Pop. Indie. Electronica. Soul. Do these words mean anything any more? Switch on the radio and you could be mistaken for thinking that genres have blurred into one. But dig deeper and you'll find that there are more than ever. Here, we present a glossary of 2012's essential musical movements (and only a few are made up by us). Plus, a chance to sample tracks from 25 of the 26 genres mentioned in Spotify (Tumblrwave is just too damn new).

Afrobeats

D'Banj. Photograph: David Livingston/Getty

Not to be confused with the 1970s Afrobeat of Fela Kuti – although admittedly it is quite confusing – the addition of an extra "s" denotes a frisky, contemporary fusion of hip-hop, house and west African pop, as championed by London DJs such as Choice FM's Abrantee and 1Xtra's DJ Edu. Nigerian Afrobeats star D'Banj, recently signed to Kanye West's GOOD Music label.

Key track D'Banj – Oliver Twist

See also Hiplife

Brostep

Skrillex

Minted in the UK by Caspa and Rusko, eagerly lapped up by American former nu-metal fans and a Tolkienesque creation named Skrillex, brostep is dubstep for jocks, with any lingering meditative qualities elbowed out in favour of relentless bass ejaculations and face-melting blowtorch blasts.

Key track Flux Pavilion – I Can't Stop

See also Thugstep, grosstep, wobble

Cloud rap

Main Attrakionz. Daniel Boczarski/Getty

Apparently, maverick Bay Area rapper Lil B once pointed to a CGI image of a castle floating in clouds and declared, "I want to make music like that." And so he did, commissioning producer Clams Casino to make the dreamy, diaphanous I'm God and blessing it with his gloopy flow. Suddenly, from A$AP Rocky to SpaceGhostPurrp, hip-hop has found itself getting supremely, majestically zonked.

Key track Main Attrakionz – Perfect Skies

See also Trillwave

Doom

Sunn O)))

Forged by groups such as Candlemass and Saint Vitus, doom does roughly what Black Sabbath did, except slower, heavier, and with the addition of the claw (contort your hand as if it's holding a bowling ball, then project to sky). Formidable, cowled "drone doom" group SunnO))) have taken the genre to its logical extremes by holding down one incredibly loud, incredibly low chord for what seems like all eternity.

Key track SunnO))) – Aghartha

See also Sludge metal, drone metal, death doom

Europop

Faye

Erase all memories of Vengaboys gyrating in camo crop tops; new wave Europop finds its choicest form in 2012 with class acts such as Icona Pop, Niki & The Dove, and Faye. Their electronic euphoria is guilt-free cred-pop for those opposed to David Guetta's chart supremacy.

Key track Faye – Water Against The Rocks

See also Scandibeat

Funky

Champion

Tiring of grime's permanent screwface, in 2007 a cadre of east London producers invented a percussive blend of UK garage, soca and US house. They originally called it funky house, later shortened to funky avoid association with Hed Kandi-style chain bar muzak. And although funky's had a fallow couple of years, rip-roaring new productions from the likes of Ill Blu and DJ Champion suggest that a second, grimier wave of UK funky is upon us.

Key track Champion – Crystal Meth

See also Bassline, rhythm'n'grime

Gothgaze

Toy Photograph: Joseph Okpako/WireImage

Simple arithmetic, this one: goth + shoegaze = gothgaze. Galvanised by the Horrors' eager adoption of My Bloody Valentine dynamics, east London's trenchcoat glitterati have been carving out their own niche of dreamy, krautrock-inflected gloom. SCUM are already familiar to readers of Hello! while Toy recently signed to Heavenly, and Advert, Novella and Victor Talking Machine lurk in the shadows.

Key track Toy – Left Myself Behind

See also Darkwave

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Hipster house

Protect-U

It was perhaps inevitable that once they'd exhausted the psychedelic possibilities of freak folk and 80s pop, Williamsburg/Echo Park/Portland hipsters would turn their attention to "rediscovering" house music. House lifers sneered, but the whacked-out slo-mo grooves peddled by the likes of Teengirl Fantasy and former punk-funk guitarist Ital, via tastemaking labels such as Future Times and 100% Silk, have been pretty enthralling.

