Kinetic Rhythm in Pop Music
This is something I've noticed that I don't hear anyone really talking about...
Essentially it's the way that separate rhythmic elements of most pop songs interact in a kinetic way with one another. Almost as though they were sparking off of one another(when one is playing the other one often isn't)...and this seems not to fit into any traditional counterpoint style.
One of the best examples of this is Owl City - Fireflies... it's a good example partly because of how distinct and crisp the 3 melodic/rhythmic sections interweave with one another.
Anyway, is there a name for this? I have a hard time coming up with bass lines, not to mention bass lines that spark off the melody this way. Are there any principles I can look up and learn for this?
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(Note that this answer expounds on a comment originally made by Peter.)
One term that may be helpful is hocket. In music of the Middle Ages, hocket describes a single melody that is shared among at least two voices. Often this results in a situation where, as one voice is playing, the other is resting, and vice-versa. This seems exactly in line with your description of voices "sparking off of one another (when one is playing the other one often isn't)."
Even though this concept originated centuries ago, the concept is still alive and well today; we encounter it relatively often in current popular music.
Another related term is composite rhythm; this is the rhythm created by all of the articulations in multiple voices. This is connected to the concept of hocket because, when one considers the multiple voices of the hocket, the composite rhythm of these voices shows how they created a single unified line.
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