Be honest: did the results of your Spotify Wrapped have you scratching your head? For many of us, the names of different musical subgenres can sound like a bunch of random words held together by a frame of guitar picks and synthesizer cords.
That’s where Blustre Blustre comes in.
Blustre — whose real name is Jacob Beardsley — has a series of YouTube shorts where he explores different musical genres. He picks his music of the day at random by spinning a gameshow-like wheel loaded with dozens of potential genres, and then listens to the result throughout his day before summarizing what it is and listing his standout picks.
Think of it like extreme musical immersion therapy. If you want to broaden your tastes, this is a great way to do it
Think of it like extreme musical immersion therapy. If you want to broaden your tastes, this is a great way to do it. By the end of the day, you still might not like the genre, but no one could accuse you of not giving it a chance.
I first discovered Blustre after stumbling across his Instagram page. Since then, I’ve been happy to let him do the work of actually listening to everything — but I have discovered several new genres and bands as a result. I’ve also found just how freaking weird music can be, even from an objective standpoint.
I was familiar with the mainstream genres like rock, metal, and showtunes — but never before had I encountered genres like euphonium, flashcore, gabber, voidgrind, or extratone.
While I definitely recommend listening to a few songs from each of these, they will not be for everyone.
But then I’ve found genres like Riot grrrl (yes, that spelling is correct) that are oddly apropos for current events.
Riot grrrl is an underground punk genre that focuses on feminist issues, just with a whole lot of government-oriented rage tossed in.
At the end of the day, what Blustre is doing isn’t just about exposing the world to mostly-unknown musical genres.
It’s about exposure.
While the Internet has made it easier than ever for people to make music and let it be heard by others around the world, the level of saturation makes it hard to find the smaller bands out there.
Blustre’s work highlighting lesser-known bands and genres is more than just a fun hobby and good entertainment. It helps bring art to more people across the globe, and at a time when the powers-that-be try to squash self-expression into nothing, that is more important than ever.
Image: C Cheminot