“Chill Fi?” “Glow wave?” “Glow Core?” “Glow Fi?” “Glow Worm?” “Chill Worm?”
If I understand correctly, all the music blogs in the world right now are trying to come up with a universal name for a genre of music they should really just call Sounds Like Panda Bear.
Seriously, Sounds Like Panda Bear would work just fine, and would be much less embarrassing than “Chill Wave.” If you were trying to describe one of these bands to your friend Joe, and your friend Joe said, “What kind of music is it?” You could just say, “It Sounds Like Panda Bear.” And then, if Joe was like, “I don’t think I’ve heard Panda Bear, so that doesn’t help.” You could just say, “You know, Joe, Panda Bear is that music that your (boy/girl) friend with messy hair and glasses and converse used to play in (his/her) car all the time. Remember that song that sounds like the Beach Boys are singing up at you from the bottom of a well. They are going, ‘I don’t want to take pills anymore anymore,’ and all the songs are really long and repetitive?” And Joe will be like, “Oh, right.”
(At this point, I should point out that I am a fan of Panda Bear’s music; my frustration is aimed at the silly genre names that I mentioned at the beginning of this entry.)
I mean, why does everything have to be a genre anyway? I remember when I first heard the word “Emo;” I read it on a website created by a local high school band who sounded like Sunday Day Real Estate. I thought to myself in horror, ‘Oh god… if I ever have to describe the band Sunny Day Real Estate to someone, am I going to have to say the word ‘emo’ outloud?”
By this point, millions of people have said the word “emo” outloud, and no one has ever liked it. So please, let’s not bring another really embarrassing genre name into the world, fellow members of the internet. Down with “Glow Fi!” Down with “Chill Wave!”
If that genre does have to have a stupid name, I vote for “Chill Worm.”
-Warren
