|
I have always been curious as to this. I find that when talking to music lovers who are NOT fans of sonic youth, it gives me a better understanding of the people like me who are large sonic youth fans.
I think it is a crucial step in the brain, or a trait. I do not know if it is learned or inborn. I feel that what connects most sonic youth fans is their ability to appreciate sounds that to many other people are cacophony. some call it noise, or skronk, or scree, or feedback, or walls of sounds, but I think it is best described as cacophony or polyphonic cacophony.
To me music that is just a dude on a piano singing is too sparse, not enough sonically going on to keep my interest. The song has to be very good for me to get into it, a la some beatles songs.
I prefer music that contains a wide spectrum of sounds all at the same time, whether that means symphony orchestras, sonic youth, gamelan music (as discussed in another thread), salsa music, bebop, or punk rock. even bands like The Cure who do not actually play skronk, have a multi layered trait to them that forces the ear to grasp more than a couple of musical strains at one time. That is the music I love the most. That is the music that pays me with repeated listens, rewarding me every time.
what do you guys think about this? Does your general musical tastes run to the polyphonic, cacophonic?
|