Mike

I never know whether to laugh or cry when these kinds of discussions (frays?) surface.

Mostly everyone has their own personal philosophy when it comes to aesthetics. It's subjective, because it's personal. Need I repeat that? It's subjective. For that reason, dogmatic statements of personal leanings never bode well in discussion: nobody can accept them, and nobody can rebut them.

gianluca obviously believes that "newness" is the most important (if not the only) factor in reaching value judgements. I don't personally subscribe to that. I believe it's important also to communicate with audiences in a language they will understand. Unless people in Europe or the US have spent some time immersed in musical academia, chances are they will possess a bias towards Western tonality, rhythm, timbre and all the rest of it. For better or for worst, this is the "language" people understand, and it's hardly surprising: they are Westerners who have grown up in a Western society surrounded by a dominant musical aesthetic. Sure, you want to innovate too, but if you depart significantly from a comprehensible reference point, you run the risk of confusing your listener. Think of it as the difference between inventing a new word and inventing a new grammatical construction, or even language.

Of course, some people (gianluca, Carter to name but two) are not concerned with how the audience will react. Again, I don't personally subscribe to that. I derive as much satisfaction from reaching out to my audience (whoever they may be) as I do creating something I am personally satisfied with.

Again, that's all my personal opinion, and I embrace the fact that there are people out there with differing views. But I draw the line at embracing philosophies of exclusivity: that is, I have trouble sympathising with viewpoints which dictate that my own be invalidated. It's a two way thing, after all.

Oh, and I dig minimalism.