For our first meetup of 2017 we followed the theme Genre Mashups – an album where we hear an artist experimenting with genres they don’t normally use, covers in genre styles, or experimenting with a wide-ranging sound on one record.
We listened to Bran Van 3000’s 1997 debut “Glee”. Our session was curated by Matt Rose, a Birmingham-based music lover who says: “the whole album is a kaleidoscopic blend of pop, hip-hop, rock, folk and all sorts - most tracks blend more than one genre. After we’ve listened to it, people can suggest their own genre bending tracks.”
Reactions were generally good: we averaged a 6.5-7/10 score for the album and most people found something to like in its swirling, ever-changing mix of 17 songs across almost an hour of music.
Suggestions for songs at the end ranged from “I Wanna Go Back” by Onra (suggested by Robin), “Rudebox” by Robbie Williams (shared by a not-quite-being-serious Matt), “Midnight In A Perfect World” by Robin again, “Breathe In” by Frou Frou (suggested by Greta) and a couple of others I forgot to write down (“Bullet” by SiM, by Abdul, and a song by Anathallo suggested by Joe).