While each individual phonomancer has their own favorite genres of music they’re into, phonomancers band together in “covens” of others who relate to music in a similar way.
Hype
What’s the point of coming out to dance and listen to music if it doesn’t make you feel GREAT!?!? Given the right soundtrack, tonight could be one of the best nights of your life, and you’re here to remind people of that.
Maybe your DJ sets bring every rave to the next level, or maybe your playlists keep marathon study sessions going ALL NIGHT LONG. Music is all about ENERGY!!!
Chill
Who cares what you listen to as long as it makes you feel amaaaaazing. There’s a tranquil pool in the center of your consciousness, and music is the best way to submerge yourself into that.
Maybe it’s the hypnotic beats, or melodic arrangements, or vocal harmonies that get you into your happy place, but the point of music is to connect you to your truest self, and the truest selves around you, and the way you do that is through inner peace. Can’t you just… feel it?
Melancholy
Everything sucks. You’re surrounded by a******s all day long, nothing makes any sense, and nobody understands you. Well, almost nobody. There’s this song, or artist, or genre that just…yeah.
Every genre has its sad songs and its sad sacks, from the goths gazing into the abyss and hoping for it to gaze back, to the country kids yearning for their lost loves or dogs or trucks down at the honky-tonk, to the white collar children of blue collar parents pining for a New Jersey they don’t quite understand looming on the periphery of a Springsteen concert. They’re everywhere, and they can always spot one another, because misery loves company.
Aggro
F*** this shit. You have to go to school every day. Your parents are the worst. The entire world is falling apart. Relationships don’t make any sense. Nobody really understand you and it’s P***ING YOU OFF.
You might be into punk, rap, metal, or anything that reflects and amplifies the RAGE inside you. Maybe you have a cause, maybe you have dozens, or maybe you just like picking fights. Whatever the reason, you’ve got a lot of anger to work out, and you favorite music reflects that.
Obsessive
They’ve heard your song, but have they ever really listened to it? They’ll have to when the DJ finally gets around to it, and then you’ll have your eight minutes and fourty-three seconds of bliss.
The one thing you and your covenmates have in common is the certainty that each of you evangelizes the one true audio gospel. The rest of them are wrong, of course, you gotta respect their devotion. Some of you are indie rock purists, others are rockists in general. You’ve got jazz aficionados and novelty music enthusiasts, and probably someone who straddles the middle and only talks about Frank Zappa. But who knows? Maybe you’re all climbing different paths up the same mountain…
Which phonomancy coven is the best? It will all be decided at the biggest dance of the year! Represent your coven at My Jam, presented by Larp House in Minneapolis on August 19. No prior larp experience is necessary!
Rule the school. Sign up for My Jam today.
Photo credits: Michael Nusbaum, Ray Molinari, Elmo Love, Trip & Queball, Darekm135