The Beauty of Dissonance

Interesting read, but I was surprised that the author didn’t discuss the dynamics of the interplay between dissonance and consonance. What makes consonance so satisfying is the juxtaposition against dissonance. Maybe it didn’t come up because his examples don’t exhibit it? I wouldn’t know because I listen to different genres than he discussed. It is certainly a concept explored in many forms of jazz.

As another modern example, one could listen to the live recordings from the latest The Mars Volta tour where these incredibly beautiful progpop songs are interspersed with atonal and arhythmic interludes giving the simple beauty of their original studio songs a satisfying contrast.