Key track Protect-U – Motorbike

See also Chillrave

Indielectual

Alt-J. Photograph: Andy Sheppard/Redferns/Getty

Lad rock bands the View and the Pigeon Detectives may have soiled indie's sensitive rep, but the likes of Everything Everything, Django Django and Alt-J have recently salvaged some dignity for the sound. Replacing lager-loutishness with existentialism and port, this is cerebral guitar pop garnished with a smattering of smart reference points, designed to reward careful listeners.

Key track Alt-J - Tessellate

See also Swot rock

Juke

Traxman

Esoteric subset of Chicago ghetto house that evolved into footwork, lately popularised by Planet Mu's Bangs & Works comps and the juke leanings of bass producers Addison Groove and Machinedrum. Comes accompanied by its own dance style – check out the YouTube clips of dancers pulling off unfathomable moves in unglamorous locations to juke and footwork's furious percussive pummel.

Key track Traxman – We Are Da Best

See also Footwork, ghetto house, booty bass, B-More

K-pop

BigBang

Korean pop isn't a new phenomenon, but it's currently poised to launch a squeaky-clean assault on western tween affections. Frontrunners in this brand of meticulously produced, turbo-charged bubblegum pop include 2NE1 – who've been working with Will.i.am – and BigBang, who beat Britney to a European MTV Award last year.

Key track BigBang - Feeling

See also J-Pop, C-Pop

Lazer funk

Rustie

A convenient appellation for the thrillingly maximal brand of glitchy neon rave favoured by Rustie (pictured, above), Hudson Mohawke, Krystal Klear and their LuckyMe/Numbers pals. May sound daft but it's only slightly less ridiculous than some of the names they came up with themselves.

Key track Rustie – Ultra Thizz

See also Aquacrunk, wonky house, glitch-hop, post-Dilla

Minimal wave

Xeno & Oaklander. Photograph: Miss Liz Wendelbo Alex Gaidouk

Originally made in the 1980s by choleric Europeans with budget analogue synths and a Joy Division fetish, minimal wave has since been exhumed by a new generation of music nerds entranced by its dour momentum. Now, labels such as New York's Wierd Records are pioneering a modern spin on the genre.

Key track Xeno & Oaklander – Sets & Lights

See also Minimal synth, coldwave

Nightbus

Synkro

A charmingly apt name for all of the sensitive poshboy quasi-dubstep pleasantness that's followed in Burial and James Blake's wake: too fey for the rave but ideal for when you're riding home – alone – on London's N68.

Key track Synkro – Why Don't You

See also Blubstep

Ooze

Laurel Halo

The creepy lo-fi hypnotica made by Salem, Laurel Halo, Hype Williams and Motion Sickness Of Time Travel doesn't assault your eardrums, instead oozing stealthily out of the speakers and congealing in a sticky puddle on the floor. Sleazy, queasy and distinctly uneasy.

Key track Laurel Halo – Carcass

See also Witch rave, gloop

Post-internet

Grimes. Photograph: John Londono

The ultimate mode of expression for the everything-all-the-time generation, post-internet describes the musical brain-vomit of those who've ingested so many stimuli they find it difficult to settle on a distinct style. Grimes and Kreayshawn are its poster girls, funnelling a deluge of esoteric influences into their deranged pop.

Key track Grimes – Oblivion

See also Splurge pop

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Queer rap

Zebra Katz. Photograph: Miikka Pirinen

This is a new scene emerging from New York's clubbing underbelly (see the Guardian's recent feature). Producers like Brenmar and Nguzunguzu have teamed up with out-and-proud rappers including Mykki Blanco, Le1f and Zebra Katz (pictured, left) to make industrial, woozy tracks that Madonna will be emulating a year from now.

