I remember the first time I heard The Residents. Nothing could have prepared me for such a unique onslaught of noises (most of which were initially unpleasing to my ears). And yet, something told me to continue listening past the point of wanting to tap out — I guess I had faith that it would all make sense at some point. It eventually did, but in order to reach that level my musical orientation needed a complete repositioning. It recently occurred to me that most of the music I have come to love presented with a rather steep learning curve. Frank Zappa and Mr. Bungle come to mind, both of which produced sounds that were simply not very welcoming to new listeners. In fact, in relation to Zappa, one Redditor summarized the listener’s response cycle for each album, broken up into four stages: Stage 1: What is this shit? Stage … Continue reading →