Asklemmy

I love when the track goes completely silent for a single rest after some buildup and then punches back into the full chorus. If that “gap” in noise is part of the melody itself it’s even cooler. It makes the following sound so much more impactful, even if the actual volume hasn’t increased by much.

Track 99 on CDs

I like it when the vocalist announces what's coming next, like yelling "GUITAR!" right before a guitar solo or "bring back the horns" right before the brass section kicks in or "sing it, girls" right before the female backups echo the refrain.

I love that train track or horse gallop chugging rhythm some songs have.
Gives me feelings of movement forward, travel or progression.
Great car songs!

Muse - Knights of Cydonia, Roy Orbison - I Drove All Night is probably a good examples of this.

I quite enjoy it when songs sneakily build up, starting out with a mellow rhythm and after a few minutes, you find yourself in the middle of an epic solo on top of this thick carpet of rhythm, and it's all very much over the top, but it works, because of that slow build-up.

I'm a sucker for a good buildup and drop in EDM. As much as I complain about tracks whose sole purpose is the drop, if I'm feeling the song and there's a good drop, you'll likely see this 40yr old's bass face.

In hip hop production, at the start of a new bar, silencing the drums and bass for the first quarter note - a technique J Dilla popularized. If your nodding your head along to beat, and the 1 is silenced like that it, it really just hits harder.

In jam/improv based music, the tension and release theory. Where the lead instrument solos in a certain key without ever hitting the root note of that key. It builds up a sense of tension since we expect to hear that note but aren't. The solo continues and the tension increases. Eventually the lead instrument hits that note, and if the band is good, the rest of the their parts increase in intensity simultaneously. The result is a sense of release from the tension and even euphoria.

I love songs that completely change genre partway through. Can be slow acoustic songs that switch to fast techno; loud, bangy songs that turn calm and soft; rap songs with calm, piano-based choruses; whatever.

Examples would be:

• Still Loving You by Sonata Arctica
• Lost Winter Days by Alpine Universe
• Journey to the End by Windir
• Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance.

I love a good "stickedibum". Which is a song ending in 4 quick drum sounds. I can't quite explain it, but for example the four very last drum notes on Alive by Pearl Jam is a stickedibum.

I like it when a chorus gets built up more on each repetition, either with the addition of more instrumental parts, new harmonies or background vocals, or a beat change that brings up the intensity.

Similarly, I like when that same effect happens within 2 halves of a chorus. Example of one I heard recently is the chorus of the song "Breathing" by ELLEGARDEN. The 2nd half adds a higher vocal harmony + a picked lead guitar line that open up the sound a bit and just give it a nice little emotional boost.

I don't know how to describe it or have the music theory knowledge to understand why it's so satisfying, but the outro for Tank! (Cowboy Bebop opening song) is just so good and I can't explain it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFFa0QoHWvE?t=194