How about genres you thought you didn't like but then it turned out that you did?

I never would've said I liked norteño (Mexican polka music) before discovering the films of Les Blank, but his two documentaries about the style, Del Mero Corazón and Chulas Fronteras, are seriously incredible. I fell hard. Ditto with cajun and zydeco music in his many, many films about Cajun culture, especially Always For Pleasure. I had an inkling that there might be some stuff that would resonate with me there but through my explorations spurred by those documentaries, I've found stuff like Clifton Chenier's 70s recordings that are now among the most beloved titles in my record collection.

I never would've thought that I could get into reggaeton either, until I started working with a Puerto Rican guy who shared some 90s marquesina tapes with me. Super raw. Those turned my conceptions of the genre inside-out and now I love a lot of it.

The last few years for me have really expanded my appreciation for synth and electro stuff, too. I was always kind of a rockist growing up but it's been fun to go back and color in all the different tastes that I passed over before-- the cold, the alien, the Euro, the Goth, the minimalist. All that has come from just sharing space with people who are enthusiastic about different stuff than I am, and I'm better for it.

I've kinda always loved a lot of rap and country and jazz and classical and folk and r&b and disco. Sorry guys. And gospel has the edge on almost any genre when it comes to passion and earnest sincerity. I mean, what else are you gonna sing about, love?

~Rae