Why are we all going minimal?

[Dustin Zahn]

2 Dollar Egg:
Gelb EP - http://www.vitalvinyl.com/album/60855.info
Naxos - http://www.vitalvinyl.com/album/51174.info

Besier & Lorber
http://www.vitalvinyl.com/album/56220.info

We Are
http://www.vitalvinyl.com/album/63046.info
http://www.vitalvinyl.com/album/63448.info

Pascel Feos & Chris Wood:
http://www.vitalvinyl.com/album/58850.info

Someone Else Picture Perfect Adam Beyer remix

Tony Rohr "Water, Water, Everywhere"

Mathew Jonson - "Marionette"

[machina]

it is very similar to the electroclash thing - almost identical now that i think about it... here in melbourne a lot of the djs etc who jumped on the electroclash bandwagon are now the ones that are pushing the minimal thing as well - seems like there is some crossover in the scenes but i don't really see a link in the music itself. is it the same in europe/uk? is it electro people who are really into the minimal thing? or are they two separate and distinct scenes over there?

machina

[Conan]

Its not the same dj's that I was talking about but the people that follow them. They follow it now but they wont in a while was my point. I dont denounce the producers of the music though as they're doing their thing which is cool.

[tekara]

"For instance, I had Carola in town last week and he played all kinds of stuff from trendy minimal pokerflat shit to the new ozgur can on truesoul."

I saw marco carola a few weeks in town as well (guess hes doing a North American tour), and he was playing minimal in the beginning, but at around 3am, it sounded pretty hard to me

[tekara]

im not sure if its the old school guys that are getting tired of the hard stuff and slowly progressing towards more minimal sounds, or whether they are just jumping on the bandwagon. For me, i dun really care what kind of techno it is, as long as it sounds good. I think whats happening is alot of guys see Adam Beyer making minimal stuff and just want to catch on to the hype before its too late. Sometimes its true that 'less is more'.....but sometimes its the case where 'less is simply less'.....

I think guys like Rob Hood, John Tejada deserve all the credit they receive

[holotropik]

I aint buyin it. I went through my minimal phase years ago and just finished the electro thing.....now I am dark and deep again. Maybe I am out of phase??

[eyeswithoutaface]

but no ones trying to take anything away from the likes of Hood who have been doing their thing for years, and its certainly nothing like the electroclash fad. AT ALL!!!! people like Hawtin have been doing this for years, and i know alot of people who've been making tracks like this for years too but just havent had an outlet for it, or labels and distributors would turn them away with "its too minimal" etc etc, and now these same people are getting their hand bitten off by distributors.

People forget its not the artists who make these sudden upsurges in popularity, its the people buying and listening to the music who, imo, are probably getting bored with the same old same old be it in techno, electro etc whatever and are simply digging something new. Nothing more, nothing less. There are those clowns who follow it for the image but the guy who said its like electroclash over there in Oz, well im sorry but have you been to the UK? There are people who take the whole image thing too far yes but the amount of people into the music side of things far outweigh any scene jumping trashbats.

It does take alot more effort to produce an effective minimal track than it does an average techno track, that's not to say you need to be more "intelligent" which is some peoples weak argument, its just to say thats it not as easy as doing straight up 4/4 techno in terms of programming and production. The sound needs to be tight, which alot of current regular techno producers fail to deliver in their club stuff so i could only imagine how they'd approach it. Beyer is a great example for me where its done well, there's no doubting he's a great producer and "Walking Contradiction" is a great record. Id rather people tried what would be deemed new ground for them rather than just repeating and repeating themselves over and over with records they themselves havent got much interest in, because what would be the point in that?

[Miromiric]

hey dustin! you reckon there`s still place for butty and me to jump on a wagon?

[philipryan]

Personally I really like a lot of it... given the glut of it about at the moment I'm sure there's plenty of rubbish but the stuff I've heard on Sender, M_nus, Palette, Minimise, Poker Flat, etc has been pretty nice... I like the quirky, abstract sounds in a lot of it.

With respect to hearing it in clubs, I'd think along similar lines to Sunil though ... it's nice at the start of the night or intermittently throughout, but I couldn't imagine anything more boring than listening to it start-to-finish.

[Conan]

but no ones trying to take anything away from the likes of Hood who have been doing their thing for years, and its certainly nothing like the electroclash fad. AT ALL!!!! people like Hawtin have been doing this for years, and i know alot of people who've been making tracks like this for years too but just havent had an outlet for it, or labels and distributors would turn them away with "its too minimal" etc etc, and now these same people are getting their hand bitten off by distributors.

