...however, my ears don't hear what my brain knows to be true, a lot of times. Once you get to a point that so many modes or scales are being ripped through simultaneously, it becomes functionally atonal in my ears, and then I find myself looking for a life raft of some sort. That's why I find it easier to listen to Webern than a lot of Cecil Taylor's stuff, because the composition itself is the life raft. Even though Webern's music should be more foreign in nature and therefore more "difficult," it's actually Taylor's music that feels like I have to work at it too much to enjoy it.