As 2016 becomes underway, I started to reflect my 2015 year. What did it consist of? What did I learn? Did i complete all of my 2015 New Year's resolutions? I did, in fact, learn things about myself and other people as well as subjects of interest. I also completed most of my resolutions. But what did this year consist of? Well, the most that made up my 2015 year was the genres: lo-fi, surf rock, and shoegaze.
It was strange in a way. I listen to a range of eclectic music from world to jazz to classical to hip hop and rap and many more but every time I turned on the mixtapes and radios, I found myself turned to the chill indie pop songs. I consider myself a chill person, and I play genres of music that best fit my mood so turning on some chill tunes once in awhile isn't bad. For example, when I feel creative, I listen to jazz or classical music the most. The music with no words fit best for me when I try to create words. It is a continuous thing I do, and it varies constantly. Although I change genres almost every day, I couldn't escape the world of indie.This year was the year for lo-fi to become a new friend.
It was mostly in the summer when it contained me. Starting with Toro y Moi and Mac Demarco, I slipped into the synthesizers and bedroom-like boredom that started to become what I felt like and who I was. There was also a need to go to a beach or skate, hence the surf rock. Now and then I would throw in garage rock or psychedelic to feed the teen angst and hippie inside.
Lo-fi is music played by artists that used low fidelity recording as well as sometimes cassette tapes. Example artists would be Neutral Milk Hotel, Grizzly Bear, and Beach Fossils. Beach Fossils was my number one most- listened to band this year. Surf rock and shoegaze were the least listened to, but all the more came from either the same bands or separately. Artist examples for surf rock would be Wavves, The Drums, and The Growlers. Shoegaze would be more DIIV, M83, and My Bloody Valentine. Shoegazing is a style that started in London in the 1980s where the sound is typically disoriented.
It was like an eternal summer where everyday soft pop and ambient feelings cooled me down as well as made me more lazy by the second. With all that 2015 has given and all that is there to come, the vibes of these genres has helped me in my journey of discovery in college as well as finding more awesome bands to jam too.
I don't know what 2016 has in store for the most played out genre, but I'm sure it'll be something worthwhile.
