why is it that unusual time signatures make music so interesting?

@Felthry I think I like the way you have accents at a nonuniform rhythm? Like in Led Zeppelin's "The Ocean", you have every other measure ending an eighth-note earlier and it's nonuniform but consistent in a way I can lock into https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2kLS4gkks

@packbat I hope you don't mind that I don't watch your example--listening to music with lyrics is something we avoid at the best of times and right now it seems harder than usual

but yeah, I can see what you mean I think?

But not all music has that--look at the Marx battle music from kirby for instance, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NmGBbzHDjc

there's no discernable overall structure at all

@packbat though, the marx battle music is designed to be disorienting and awkward

we've heard it described as "like a carnival ride that's gone completely off the rails"

@Felthry Yeah, the rapid changes in pattern definitely fit right into a "this is disorienting" feel

@packbat you see unusual time signatures fairly frequently in battle music, stuff that's supposed to make you feel a bit overwhelmed--see for example the 23/8 ganondorf battle music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thomsF5OY_g or the "28-and-change/16" Strong One (Masked Man) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgIRaLHLug0

Or, it's used in a less overwhelming and more just "urgent" manner in the 5/4 battle theme Don't Be Afraid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbORjWw_6No

@Felthry it's a way to use the very rhythm of the music to create tension, isn't it? The rhythm is unsettled and unsteady, which adds to the feeling that the situation is up in the air and we are yet to feel how it will come down.

(Oh, hey, "Don't Be Afraid" uses the 5/4 clave! I only learned the name of that recently, so. 😄)