Your favorite thing in music

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

List the thing that happens in music, that there may not be a direct name for, but you just love it when you hear it in a song.

I like it when they cut out the drums and the rest of the song keeps going on for a little bit and then BAM the drums come in really loud. DJs do it a lot, and it's always awesome.

Et toi?

― David Allen, Saturday, 29 November 2003 05:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I like clean, reverbed-out noodling guitar melodies over walls of distortion -- especially in rock song with a definitive non-surf bent.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 29 November 2003 05:46 (twenty-two years ago)

erm, songs

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 29 November 2003 05:47 (twenty-two years ago)

(i.e. Pixies and *cough* D.A.D.)

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 29 November 2003 05:48 (twenty-two years ago)

You mean Disneyland After Dark?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 29 November 2003 05:51 (twenty-two years ago)

12bit drum samples.

― Nihilist Pop Star (mjt), Saturday, 29 November 2003 05:57 (twenty-two years ago)

costumes
screaming
blast beats
oscillators
TRICKY MELODIES THAT DON'T GO WHERE THEY "SHOULD"
3/4 and 15/8.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I love the holding-out suspense then surprise thing mentioned at the top,
but also DRONE!
and other-worldly noises
and pure smooth gooey pop candy texture
and reverb
and the perfect melodies or beats

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:03 (twenty-two years ago)

when somebody writes a song and you expect a change to come on the fourth or eighth bar and the writer threw in or dropped a bar just to throw you off.

― Nihilist Pop Star (mjt), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:04 (twenty-two years ago)

You mean Disneyland After Dark?

yes.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:04 (twenty-two years ago)

songs that have parts written across bar lines are fantastic.

― Nihilist Pop Star (mjt), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I like stuff!

― James Slone (Freon Trotsky), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:08 (twenty-two years ago)

A bridge that's either unexpectedly poppy or unexpectedly pretty or unexpectedly menacing.

― Unum, Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:10 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, I don't like that

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:11 (twenty-two years ago)

And though it's not my absolute favorite thing, I also really like songs that have one piano-note running through it. "I Wanna Be Your Dog". "Desperado" by the Pooh Sticks.

― Unum, Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:12 (twenty-two years ago)

But seriously, I dig music with huge torrents of sound (not just a wall, but a cascading aural mess), really clean, utterly sparse and stripped down rhythm with little melody or even added texture (without the wall of sound), dub basslines that fade in and out of the music, eclectic stylistic breaks and cuts, dainty harpsichord lines, music that is alternately dreamy and violent, strange pulsating sounds operating at a nearly sub-aural level, etc, etc, etc.

― James Slone (Freon Trotsky), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:13 (twenty-two years ago)

this kind of spacey thing. like i'm insidethe music, or its enveloping me AND AT THE SAME TIME its drifting/slurring.

― gaz (gaz), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:14 (twenty-two years ago)

this kind of strangeness that is ALSO familiar.

― gaz (gaz), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I love the first 10 seconds of Velocity Girl's "Copacetic" - just a nice, sweet, jangly guitar, and then at eight or nine seconds, the drums and feedback kick in.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:26 (twenty-two years ago)

well executed counterpoint melodies

― bahtology, Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:29 (twenty-two years ago)

the part where the song bursts into flames and the vocals almost effortlessly--but not quite gracefully--soar above the music. the melody here has to be really light and simple, so the vocals can stay above the inferno. sort of has to float, divinely serene, above the rage beneath. when a song has that part, HOLY SHIT, I want to die listening to it.

yeah, i liked early to mid 90s emo.

― ohrobert, Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:44 (twenty-two years ago)

robert--

indian summer 'angry son' does this. most indian summer does, actually.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:47 (twenty-two years ago)

OhIan, I know. Indian Summer was a favorite of mine. Crashing, crashing, crashing, then nothing more than silence. And the way they'd play those old jazz vinyls in the background... Mmmmmmm.

