Autism/AS & Repetitive or Catchy Music

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Hello, I have been diagnosed ASD/AS.

I am aged 20, since as young as I can remember (3 years of age) I have listened to electronic, dance, house, techno you name it.

I started going to warehouse parties and underground events near Chicago when I was as young as 12.

Today, I still listen to the very same music, as early as 6:30AM as loud as acceptable.

Do you or anyone you know have an affinity for "repetitive" music. Or music that "seems repetitive", I say this because electronic dance music is repetitive in some aspects but the individual songs are usually made with an incredible amount of layers.

What are your thoughts, feelings about "repetitive" or "catchy" music? Music with repeating vocals (or highly repeated chorus) or electronic dance music with highly repeated notes?

Is it annoying? Do you feel relaxed? Does it give you energy? Do you "think in different ways"? Do you "feel in different ways"? Does de-stress? Does activate the "day dreaming switch"? Do images in your mind appear clearer?

Posted below are examples of "catchy" electronic dance music. Keep in mind this is about catchy music with highly repetitive parts not "just dance music". I'm talking specifically about repetition and things that sound repetitive.





I suggest skipping the first minute if you don't have patience for the introductions of most trance songs.

Example 1: Repetitive background "lyric" in Reverse - Absolute Reality (Arty Remix) (repetition of distorted vocal the entire song!)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIMuYzGO_b0[/youtube]

Example 2: Repetitive Foreground sound(s) throughout the majority of the song Reeves - Dreams
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnnCQN-Q9Dg&hd=1[/youtube]

Example 3: ??? Catchy song One plus One - No Pressure (Deadmau5 Remix)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIOlt61c3tg[/youtube]

i'm not hear to talk about how i feel about the music, i want to hear how you feel tell me

I love playing this music with new people I meet or friends. Reactions seem to always change.

Some common reactions I get from people in my age group:
- Confusion (how do I react to such music)
- Uncomfortable (i feel "funny" when this music plays)
- Ecstatic (bouncing head, change in vocal pitch, etc)
- Irritable (what is that monotonous sound coming from such speakers?)
- Philosophical (starts talking about life)

I deeply love Indian classical music and African music. Both genres can basically be described as improvising within fairly restrictive constraints.

Take Anoushka Shankar's rendition of Kirwani, for instance. She is essentially improvising within very tight constraints of melody and rhythm, producing an iterative sequence of variations on the main melody. This music has, for me, the perfect mix of repetitiveness and spontaneity.

Is that any similar to "tribal music"?

I think the difference is that much of what is called "tribal music" is created recently, by people not actually members of tribes.

Check out this video of Zakir Hussain playing Tintal. And then check out the basic rhythmic framework all of that comes from. There is a sense in which the entire performance is repetitive, as it consists entirely of embellishments on this framework. Yet the repetitiveness is the very source of the spontaneity.

In West African Griot music, there is a similar rhythmic playfulness which is bound by a single repeating measure. A song may rely on the interweaving of six separate rhythms, whose interaction produces a single periodic measure.

Actually, I don't like repetitive music, because it remains in my head and repeats itself unwanted. Variations in melody/rhythm help a lot even when the most obvious part of the music repeats itself over and over.

I'm very demanding of the quality of the audio reproduction. I fact, one of my biggest obsessions is audio reproduction, I can spend hours with tweaking audio equipments (CD player, tuner, amplifier, etc.). I can hear nuances others not. The worst thing that can happen to me is to listen to a very weak and metallic sounding clock-radio at my workplace all day, as my colleagues demand it.

I don't like that kind of music at all....I like very melodic songs. I like children’s musical songs the best...for the last year and a half I've been listening to the nightmare before Christmas soundtrack nonstop. I thought this thread was about playing the same songs over and over again
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This may explain why I like video game music because it always loops when you play the game or you here several variations of the same song throughout the course of the game, like with Banjo-Kazooie, the Mother/EarthBound series or various Mario games.

As for music like Techno and Trance, it makes me energetic and always makes me want to dance!

Yeah, definitely -- I love all this music. But, drum and bass in particular, which isn't represented by any of your examples. So, maybe you consider it different or something other than incredibly repetitive, which house/trance/techno/etc. definitely is?


It's extremely relaxing so long as I'm not already really agitated. Then, it can increase agitation levels.


In addition to relaxing, this music can be very liberating mentally. Not sure why. It seems to kind of "release" my mind -- lets it out of the overly-detailed here and now.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Out4wtHLFBE[/youtube]

There's a lot of repetition in my music even though it's quite a bit older than the stuff that the rest of you are talking about.

In techno trance music i myself listen to it alot because I like the melody in the sound not the repeditive parts that "Normal" people only hear. one site to look for trance music is DI.Fm click on the chillout dreams music and it is the melody without the repetitive parts to it. With other people they do not know why i like to listen to. the only song they like to listen to is Darude- Sandstorm. I do not know why they like to listen to it.

Call me conservative, I like Mike Oldfield's Hergest Ridge, his second album form 1974, the best IMHO, which is quite repetitive and melodic at the same time. Its soft sound pleases me. The best part of it the 'thunderstorm', of course, dozens of guitar sounds put together.

Finally some kindred spirits! Techno forever, b*****s!

I listen to so much techno I can't remember a lot of individual songs. But I do like dance/trance remixes of videogame music, esp. the Final Fantasy series, as they have some good beats to build remixes off of. Overclocked Remixes foxtrot tango whiskey!

I discovered techno 9 years ago when a game called dance dance revolution was popular, I used to only listen to rock and rock at that time such as rammstein. I got into techno and stopped listening to rnr because it was better. as time progressed I got into better techno music that had better melody in it.

OMG I love this type of music! I especially love the bass in all the songs. I like deadmau5, royksopp, Iio, Gregor Treshor, daft punk and more..
When I am stressed out or need to get outta my head I will listen to songs like this and take apart each layer of tracks..like the beat is one of them then the other various sounds and then count how many there are lol...its fun.