These are all real, serious questions!
The word "genrefluid" isn't a BEM creation - we shamelessly pilfered it from Knifeworld's Kavus Torabi, an exemplar of the term if ever there was one. To us, it has two distinct meanings, depending on whether you're talking about music or us as a label.
Firstly, it refers to music that eludes conventional genre classification, either by including elements from so many different styles and influences that the distinctions between them become meaningless or by being so unique as to be unrecognizable as part of any established category. We at BEM love this kind of music. In an era in which many genres have fallen into something of a stagnant period, breaking the mould completely is one of the best ways to stand out. Obviously, all music is at least a little derivative of something or other, but our kind of band is the kind that makes you think "there is nothing else out there quite like this".
This can make our music a pretty hard sell - back when I wrote BEM's press releases, I remember typing out a lot of lists of seemingly unrelated bands and feeling like I was only gesturing at the harmonious whole I was describing. That said, it can be a useful hook at times. You can't read "XTC meets Pugwash" and not be at least a little bit intrigued. (I'm talking about Valdez, by the way.)
When we use "genrefluid" to refer to ourselves, though, what we're talking about is almost the opposite. Rather than being so specific and unique that nothing else quite compares, we mean that we're a broad church, and will consider acts from almost all points on the musical spectrum. A lot of smaller labels develop a strong, focused brand for themselves, with artists that share a lot of stylistic features and that can be a very successful pursuit. But that's not us. We hope to cultivate an audience that's not wedded to any particular set of traits, and is thus willing to expand their musical horizons even when we release something that might not usually be in their wheelhouse.
Even just taking a look at our first few releases, there's intelligent dance music, instrumental math rock, symphonic prog, heavy psychedelia, and whatever the hell you call Tom Slatter. More recently, we've had spacey dub-pop, a piano-and-electronics solo suite, and even a spoken word album! So I think it's fair to say that we have a pretty broad stable. And we're proud of it.
So that's genrefluidity. Do we still fit the title? Are there any other bands you like that you'd call genrefluid? Let us know in the comments!
This can make our music a pretty hard sell - back when I wrote BEM's press releases, I remember typing out a lot of lists of seemingly unrelated bands and feeling like I was only gesturing at the harmonious whole I was describing. That said, it can be a useful hook at times. You can't read "XTC meets Pugwash" and not be at least a little bit intrigued. (I'm talking about Valdez, by the way.)
When we use "genrefluid" to refer to ourselves, though, what we're talking about is almost the opposite. Rather than being so specific and unique that nothing else quite compares, we mean that we're a broad church, and will consider acts from almost all points on the musical spectrum. A lot of smaller labels develop a strong, focused brand for themselves, with artists that share a lot of stylistic features and that can be a very successful pursuit. But that's not us. We hope to cultivate an audience that's not wedded to any particular set of traits, and is thus willing to expand their musical horizons even when we release something that might not usually be in their wheelhouse.
Even just taking a look at our first few releases, there's intelligent dance music, instrumental math rock, symphonic prog, heavy psychedelia, and whatever the hell you call Tom Slatter. More recently, we've had spacey dub-pop, a piano-and-electronics solo suite, and even a spoken word album! So I think it's fair to say that we have a pretty broad stable. And we're proud of it.
So that's genrefluidity. Do we still fit the title? Are there any other bands you like that you'd call genrefluid? Let us know in the comments!
Status Update
This week, we finally revealed the packaging and album art for Dial, which is now just barely over a month away! You can check it out in all its glory here - and make sure to get your preorders in too.
Review Roundup
Mothertongue got some extended coverage in a Limelight spot about Where The Moonlight Snows in the latest edition of PROG - you can check it out here, and there's a link there to the album if you like what you're reading.
We also had some coverage from Poland this week, specifically a hopefully positive review of Mike Kershaw's Arms Open Wide. Thanks! We think.
so have you decided on preferred pronouns then yet?
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