Still Life, Shotmaker, Mineral, Boy's Life, Navio Forge, Hoover, etc. That's high school fer me!

― ohrobert, Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:54 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, high school ruled. except for me it wasn't all about Mineral/Boy's Life.. substitute in Policy of 3 and Ordination of Aaron.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:55 (twenty-two years ago)

when they cut out the drums and the rest of the song keeps going on for a little bit

See, I'm the opposite. I love when they cut out the song for a long drum break. Witness the nine minute version of "Bra" by Cymande.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:58 (twenty-two years ago)

(used brilliantly by Spike Lee in 25th Hour, btw.)

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:59 (twenty-two years ago)

There's an amazing drum solo on some Grand Funk live album my friend played for me the other day. Sounds like Lightning Bolt!

― Ian Johnson (orion), Saturday, 29 November 2003 06:59 (twenty-two years ago)

extended outros or codas where the chord sequences from the main part of the song are stretched out, or augmented/rearranged.

― steve, Saturday, 29 November 2003 07:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Immersion in a 90 MPH World!!!!!!! What a record! OOA's poppier parts could annoy me at times though.

And I'm not familiar with Policy of 3, although for some reason I want to associate them with the whole Majority Rule, Pg. 99, City of Caterpillar clusterfuck.

― ohrobert, Saturday, 29 November 2003 07:02 (twenty-two years ago)

PO3 were around at the same time as the rest of those early 90s bands. Released on LP on Old Glory and two 7"s that I haven't heard. The LP is great though!

I think Ebullition is going to issue a discography sometime?

― Ian Johnson (orion), Saturday, 29 November 2003 07:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I really like beginning-of-song fakeouts--where the rhythm's accent appears to be in one place and ends up being somewhere else (e.g. the Snivelling Shits' "I Can't Come"), or where the intro is in a totally different key from the rest of the song (e.g. New Order's "Everything's Gone Green")...

― Douglas (Douglas), Saturday, 29 November 2003 07:47 (twenty-two years ago)

when the songs starts to implode and derail instelf, like in daydream nation.

when an instrument sounds like it's bleeding

accapella lead-ins to final choruses like in nazz "forget about it awhile" and that anothology outtake of "got to get you into my life".

(lately) prog/rockpop-lite guitar solos (i.e. todd rundgren, prince, brothers johnson, richard bitch, "digital love")

― stealth, Saturday, 29 November 2003 11:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I love it when a song grabs me by rhe balls and I dont know why. I listen again and again and I cant figure it out. Theres something going on and its not something I can know immediately.

In short:
Take Situation, mood and hormones combine with
a complex adaptive emotional response add
a new sound, a voice that is familiar yet unnerving,
lyrics that say something you already know but weren't aware of
and a rythm that resonates with the part of you you call Human and there you go...
Oh yeah, timings important too.

― kevin brady (groeuvre), Saturday, 29 November 2003 11:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Really fucking distorted 303 lines that sound like a fucking robot army marching through a swamp at 600rpm

eye-bulgingly detuned Albini-esque guitars akin to bouncing a wrench off a steel door

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Saturday, 29 November 2003 12:55 (twenty-two years ago)

that reminds me; repetitive, marching band-style drumming could possibly be my singular most favouritest thing in music.

― brian badword (badwords), Saturday, 29 November 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

how boring is that?

― brian badword (badwords), Saturday, 29 November 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

one note being played, over and over again, for 24 hours.

― scelsi's ghost (jdesouza), Saturday, 29 November 2003 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Unexpected sounds that mesh very well. Especially icy electronics and warm regular instruments, done best in the early 80's. Synths and horns are a very underused combination, OMD and Blancmange did it.

Really unexpected sounds that aren't musical, wierd sound effects, like smashings or electric drills, put into regular pop music.

syncopation- I think is the right word- like a simple sung melody with an unexpected wierd instrumental rythm. Sequenced 16thnote synth patterns against vocals or guitars in a different rythm. Drones.