People forget its not the artists who make these sudden upsurges in popularity, its the people buying and listening to the music who, imo, are probably getting bored with the same old same old be it in techno, electro etc whatever and are simply digging something new. Nothing more, nothing less. There are those clowns who follow it for the image but the guy who said its like electroclash over there in Oz, well im sorry but have you been to the UK? There are people who take the whole image thing too far yes but the amount of people into the music side of things far outweigh any scene jumping trashbats.

It does take alot more effort to produce an effective minimal track than it does an average techno track, that's not to say you need to be more "intelligent" which is some peoples weak argument, its just to say thats it not as easy as doing straight up 4/4 techno in terms of programming and production. The sound needs to be tight, which alot of current regular techno producers fail to deliver in their club stuff so i could only imagine how they'd approach it. Beyer is a great example for me where its done well, there's no doubting he's a great producer and "Walking Contradiction" is a great record. Id rather people tried what would be deemed new ground for them rather than just repeating and repeating themselves over and over with records they themselves havent got much interest in, because what would be the point in that?

I just mentioned that in a previous post. I wasnt connecting the artists to the trend but the people followning it and the buzz around it.

I have difficulty with this statement that these minimal tunes are harder to make. Granted I am not producing yet and I might not notice the suttleties but doesnt it depend on who you compare them to? And what you look for in a track?

[eyeswithoutaface]

well with all fairness you really need to have a better understanding of how a track is actually made to form a true opinion on that one. It genuinely is more difficult to get a solid groove out of less elements. Im talking content aside, technically you have to be alot more creative to make the track work as apposed to just adding a few more subtle loops. not being condescending by the way, just saying literaly it is harder to get more out of less.

[Conan]

No I dont take any offence at all, I understand what you mean now and it does make more sense. I guess its also good music for people who aknowledge good production and can appreciate its difficulty. I do accept this point about the quality of prodcution and I aslo accept that there is a completely different set of intentions when this music is being made, like whats not there and as was mentioned getting a solid groove out of less elements.

[basslinejunkie]

for me and my musical tastes,theres a serious lack of good quality techno around,and theres been a lack of it for some time,apart from the odd one or two releases now an again,so im exploring other avenues such as minimal.even getting in2 some indie stuff.

[Buttman]

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH minimal SCHMINIMAL

Only Basic Channel and G-man ever did it well.

[zaalmoetlos]

i'm quite glad that something is happening atlast the years between 2001 and 2004 were the lowpoints in techno production if you ask me. Especially 2004. It's getting exciedingly hard to find well produced techno with the emphasis on interesting productions instead of layers of beats. I think minimal on its own is to boring to listen to for too long and i'm not a big fan of the clubby sound. But as a part of a well constructied set it can deff add to the experience. I think new ways of dj-ing will also ask for a more minimal aproach to production and hopefully futrure producers will be influenced by minimal and give it some balls

[Miromiric]

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH minimal SCHMINIMAL

Only Basic Channel and G-man ever did it well.

bah, what about reich, young et al back in 60s? :lol:

[Mindful]

Great thread.

For me the great minimal techno comes from people like Surgeon,Regis,Ho,Ruskin,Vogal,ect, not realy the new fresh sound of minimal music or what alot of people now would reconise as minimal.
But never the less this has been the stuff that has inspired me in minimal techno music the most.And theres a few people whos stuff im just starting to get exposure too for instance Luka Baumann and Grovskopa.
All these guys have a great understanding of mood,energy and subtleness in the sounds used,track structure and overall mood and vibe of the music.

Theres also a lot of good hard and minimal techno about.As Justin pionted out theres alot of great hard and minimal industrial techno and it doesnt have to be 140bpm or above to be hard.

Also I have to mention Rob Hood,Mills,Basic channel, Carl Craig,UR.
Not realy the kind of sound I am trying to describe above but a huge huge influence and insperation to me and Techno in genaral.

[Mindful]

Oops also i wanted to pick up on the piont being made about the production values of alot of this stuff.
The standerds are good production wise and altho this has been said ,Its very important how the small amount of sounds used are produced very well.

For instance, my usual technique for getting(or trying to get) a full sound when making music is the layers and textures that are built up.
But with the more minnimal stuff i do(alltho I personaly class all of my music as minimal)its more about how good you can get the single sounds, somthing I dont find so easy.

[SlavikSvensk]

bah, what about reich, young et al back in 60s? :lol:

steve reich=godfather of techno

[Dustin Zahn]

hey dustin! you reckon there`s still place for butty and me to jump on a wagon?

sorry buddy, the bandwagon axel has broken! You can still walk around in the pre-ripped clothes with sun glasses and two days unshaven faces though!