Five Most Bizarre And Unconventional Music Genres We Bet You Have Never Heard Of

You will not find songs belonging to these genres topping the Billboard charts anytime soon, but just because they are unconventional, does not mean they don’t deserve our love and attention.

A music genre refers to a conventional category that recognizes some melodies and pieces of music as a part of a shared set of traditions or conventions. Music can be categorized into various genres and in numerous different ways. Let us explore some of the most unusual, obscure, and unconventional music genres that exist.

Glitch hop

Glitch hop is a subgenre of hip-hop that creatively blends glitch technique and aesthetics—lo-fi sounds, screwing, chopping, beat repeats, bit crushing, and other sound effects—with hip-hop. But the DNA of glitch-hop later metamorphosed into hip-hop’s psychedelic combinations to give birth to a funky and quirky genre.

Burger-Highlife

Burger-highlife is characterized by jazz horn-led sound, use of synth, and up-tempo guitar. This unconventional genre has a unique Ghanaian origin, but universally it is identified as a German music style. It is because of the Ghanaian immigrants of Germany. The Ghanaian people perform this distinctive form of Afro-pop, and it is known as Burger-Highlife.

Vaporwave

It is difficult to define this genre that originated in the 2010s. At the heart of this musical style lies a satire of consumerism. Vaporwave emerged across different virtual music communities, starting with artists like Vektroid and James Ferraro. This genre constitutes a foundation of heavy pop culture of the 80s and 90s blended with basic pop music, further mixed with corporate lounge music and smooth jazz.

Lowercase

The current definition of popular music involves overwhelming, dense, and catchy compositions and beats. But lowercase on the other hand, allows listeners to immerse in sounds devoid of the world’s auditory clutter. Lowercase musicians digitally amplify the sounds of nature — sounds that are otherwise imperceptible to our ears. It is ambient and minimalist, and you will not find this genre topping the music charts anytime soon.

Folktronica

Among all the genres discussed above, folktronica probably sounds the lamest, but it is quite descriptive. Bibio, the UK artist, who frequently blends folk and electronic or acoustic music, is one of the most prominent folktronica musicians. Other notable artists are Caribou, Patrick Wolf, the Books, Juana Molina, Four Tet, Tunng, and Bon Iver.

You may not have had the pleasure of listening to these genres before, but do give them a try now.