Songs that morph into an entirely new melody right when you expect the song to end- it couldn't be two songs squished together because neither would work as well alone, they have to mesh.

― sucka (sucka), Saturday, 29 November 2003 14:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Songs about Satan!!

― sucka (sucka), Saturday, 29 November 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

i just downloaded D.A.D's "Sleeping My Day Away"... its pretty cool.

― Matt O'Malley (matthew omalley), Saturday, 29 November 2003 17:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Hah, I loved those guys for that song. Fun video too.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 29 November 2003 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

immanence

― bakhtin, Sunday, 30 November 2003 02:29 (twenty-two years ago)

8-bit reggae samples (ditto hip-hop/r&b)
tuned percussion
mentasm stabs/riffs
scratching
highly textured snare sounds
cod "dub" effects
sub-bass

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 30 November 2003 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't feel like writing another verse, don't want to repeat the chorus the same way? That means it's time for the key change! I love the key change! See "I Want It That Way" and "Livin on a Prayer."

― daria g (daria g), Sunday, 30 November 2003 02:48 (twenty-two years ago)

REVERB!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 30 November 2003 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

(However my favorite album is notably devoid of it)

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 30 November 2003 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

pianos, organs, synths
ridiculously ornate horn charts
1960s psych-soul singers with new york accents

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 30 November 2003 03:59 (twenty-two years ago)

also: the "wall of sound" effect when used by ppl other than phil spector

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 30 November 2003 04:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I like groups that show
unexpected influence--
flash of a friends' breasts

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Sunday, 30 November 2003 04:49 (twenty-two years ago)

handclaps!

― jed (jed_e_3), Sunday, 30 November 2003 04:54 (twenty-two years ago)

sci fi samples

― steve (steve), Sunday, 30 November 2003 05:55 (twenty-two years ago)

there are apparently unconnected elements... and then the BASS drops and it all comes together.

that huge SLAM sound that momentarily overwhelms the riddim/seems to pull everything down a black hole, before the riddim reasserts itself. sherwood after jammy.

― gaz (gaz), Sunday, 30 November 2003 06:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Vocalists with large penises.

― mom, Sunday, 30 November 2003 06:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Right now. Heavily quantised to 16th percussion with alot of swing. Eratic bass attacks that go between long analog decays then into bass burps. Steady snares that sneak in between the assault like soldiers trying to maintain peace. Billowing airscapes like the God watching over. Liquid Bass.

― cs appleby (cs appleby), Sunday, 30 November 2003 06:56 (twenty-two years ago)

WTF? I responded to this thread already, but for some reason it doesn't show up anymore: "Major seventh chords, from bossanova to Sleater-Kinney."

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 30 November 2003 08:28 (twenty-two years ago)

major chord, overdriven, tremeloed.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 30 November 2003 11:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Cowbells
Air-raid sirens
Nu-hip-hop and RnB where it goes silent very briefly and then rocks back in (very Neptunesy)

― Nick H (Nick H), Sunday, 30 November 2003 13:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Handclaps seconded.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Sunday, 30 November 2003 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Late '70s disco/funk drum sounds where the drums sound like they're made of graphite or concrete or something (Slave's 'Feel My Love' and 'Stone Jam' are prime examples of this - I mention those two because I have a 12 inch with them on the a and b side).

Fender Rhodes pad chords in disco and funk. There is something totally heavenly about this (with the right chord progression) over a solid drum/bass combination (and poss. rhythm gtr.).

Live instrumentation generally (I've nothing against computers or drum machines and have been using them myself for years) but I love hearing that push/pull of timing imperfections in a live rhythm section (and also the shifting, squidgy sound texture of a real hihat or ride compared to the discrete quality of the hits in programmed patterns). And those moments where you can hear the drummer had a rush of enthusiasm and it gave a little lift to the track.

― David (David), Sunday, 30 November 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.