Key track Zebra Katz - Ima Read

See also Homo-hop

Retrolicious

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. Photograph: Karl Walter/Getty

Retrolicious is a term recently coined by LA's freak-pop godfather Ariel Pink to describe the fuzzy feeling created when passing obscure 80s pop or 60s garage through the warped lo-fi filter of a frazzled 21st-century beatnik. Pink's fellow travellers John Maus, Nite Jewel and James Ferraro are all at it, not to mention newcomers Dirty Beaches, Daughn Gibson and Duane The Teenage Weirdo.

Key track Ariel Pink – Baby

See also Glo-fi, hypnagogic pop

Scandipunk

Iceage. Photograph: Michael Burnell/Redferns

Refused and Kaospilot may have been stabbing their crusty Nordic Cross flag into music's gut for years, but a new generation of Scandi-punks are ready to take up the mantle. As raw and uncompromising as all proper punk should be, the likes of Iceage, Holograms and Lower attack the genre with buckets of bile and a soupcon of added spook.

Key track Lower - Craver

See also New Nordic rock

Tumblrwave

Kitty Pryde

On micro-blogging site Tumblr, where a Gif of Rihanna is cultural currency and everything is better with a sparkle animation on top, the next generation of clued-up kids are busy marking out their territory. Its stars are "designer + songwriter + all around renaissance girl" Kilo Kish, and Kitty Pryde, a 19-year-old from Daytona Beach who sits on her bed hazily rapping about her crushes and collaborates with MTV's "human meme" Riff Raff.

Key Track Kitty Pryde – OK Cupid

See also Blog rap, seapunk

UK bass

Pangaea

Frustratingly diffuse term for everyone in the post-dubstep diaspora, uniting such disparate talents as DJ Fresh – who is now basically making straight-up pop music – and Untold, who is now basically making straight-up four-to-the-floor techno. But there's a lesson in there somewhere; if you refuse to come up with your own name for the music you're making, eejits like us will have do it for you.

Key track Pangaea – Hex

See also Post-dubstep, future garage

Voodoo house

Demdike Stare

A sturdier British response to the witch house fad, as practised by shadowy outfits Demdike Stare, Raime and the Blackest Ever Black clique. Combines eerie found sounds with faceless Detroit techno and Throbbing Gristle-style industrial mischief, plus a working knowledge of the occult, and a penchant for visuals borrowed from sinister instructional films of the 1950s and 60s.

Key track Demdike Stare – Metamorphosis

See also Witch house, hauntology

Wave, The

Touché Amoré

A self-defined movement of post-hardcore bands with a heavy lyrical emphasis, Touché Amoré, La Dispute, Defeater, Pianos Become The Teeth and Make Do And Mend hark back to the 90s emo scene, before it became all about straightened fringes, pink bracelets and Jared Leto.

Key track Touché Amoré – Home Away From Here

See also Screamo

Xenomania

Gang Gang Dance. Photograph: Brian Deran

No, not the Girls Aloud production team, but the practice of western artists raiding local musical cultures from around the world to add exotic flavour to their own productions, in the manner of MIA and her erstwhile partner in crime Diplo. As Gang Gang Dance, Grimes and Julia Holter have proved, these days you don't even need to leave your bedroom to cadge a bit of global cred.

Key track Gang Gang Dance – Chinese High

See also Worldbeat, tropical

Youth soul

Jessie Ware

Blame Adele for ushering in a new wave of young Brit-soul singers who talk like it's 2012 but sing like it's 1972 – yes, Lianne La Havas and Michael Kiwanuka, we're looking at you. Jessie Ware, on the other hand, brings something subtly spiky and modern to the party.

Key track Jessie Ware – 110%

See also BRIT-school soul

Zombie rock

Sissy And The Blisters

Zombie rock defines the sound of gloriously bedraggled new UK bands such as Sissy & The Blisters, Gabriel Bruce and Rough Trade newbies Palma Violets, currently summoning the spirit of the Bad Seeds and the Bunnymen to a dank basement in south-east London.

Key track Sissy & The Blisters – Let Her Go

See also Post-post-punk