Thanks for the response Rick,
That's a lot to consider and very helpful. Just as a frame of reference, I think that the Talking Heads song The Great Curve is just about the most perfect and sublime combination of psychedelic groove ever committed to record. Assuming you know the track then you have a pretty good idea of what I'm shooting for in terms of the sound and feel.
I think in my case your comment of Less is More may actually be the key to unlocking why my beats feel cluttered and repetitively dead. I don't think I had made that clear in my previous message, but I LOVE repetition. There is nothing I like better than a tight groove that goes on for miles but my own beats have been feeling more like a bludgeon than the propulsive rhythm taking the sound further. But my repeating beats are not moving me (and I'm using a variety of iPad apps to make pretty fluid beats that aren't so much on the grid).
