is perhaps the most popular of this lot.

Symphonic Metal
Sometimes called opera metal, it combines metal and classical music. The band not only plays the electric guitar, bass, and drums but also includes keyboards or piano, violin, cello and sometimes a choir or orchestra.

Visual Kei
It’s a type of glam rock in which the performers dress up in elaborate androgynous costumes and heavy make-up. There is no specific type of music associated with visual kei. The genre is considered separate mostly for the looks of the performers. The music varies from heavy metal to pop.

Mathcore
Mathcore is characterized by unusual time signatures, dissonant chords, angular melodies and peculiar chord progressions. It’s a subgenre of metalcore, a mix of hardcore punk and metal. Think of chaos, but chaos that’s systematic.

Danger Music
Sometimes called anti-music, it’s a type of concept music that was formed because of the idea that it might harm the performer or listener. The genre relies heavily on the performance, just like any other type of performance art. They will sometimes do dangerous tricks during shows.