i like!

some ideas on varied textures (not suggesting doing all of these) :

Have a long slow melody in background during some parts.

Drop down to just bass&snare for a few beats.

Drop down to just synth arpeggio for a few beats.

Sudden break to a sound fx - then music back in.

Ideas such as these ideally used to build momentum, so that when everything comes back in it's like a crashing wave racing forward, so to speak.

Some rilly old school examples from same band:

Slow melody over fast beats:

Crosseyed and Painless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY3tHQJegOM

Live (break down to just one or two intrstuments in brief places):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyDb4szpWmc&feature=related

Born under Punches

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilcD1fHcGB0

Break down to drums/bass near end (old Afro Pop style):

i zimbra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-RDJ4Z4XrQ

Ancient examples, but seems to work....

I should definitely experiment with some of those things, and try to vary the textures of my music at times. Sometimes it is hard to think of how to vary a piece.
The Talking Heads certainly do do some interesting things. There's often an interesting rhythm going on in their works.