This is a fun topic...
I have found through my experience that one can experience all the senses in a deep meditation way, and music can be a very fun one for me. Most mainstream and alternative music, which usually consist of a three to five minute song, are good short journeys. I find it is best to be in the mood for it first. After that you follow the stillness in your mind to bring yourself to a good deep stage, a starting point so to speak. I usually just do this with open eyes and just fall into the mind. That is a combination of, as I said, follow the stillness of the mind, while relaxing the body and allowing the proper flow. Sometimes residing there can be light, moderate, or intense, and there are times I have no control over how intense it gets. Luckily, I just go with the flow, equanimity.
Now, when I get to that deep place and start listening the fun begins. The term fun here has to be expanding from the usual pleasure-seeking conception to include the unpleasant experiences as well -- they are also fun. From here, when the song plays you can observe the sounds, and I thank Jhananada for this term, with bare attention. There is so much happening with the sounds that I find are easily missed while working or with friends; when you are with yourself you can really listen. When you go deeper into the mind, listening becomes more powerful.
I find it fun to compare artists in how they bring about a reaction within me, with emotions, perceptions, and memories, etc. So much is transmitted through a song. If you listen, you can see what the content of the song is about. I can see the song playing itself out through me. I find it can bring out emotions within me which I cannot find a context within my life. Or the remembering of a feeling which, again, has not happened in my life. I find when you listen you can get to the really meaning behind songs, some which may be hidden. There seems to be a level of communication that happens below the words, with the vibration.
I find Nine Inch Nails is a great example of this. They have a song called, "Find My Way". At the end of the song, he sings, "I have been to every place, I have been to everywhere, I'm just trying to find my way". I heard this and I was blown away. I know this feeling. I know this experience. It is not easy. It is seeing yourself as a small speck, through the eyes of the Divine. You are nothing, even with everything you experience (five senses and the mind). As you are seeing yourself through the eyes of the Divine, you realize you are exactly like everyone else, with no purpose. Everything has already happened, is happening, and will happen, so what is the point? Even so, despite being everywhere, to every place, you still trudge along with life, as nothingness, with no real ultimate purpose, with the knowing you really don't exist. But you still continue on...
Minimal techno is a great choice without any lyrical content. It is simple and allows your mind to go whatever it wants or is supposed to go. The thing with this choice is makers of this genre know people use it for the purposes of getting deep in their mind, and they tailor it for that purpose. Stoners love this kind of music (which I have done in the past but now enjoy sobriety), but it is also really enjoyable sober. I find it is best for in the background while you are getting deep within yourself. Sometimes I enjoy combining drawing and listening to minimal techno, all the while my there is a crazy intense charismatic experience occurring within me. I have yet to find others I can jive like this with, but I am sure the group energy would send me exploding. Someday...
Here is an example of minimal techno:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAcVBd7ehPcPlease mind Bugs Bunny
Jay
