I've always been more interested in sound than songs. When I fall in love with a bit of music it's because it sounds completely unlike anything I've ever heard before. It could be the whole record or it could be a little moment.
David Hepworth talks about something similar here - about how the genius of a record isn't the 'soul' or authenticity of it, but the about the way an idiosyncratic musical choice makes something that pops, something distinctive and sticky to the ear.
And Andrew Bird writes here (via Sippey) about the details of that pursuit, about the tiny technical decisions that go up to make a record sound distinctive and special or, "hijacked by someone else’s record collection".
Lovely stuff.