genres and subgenres

Southern Gothic  is a subgenre of Gothic fiction in American literature that takes place in the American South. Common themes in Southern Gothic literature include deeply flawed, disturbing or eccentric characters who may be involved in hoodoo, ambivalent gender roles, decayed or derelict settings, grotesque situations, and other sinister events relating to or stemming from poverty, alienation, crime, or violence. Due to the era that many of these stories were written, many include very racist elements and themes. Origins Elements...

Synth pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called Techno-pop) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic, art rock, disco, and particularly the “Krautrock” of bands like Kraftwerk. It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part...

Synthwave (also called outrun, Retrowave and Futuresynth ) is a genre of electronic music influenced by 1980s film soundtracks and video games.] Beginning in the mid 2000s, the genre developed from various niche communities on the Internet, reaching wider popularity in the early 2010s. In its music and cover artwork, synthwave engages in retrofuturism, emulating 1980s science fiction, action, and horror media, sometimes compared to cyberpunk. It expresses nostalgia for 1980s culture, attempting to capture the era’s atmosphere and...

Underground music comprises musical genres beyond mainstream culture. Any song that is not being legally commercialized is considered underground. Underground music may tend to express common ideas, such as high regard for sincerity and intimacy, freedom of creative expression as opposed to the highly formulaic composition of commercial music, and appreciation of artistic individuality as opposed to conformity to current mainstream trends. Apart from perhaps the underground rock scenes in the pre-Mikhail Gorbachev Soviet Union, or the modern...

Witch house is an occult-themed dark electronic music microgenre and visual aesthetic that emerged in the late 2000s and early 2010s.  The music is heavily influenced by chopped and screwed hip-hop soundscapes, industrial and noise experimentation, and features use of synthesizers, drum machines, obscure samples, droning repetition and heavily altered, ethereal, indiscernible vocals. The witch house visual aesthetic includes occult, witchcraft, shamanism, terror and horror-inspired artworks, collages and photographs as well as significant use...