"genre" and terminology ramblings

May. 13, 2025 8:55 PM

Back when I was doing preliminary research on the J-core video a year or so ago, I recall coming across a couple of quotes by DJ Shimamura in a Bandcamp article on the chronology of J-core that’s stuck with me today. I referenced said quotes in the final video, but for reference:

“I am only making hardcore in Japan, I do not have the consciousness of making J-core. I think that this is probably the same for many Japanese artists.”

“I think it is a beautiful idea that every artist has their own definition of J-core. But I think that J-core was born as a word to easily express a lot of unique Japanese sounds—it’s like a sticker stuck at random to baggage exported from Japan overseas.”

These are ideas that jumped out at me quite markedly in a field I’ve always viewed as a creative utopia of sorts. What does he mean by not having “the consciousness” of making music? It’s a thought I’ve never been able to decipher, even though I ultimately understand the intent as “not following audience perceptions of what the sound is like when producing my own music.” Some people might think it’s a bit bizarre, right? How do you not know that you’re making music of a particular nature, when your own audience know and refer to it as such? Rather paradoxical, I know.

However, a recent discussion I had with another producer in a different music sphere as part of my ongoing video research gave me better insight on this thought that unintentionally answered what those words might have actually meant.

In an interview I held (at time of writing) about two and a half weeks ago, the topic of music genres came up - more specifically, how they’re codified, and who the intended users are. Something that came up frequently as we traversed the nuance behind this particular idea was the use of genres as a “marketing tool” and how they’re often used to categorise similar niches and cultures into an easy framework for the average listener to discover. Artists in these underground fields of music don’t often have a say in how their work is categorised, because the audience and subsequent coverage decides that for them as a discovery method. In fact, artists in these fields may label their work with genres as a way to fit in somewhere, to better market themselves to an audience without the specific linguistic knowledge to precisely categorise what they’re listening to beyond genres. As a friend of mine said when I asked them on the topic, “talking about music for most people stops at what they like and dislike,” rather than any inherent value regarding any ideas that stand out to them worth discussing. I get it! Most people don’t really “get” music! But it’s undeniable that such a restrictive lexicon will overshadow how artists personally feel about what their music is said to be.

Of course, this is likely just baseless conjecture on my part. I’m probably speaking for other artists who don’t think this way at all, and are perfectly happy with meeting the demand audiences may have for that particular sound. With that said, there’s something to talk about with regards to who specifically discusses music from this perspective, not just the idea of genres or discussing music among general audiences.

A point that came up in my interview with this producer was how Youtubers and outlets talk more about what the music they’re covering is, rather than having artists describe themselves with those particular monikers. Coverage on more niche music fields, like J-core and dariacore/hyperflip, often latches onto a first impression that’s distinctly different from what the author has heard elsewhere, usually an element of the overall sound that’s radically distanced from other fields of a wider field like EDM. One consequence of this first impression becoming a generalisation of the sound is that it convinces prospective artists in these scenes that you need to follow a general ‘checklist’ of techniques for your work to ‘count’ as that kind of music. Such a pressuring mindset. What happened to people just making things they liked???

Perhaps saying all this is a bit much, I don’t know. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, but now that I have a better awareness on how producers themselves feel about general listeners conflating their work, it’s a point of discussion worth expanding on.

To some degree, I get it. As someone who makes longform videos, I often get thrown in with people who make video essays, often times because I guess that’s how most audiences view anything over 15 minutes nowadays? My perception of video essays, for better or for worse, has been codified by how those same viewers discuss the term - often videos on a topic that feel the need to describe everything on a topic, with only a vague semblance of an overarching discussion or argument on a wider question trying its best to bridge everything together. It just feels... disjointed? Certainly not how I’d personally describe myself, really. But like how DJ Shimamura says he doesn’t actively think about making J-core, I wouldn’t say I’m consciously working on video essays the same way my peers are, either. I’d actually argue the opposite, having a desire to reintroduce the actual “essay” structure to “video essays” as a counter to the notion people have that most video essayists are full of themselves, bunk, and whatever else adding to their equipment load limit. You can probably get why I don’t want to be tied to that kind of first impression.

All this to say, “I don’t really understand genres nowadays.” I find myself listening to new producers I find through Youtube recommendations, or interrogating my friends at gunpoint, now increasingly thinking about their specific sound or production methods rather than simply what “genre” they fall under. Sometimes, I even find myself backing off when I see an artist self-categorise their music, to a degree. Is it necessary to assign a genre to yourself the same way you would a job role or RPG class? Does the average person actually find value in these categories when actively searching for similar works? And is this all just meaningless at the end of the day?

I don’t know, man. Just make the shit you want to see in the world. Most people are shit at explaining what they want to see anyway, so don’t bother conforming to a half-assed reasoning behind a medium you want to see a change in. If you’re having fun, who’s got the right to stop you?

Go now, and create a micro-genre. I’ll hype you up in the next life.