Everyone has various reasons for listening to what they listen to, but what is the ONE primary reason you listen to Dev?

For me it's atmosphere. Dev's all-encompassing wall of sound and ability to find emotion - whether we're talking Tiny Tears or The Complex - is unique. It fills the senses like nothing else I've heard.

his unique ability to compress raw human emotion into music rather than into lyrics and reach the very bottom of my soul and fill me with the feeling of understanding and passion.

His music's sheer, overwhelming, awe-inspiring-ness every time I listen to it... He's covered every emotion in his music, every different song taps into some emotion or memory as it washes over me, and that's why it's timeless. That's how I know I will NEVER lose faith in Dev and his music. The man's just a step above everything else out there.

His voice/way of using his voice. I think that's the main thing that really makes both his solo project and Strapping Young Lad noticeable and unique. (I'd also call Maynard and Cedric the most important parts of Tool/The Mars Volta, so maybe I'm just a vocal-centered kind of person... then again both of those bands have awesomely cool rhythm sections that I'd put as about equal to their singers )

Runner up: His songwriting, which is experimental and ambitious but still tends to still have memorable melodies/hooks.

Runner up #2: The way each of his albums has a unique atmosphere that tends to permeate throughout the whole thing.

The man creates unique music and therefore it's a unique thing listen to it. It's uplifting you into something that I can hardly describe. It makes you willing to love, kill, destroy, learn, concentrate........ The influnece in any imagineable way is what makes me listening to him. Also his interviews are a special thing for me, it's something in his voice that caught me a few years ago.

Devin is Mother, Teacher, Master, Idol and Destroyer!

[djskrimp]

His voice/way of using his voice. I think that's the main thing that really makes both his solo project and Strapping Young Lad noticeable and unique. (I'd also call Maynard and Cedric the most important parts of Tool/The Mars Volta, so maybe I'm just a vocal-centered kind of person... then again both of those bands have awesomely cool rhythm sections that I'd put as about equal to their singers )

Runner up: His songwriting, which is experimental and ambitious but still tends to still have memorable melodies/hooks.

Runner up #2: The way each of his albums has a unique atmosphere that tends to permeate throughout the whole thing.

Gonna have to concur. I was sucked in with "Sex and Religion"; I'd never heard anyone sing beautifully and brutally like that before. Had to hear what came next when I found out that the Dev had gone solo. As kick ass as the music is, it all comes back to Dev's voice.

The hair.

And that's it.

His voice/way of using his voice. I think that's the main thing that really makes both his solo project and Strapping Young Lad noticeable and unique. (I'd also call Maynard and Cedric the most important parts of Tool/The Mars Volta, so maybe I'm just a vocal-centered kind of person... then again both of those bands have awesomely cool rhythm sections that I'd put as about equal to their singers )

Same here, except I know I'm a vocal-centered person I'm a vocalist myself, and some time ago I noticed a tendency I have to almost every time be dragged in by the vocals if introduced to new music. After I became more aware of this I started thinking more about it, and it seems that my guitarist and drumming friends are the same way.

But on-topic: His voice. Really. The music not far behind, but the vocals are definitely what made me come back for more.

[Blazingmonga]

Nice topic...

I think for me it is because, generally, everything that Devin puts his name to (SYL or DT or DTB or whatever) sort of evolves into a whole little world. Its more a soundtrack than an album. When I listen, I dont hear lyrics and instruments, I see colours and shapes.

You know, you dont listen to Terria...you stroll through it! You get dragged round Infinity. Physicist picks you up with its tractor beam. Ocean Machine takes you from your desert island paradise and tows you into a city port.

Anyway, I guess Devin's music makes me think in metaphors. Sometimes the music is so intense that I dont even hear it. If sound was light, this music would paint a picture so brilliant you would need a magnifying glass to see it all.

Maybe the mix between the heavy and the light for me. Heavier stuffs good but I cant listen to it all the time, so I cant quite get my head around SYL, but with the solo stuff theres a great mix so I can have moments of energy and air-drumming (im a guitarist, why do I air drum so much....) for the heavier bits like those sections of Earth Day, and then calmer moments of just enjoying the music with the lighter stuff....
But I guess the voice is important too, first time I heard him was watching a bootleg Wildhearts DVD with his vocals pretty loud in the mix during their Reading Festival set and they struck me as different and strange, especially compared with the studio recording vocals...

To me it's relaxing, I can submerge into a world where I can be free from everyday life...and more so now that 'The Hummer' has been released. It's hard to find artists these days with as much purpose and knowledge of the music industry as Dev. I find it somewhat magical when listening to the music, it's hard to sometimes comprehend whats going to come next with Dev's music cos it's "so out there".

What I mean is that it's a unique genre, no one else can tap the vein that he has found in music. It's hard to believe that a man with such musical talent is somewhat classified as a "newcomer" into the industry. But most of the time these people dont know what there talking about because mainstream music corprates and music listners alike don't know good music when they see or hear it. They seem to get brainwashed with the fact that if Dev plays extreme music, well then he's an extreme person...and they dont like those kinds of people. But it's there lost, they haven't experienced the majesty that is Dev. Im sure alot of you agree that Dev's music is very spritiual, not so much religous but more so on the relaxation side of things.

Whatever goes on in your life you can always turn to Dev's music for guidence...there is a song for every mood and feeling that a human being goes through. Im just glad im here to experience this great music...and to the people that think he's a nutjob (Poofters in the mainstream), well there going to miss out on great music becasue they tend to be one sided and only like bands that tend to recycle the last group which joined the bandwagon of mainstream hypocrites.

I'm going to cheat and have 2....

Really, it's because it is IMO incredibly unique, but I suppose, ultimately, that wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't for the fact that it just gets me. It touches my emotion.

Because he stuck a phone reciever in his arse backstage at the Jay Leno show.

His beautiful voice and uniqueness. He does it like no other, really. Nobody can touch him in terms of diversity and sheer awesomeness (and this is coming from a Queen fan)

that's a pretty tough question...

His albums are very vivid...they're progressive, atmospheric, beautiful, heavy and weird at the same time. There are awesome instrumental sections, there's fantastic singing and the songwriting is just brilliant.
I think he's one of the few real geniuses, and you notice this instantly when you listen to any of his records.