Subtleties in Music that Tickle your Fancy

[monotone_ink]

Tell me, when it comes to music, what subtleties make you instantly fall in love with it?

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I'll start with a little obsession of my own:

I don't know why, but I've always been obsessed with soundtracks that feature classical instruments, whether they be as backing, main focus, or a mixture of both. This applies to songs that have a focus on creating an orchestral feel, as well as songs that have a mainstream swing to it. Here are some examples to illustrate my point:

The use of trumpets is subtle but Godly

This one's just great

This too is interesting, in that while there's a melancholic build up. I always found it interesting that the track features both a fast dance beat with a full-on orchestra - you wouldn't think both things mix, but it somehow works perfectly well here.

While this one sounds more like a DDR song, the prominent use of piano, especially the crazy solo starting around 1:40 really tickles my fancy.

I don't know if I'm just being stupid here and am just memeing myself, but all of my favourite songs seem to have this trait in them. I can't help it.

[joannekwan]

I am a SUCKER for strings, especially lonesome desolate ones, and particularly the cello.

It just transports me to another place and I love it!

[DokiDokiTsuna]

This is an incredibly subtle subtlety, one that I probably don't know enough about music to even accurately express:
Accidentals. I like songs whose melodies include flat or sharp notes; my ear is mysteriously attracted to them. I have this sneaking suspicion that it might actually have something to do with chord progression, but I don't know enough about that to make any judgments (nor do I have time for a 5-hour research break).

I also like good BASSLINES! Not the "bass" that you find in pop music (although that does have its advantages), but a bass that actually gets to play...like, more than 3 different notes? When it comes to rock, bass guitar; in orchestra, I need that cello. In any genre of music, the performance/inclusion of the instrument with the lowest pitch largely determines whether or not I press the "replay" button.

[Kann]

Oh man. I'm a sucker for good basslines. ;w; I love the sound of bass (or lowest pitch instrument depending on the type of music).

[A-weird-girler]

I don't know what it's called but, when there's a line with a certain symmetrical beat. I think it's called an ambic pentameter? I don't know but it's subtle and I like it

[Jenny-Toons]

There is a reason I love 80s slow jams & rock music, and it's the synthesizer, the echoing sound you get from an electric guitar, and strong vocals, which you definitely get with 50s/60s songs.

The synthesizer is amazing -- it's not just that popping, high-pitch "alien noise". It's also that sorta earthy sound you get when you hit the low keys, the soft melodic sound when you hit the medium keys.

It's also nicely combined with guitars -- often electric and base.

Diving into the guitars, the echoing sound of electric guitars really hit me. One of the best reasons I will go back and back to "Stairway to Heaven" and nearly cry. That's some serious finger work (no pun intended )

And the vocals -- I need vocals where I can feel the passion in them. High notes, prolonging the notes just a little bit, a bit of a crack in the voice, and the talking you get when someone is encouraging the other background singers to step it up.

Here's just some awesome examples!

Edit: Sorry, I'm really not done XD I nearly forgot the "Wah-Wah pedal" and the amazing violins you hear in old 70s slow jams and 70s psychedelic rock (when they'd have some good orchestras playing for those songs, lemme tell you). They still got them vocals, but man -- I gotta give a mention to that.

Here are MORE examples XD

Here's also more info on the "wah-wah pedal":

[ar-ninetysix]

Subtleties, hmm? One example I can think of right off the bat is the main theme of Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The main melody or motif of the song is actually another leitmotif in the Zelda series, but in reverse. You play it normally, you get Ballad of the Goddess, but if you play it backwards, you'll hear Zelda's Lullaby from other games.

In a similar way, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker messed with motifs. There's two songs in the game that you learn and use at different points, and combined, they make up the main melody of the title screen theme. Just... Zelda, in general, has stuff like this. This is as much as I'll talk about 'em lol Undertale does this a fair amount too.

Now, for the music I regularly listen to.. There's one in Silent Planet's "Redivider" which.. first off, it's a screamy metal song so fair warning. Second and more relevant to the topic, the lyrics were written as a palindrome! Meaning that if you read them backwards (word by word) it'll be exactly the same, but the meaning changes. It does this at the halfway point of the song.

I checked out Gogo Penguin's latest album a while back and it had some solid songs (they're fusion jazz, don't worry lol) the two songs that stood out to me the most were "Raven" and "Window". Raven might be more subtle to those who don't play music much or understand the intricacies of playing an instrument, but the amount of ghost notes on the drummer's snare is stupid ridiculous and I love it

Window on the other hand, is more subtle with the intricacy being the time signatures. Dear god, they're all over the place. 9/4, 3/4, 11/4 as one measure in the intro verse alone.. They're crazy lol