Genre is culture, in other words. We can’t be post-genre any more than we can be post-culture.
for a little bit,” she says. But being wild doesn’t mean not paying close attention. Quite the opposite— it means thinking on a granular level about sound. “Becoming a critical listener is really important . . . so that you know genres, and you know what's hap- pening in them, so you can then have more tools.” She points out that, especially in the electronic music world, the subtlest EQ tweak can result in the birth of a new subgenre. Acid house, for example, came out of musicians increasing the harmonics in the high range on the Roland TB-303 synthesizer. “And then if you would move the EQ or the cutoff, it would increase the amount of volume in some of the higher frequencies,” Darling says. The squelchy bass sound that emerged was enough to launch a new scene with its own vibe. Your Vibe, Your Narrative Creating a vibe or evoking a lifestyle is becoming more and more important as listeners have moved away from strict genre categories. This is particularly relevant for artists trying to get included in playlists. Camp says that as algorithms have gotten good at generating genre-based playlists, curators are now focusing on vibes playlists—songs to listen to at the
gym, when studying, in different moods, and so on. Before Epitaph, Verano worked as a playlist curator and saw this trend in real time. “I would make a summer playlist, but I'm not just putting on pop songs that you assume would be there. You fit the vibe, which is how people listen to music these days.” As emerging artists, both Mafuna and McK- aige are thinking in this direction. For his newer material, Mafuna says he wants “to make songs that people could listen to in their car, or when they're having a party, or they're hanging out with their friends, but I still add in my own left-fieldness.” And McKaige's customized booking pitches allow her to use her genre fluidity to her advantage, showing how she can complement the vibe at a wide range of shows and festivals. Rather than worrying about categories, they are instead gaining awareness of their brand—or as Swindler thinks about it, they’re controlling their narratives. “Being in control of that narrative is really important. It's important to me that [my] students walk away knowing that they are in full control of their brand,” she says. “If they decide how they want to be seen before other people do, they have a lot more power.”
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