F*ck the Algorithm - Issue 008
As a starry-eyed teen under parental, educational and societal pressure to get a degree, I decided to study music production.
What I really wanted to do was move to California and become an overnight ska-punk sensation, but that wasn’t in Tony Blair’s vision for Britain.
I remember arguing one beer-fuelled evening that we were moving rapidly towards a post genre music scene. That may not be a profound idea in 2026, but remember in 2003 our musical taste could generally be mapped out by whether we turned left, turned right, or walked straight on in Virgin Megastore.
Side note – does anyone else remember the classical and jazz room? I have a hazy vision of a glass box at the back, a giant terrarium of pretence.
The argument was this: As drum and bass got heavier, rock and metal became digital and indie bands were smashing out chart-topping mega-hits, it would only be a matter of time before we waved goodbye to genres altogether.
It’s taken a lot longer than I thought, but young people are increasingly defining their taste based on how it makes them feel rather than what genre it belongs to. The concept has been accelerated by streaming platforms which algorithmically generate ‘chill’, ‘angry’, ‘happy’ or even ‘late night drive’ playlists and place them in your feed.
I’m all for the crossing, merging, bending or smashing of genre boundaries – it’s the whole schtick of some of my favourite bands – but I worry about the effect on the music industry. If listeners don’t identify with a scene, a genre or bands but just crave a vibe, I suspect they’ll be much quicker to swallow AI generated music designed to be consumed and forgotten. If it feeds their vibe, then why should they care? And that is a desperately sad direction for the music industry to be headed.
To cheer you up… Here are eight tracks from artists who are breaking down genres the right way. Best enjoyed at volume – as usual...
Track notes
1. Jhariah – BIGSHOT
If ‘no genre’ were a genre, Jhariah would be the artist everyone suggested as a starting place for the scene. This track is actually quite constrained, others sound like five minutes at the start of a school music lesson when everyone is simultaneously playing different keyboard demos.
Bridge back: It’s sort of like Mika blended with Ice Nine Kills.
2. Militarie Gun – BADIDEA
A fairly subtle blend compared to some others on the list but this track from Militarie Gun borrows from several genres if you think about it. It’s got pure pop energy, grungy instrumentation and a hardcore vocal delivery.
Bridge back: If you cleaned up that chorus, you’d pretty much have a B*Witched track or something. It makes me think of The Go! Team or Sleigh Bells and the synth line is pure Nerfherder.
3. Intercourse – The Ballad of Max Wright
If your intercourse sounds like this I guess you’re getting it really right or really wrong. Either way, this track from the Connecticut noise rockers veers from screaming blast beat intensity to dramatic soundscapes with melancholic math rock elements between. There’s a lot to take in.
Bridge back: Despite being much heavier, there’s a whiff of Trail of Dead to be found in there. The mathy sections also put me in mind of Don Caballero.
4. Sunami – 10 Toes Down
There’s something irresistible about the blend of completely over the top guitar distortion, hardcore vocals and drum production you could just as easily use for a ska record (apart from the kick, I suppose). The elements are all familiar but not usually acquainted. It works though.
Bridge back: It’s clearly calling on a lot of beatdown hardcore but it’s so much less polished and better for it.
5. Múr – Frelsari
Before we get into the music, this is the best album cover I’ve seen in years. It’s like the family portrait of a religious sect who worship Robert Smith. Múr pride themselves on their ability to cross genres easily and combine crushing metal with jazz, choral music, atmospheric soundscapes and high drama – but without feeling at all pretentious.
Bridge back: There’s some Devin Townsend buried in there for sure – and he’s as unpretentious as they come!
6. Messa – At Races
After two and a half minutes of this you feel you’ve got a good feeling for what it is and where it’s going. Then it moves into an instrumental breakdown. Then it basically starts a new song before kicking out a trouser-ripping guitar solo. Then, the singer who has beguiled and charmed her way through the song suddenly finds third, fourth and fifth gears that I just didn’t see coming. Then back to the song they started off with for thirty seconds to finish. Bloody love it.
Bridge back: When the singer starts getting going I can hear echoes of Pink Floyd.
7. Lazywall – Wahrane Wahrane
I hate it when bands shoehorn the scales or instruments of their culture into western music for the sake of being gimmicky or different. Lazywall certainly aren’t doing that and sympathetically meld Arabic and alt rock elements to create something that stands on its own two feet.
Bridge back: The Arabic scales make it impossible not to think of SOAD but the musical ethos makes me think of Gogol Bordello too.
8. Hidden Mothers – Defanged
I can’t think of anything that gets going as abruptly as this. Imagine standing in the crowd and they walk on stage and open with this. You’d think you lost time somehow and it was the middle of the set. Another band combining drama, melody and intrigue with traditional screamy metal.
Bridge back: There’s a bit of Pelican, some ASG, Baroness, Mastodon… take your pick. Worth noting that they don’t actually sound like any of them, though.
Let me know what you've been listening to lately in the comments - or if you've enjoyed any of the bands I've shared so far!
