Into The Music
Genres
Deep dives into the sounds that define us.
Genres
The Post-Genre Collision: Music in 2026
The term “post-genre” has been thrown around for years, but in 2026, it has finally become the literal reality of the music industry. We are no longer living...
Genres
Dream Pop: The Genre That Turned Atmosphere Into the Point
Dream pop has always had a problem with its name. The genre label suggests something passive, something you let wash over you while you drift toward sleep. The...
Genres
Folk Music: The Sound That Has Always Known What Songs Are For
Willie Nelson just announced the 2026 Outlaw Music Festival Tour, with Wilco, Sheryl Crow, and The Avett Brothers joining him on the road. This is a good moment...
Genres
Blackgaze: The Genre That Refused to Choose Between Extremity and Tenderness
Blackgaze starts with a contradiction and never resolves it. On one side: black metal, the harshest, most deliberately hostile form of heavy music, a genre that spent decades...
Genres
Post-Punk: The Genre That Refused to Inherit Rock Music
Post-punk arrived because punk had already answered its own question. By 1978 it was clear that three chords and speed were a statement, not a method. The bands...
Genres
Funk: The Genre That Taught Everyone Else How to Move
Funk is the genre that figured out the space between the notes before everyone else did. While rock was stacking power chords and pop was chasing the hook,...
Genres
Synth-Pop: The Genre That Made Machines Sound Like Feelings
Synth-pop is one of those genres that is always being declared over and always showing up somewhere new. The form is simple enough to be portable: synthesizers as...
Genres
Punk: The Sound That Refuses the Definition
Punk is not a single thing. It never was. The people who insist on a strict definition, some variant of three chords, 1977, the Clash and the Pistols...
Genres
Soul Music Was Invented to Say Things That Polite Society Was Not Ready to Hear
Soul music was invented to say things that polite society wasn’t ready to hear. That’s not a romantic origin story. It’s the actual mechanics of how a genre...
Genres
Shoegaze: The Genre That Named Itself After a Joke and Never Stopped Being Right
Shoegaze was never supposed to be a genre. The name was a joke, coined by a British music press that was annoyed at how intently the bands stared...
Genres
Americana: The Genre That Exists to House Everything That Does Not Fit
Americana is the genre that exists to house all the music that does not fit anywhere else, which makes it either the most generous category in popular music...