My musical "genes"

[transemacabre]

I finally got around to creating a station for myself on Pandora Radio, adding a lot of my favorite artists to the mix and seeing what Pandora spat back out at me. I'm enjoying a lot of the songs Pandora recommends, but what I really find fascinating is checking the 'Why was this song selected?' button and seeing what different features, or 'genes', seem to turn on my brain. According to Pandora, I like:

A subtle use of vocal harmony
Call and answer vocal harmony (antiphony)
Folk influences
Minor key tonality
Varying tempo and time structures
Extensive vamping
A subtle use of paired vocal harmony
Punk roots
Electronica influences
Repetitive melodic phrasing
Vocal central aesthetic
Dirty electric guitar riffs

I find it fascinating that these traits reappear consistently, from band to band, across genres, in the music that appeals to me.

Comments

[kirke-novak.livejournal.com]

I admit I've no idea what most of those terms mean. Google time?

[ziggythewalrus.livejournal.com]

That is indeed interesting. I'm tempted to create my own station now just to see what it would label my fav music as. I tried using Pandora in the past, but whenever I added Marilyn Manson, it would start putting in lots of metal, which I mostly hate.

[transemacabre.livejournal.com]

Ah, most unfortunate! See, I love metal so that's not a problem for me. Perhaps you could weight it heavily with other bands in the British rock genre, and then add Marilyn Manson as the only industrial metal act, so as to skew it more in the Britrock's favor.