The limits of music.

I just love music that does not sound remotely like music. There's the type of music that try to push the limit of the music they are creating, and there's the type who know little to nothing about their craft.

Classical music composers like Arnold Schoenberg, John Cage, Harry Partch, Bela Bartok, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen (I can name more but I'll stop there.) have been pushing the edges of traditional classical music, creating new methods of composition with atonality. Schoenberg contributing Serialism and the 12-Tone Row, Partch designed his own musical scale, which consisted of 43 tones instead of the 12 used by traditional Western music, Bartok creating an original modern music style combined with folk elements, Xenakis pioneering the use of mathematical models in music such as applications of set theory, stochastic processes and game theory, Stockhausen redefining notions of what types of sound could be deemed acceptable in composition.

Jazz music is no stranger to this of course, compare the legendary 1961 album by the Bill Evans Trio, Sunday at the Village Vanguard to Free Jazz by Ornette Coleman. The jazz community back then nonsurprisingly called the album bizarre and critics of the time rated it horribly. Now considered a classic free jazz album that is a must listen if you're a jazz enthusiast. Among the most famous names in the free jazz movement are Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler (my personal favourite), Eric Dolphy, even John Coltrane was a big name in free jazz. Avant-Garde Jazz is another name when it comes to musical innovation, breaking established conventions of traditional Bebop, Hard Bop, Swing, and Cool Jazz, creating a number of subgenres including but not limited to Third Stream, Spiritual Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Post Bop, and Modern Creative.

By using the criteria of mainstream popular music, audiences who categorize outsider musicians as "poor" or "inept" frequently do so. These frequently self-taught musicians exude an abundance of sincerity and passion despite shaky rhythms and a lack of traditional tunefulness. Many of these musicians are worth listening to, despite the fact that your initial impressions would be highly unimpressed. Anyone who tries to be odd is not an outsider. The Shaggs, Florence Foster Jenkins, Jandek, Shooby Taylor, Wesley Willis, Brute Force, Ya Ho Wha 13/Father Yod, Little Marcy, T. Valentine, Lucia Pamela, Fran Baskerville the Singing Psychic, Peter Grudzien, Arcesia, Anton Maiden, Wesley Willis, Daniel Johnston, and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy are some well-known figures in that category (David Bowie naming his persona Ziggy Stardust after him)

This begs the question, "What is music even anymore?" and can this even be considered music? 

If you ever asked me what the definition of music is, I would not be able to answer you. I would stand there speechless.

The definition of music and what it is constantly changes.