Sometimes a song comes on and I have a very particular reaction.
It’s taken me a long time to put my finger on anything meaningful about it. A funky, pronounced bassline, interesting vocal harmonies, big, wide synth sounds, an unexpected chord progression - all are things that induce this feeling.
I’ve taken to calling them “sour sounds”. This might sound unpleasant to someone, but if you know me, you know that I love torturing my mouth with tangy, acidic flavors. You know that feeling of salivating and feeling that ache in the roots of your molars when you eat something really sour? That’s what I’m talking about, but in my ears and brain.
That’s why I’ve begun cultivating a playlist. On it are songs that I deem “sour” for one reason or another. The goal of it is for me to be able to hit shuffle and have my sour response.
The things that make a sour song to me are:
- Many layered sounds
- Musical parallax (I don’t know if there’s a technical term for this. It’s not quite call and response or question and answer. It’s when a higher pitched voice and a lower pitched voice shift tempos between each other, and it’s something I came to notice in the Wild Arms soundtrack in its particularly Western themes.)
- A big, fat, wide, low, bass synth
- A good, funky bassline
- Faster tempo
- Surprising chord progression
- Diverse instrumentation