The Minimal Thread

Zascar

With a fair bit of talk about minimal lately, on this forum and others, I thought I'd start another thread instead of digging up this one.

So yes I know a lot of people don't like it, but there are plenty of genre's lots of people don't like. I've only just started getting into it recently (I used to hate it), but since then I have been listening to very little else, and the more I dive into it the less I realise I know! I need some help...

So, as I said I'm by no means an expert but I'm going to make a few recommendations of minimal type tunes that I really like. Some of these may not even really been classed as 'real' minimal, and possibly be more like on tech or progressive house etc, but I'll give it a go anyway... I hope some of you guys can do the same...

Gabriel Ananda - Doppelwhipper Probably one of the best known minimal tracks
Audiojack - Robot When I first heard this tune I though it was pure crap and could not understand why anyone would like it, now I think it's a cracker!
Nathan Fake - The Sky Was Pink( James Holden Remix )
Josh Wink - Swirl
Theo Parrish - Falling Up (Carl Craig Mix)
Marc Houle - Bay of Figs
Shalomi Aber - Freakside
Sebastian Ledge - Maximal
Stephan Bodzin - Bedford

Other notable Artists:
Alex Under
Stephan Bodzin
Gui Boratto
Giorgio Giordano
Shalomi Aber
Trentmoller

Right. Your turn. Can anyone recommend some tunes, artists, or albums? Please give links wherever possible guys.
Cheers
Zascar

Scubadevils

Have you listened to any early minimal from Richie Hawtin / Plastikman?

http://www.discogs.com/release/2256
http://www.discogs.com/release/666

Bit later...

http://www.discogs.com/release/13780

Also Monolake well worth a listen...

http://www.discogs.com/release/11559

Or any other album but the first; 'Hong Kong' is very rare.

If you haven't already, you should also check out some 'IDM' - a discussion also going on in Experimental about a lot of albums -

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055205037

If you like minimal, you should love IDM

jtsuited

IDM is the silliest name for a genre ever.

check out boris brejcha and shlomi aber.

Scubadevils

Its not the best name I agree but it amazes me how many people choose to ignore this music just because of the name. Thats silly.

Zascar

When I first heard of "Intelligent Dance Music" I did also think it sounded a bit pretentious, but the explanation kind of saves it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idm

Anwyay, back to minimal.

KevIRL

Anything off the M-Nus label.

Magda's 'She's a dancing machine' is a brilliant mix CD from last year (Maybe even the year before).

If you ever get the chance to see Narod Niki (Laptop minimal supergroup), take it. Saw them at Sonar last year, the line up changes from gig to gig, but that time Villalobos, Hawtin, Luciano, Dandy Jack, Afuken and about 3 others played. Best set I ever heard.

hans gruber

Shame Rob Hood never existed, eh guys?

jonny68

jtsuited wrote: »

IDM is the silliest name for a genre ever.

check out boris brejcha and shlomi aber.

It certainly is mate, intelligent dance music..jesus wept :rolleyes:

francois

hans gruber wrote: »

Shame Rob Hood never existed, eh guys?

Agreed, also a lot of the early stuff on relief records,(DJ Boris, Jay Dehnam), as well as the ultraminimal studio 1 releases ( essential for anyone interested in the genre ) http://www.discogs.com/label/Studio+1

Also excellent is The Mind Drum (http://www.discogs.com/release/100303) featuring a Chuck D sample which just keeps repeating

Not to mention one of the greatest ever minimal releases phyllips track 1 & 2 on Basic Channel, fcuking amazing, deep hypnotic groove

jtsuited

Felixdhc wrote: »

Its not the best name I agree but it amazes me how many people choose to ignore this music just because of the name. Thats silly.

IDM was never a real genre though. it's really just an nme name for Autechre, Plaid, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, etc.
Which is really better described as "electronica- Warp, Rephlex, Skam, etc.'

back to the minimal thing, i can see minimal being huge over the next year, as people become bored of rock music and turn to the dark side of house.

electro got a lot of people into dance music last year, and minimal may do the same (albeit to a lesser extent) over the next few months.

oh and minimal is sort of a backlash against the nostalgia in dance music (a la the asylum thread). which is always a good thing.
The great thing about minimal is that while it's not got the immediate appeal of electro, it has a more longlasting novelty, and will inevitably lead to an increased interest in other genres like prog and tech-house.

one of the huge drawbacks of minimal though is that when it's done badly it's truly horrible.

Zascar

Excellent point, i totally agree.

copeyhagen

yeh big fan of minimal.

id have to be at home on my laptop for good recomendations,


mark mendes - beneath you, more progressive than minimal.

zabiela & fanciulli - no pressure (deadmau5 mix)

ill pick out sum gems tonight

jtsuited

probably should mention this:

i've been producing a good few minimal tracks (release soon) lately and showing them to my rock music friends has really been an eye opener.
as soon as a lot of them hear it, they're like 'what the hell is that? where the hell can i get it?'
a lot of these wouldn't listen to dance music if you paid them.

personally i love the latin jazz musical influence on a lot of minimal. rhythmically and melodically it's very similar to bossanova/salsa styles. listen for it the next time, you'll be amazed at how obvious it is.
it's just the synth work on it 'disguises' it somewhat.

Riesen_Meal

hans gruber wrote: »

Shame Rob Hood never existed, eh guys?

lollers

Scubadevils

jtsuited wrote: »

IDM was never a real genre though. it's really just an nme name for Autechre, Plaid, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, etc.
Which is really better described as "electronica- Warp, Rephlex, Skam, etc.'

There are tonnes of artists under the IDM genre, it just so happened to start with the likes of Autechre and some other early Warp releases on Artificial Intelligence which is pretty much how the term started. It is supposed to refer to the 'intelligent' equipment that the music was produced on and not the individuals that made or listened to the music...which is what redeemed and made the term ok in my mind.

Anyway, sorry Zascar, dragging your thread off topic

I must check out some of these recommendations too, haven't a clue about more recent releases...actually, if people were to recommend one album to buy that was released in the last 12 months, what would it be?

jimmychin

fabric 36 - ricardo villalobos


nuf said!

MikeHoncho

This is gonna be the year of minimal for definite. Everyone and their mother will be harping on about it in the next few months. Sure their is a thread over on the Alternative and Indie forum about The Field at the moment.

hans gruber

Wonderful music in fairness.

Minimal's been dead a while, in my eyes...

Maximal is the next big thing. Its deadly when you're taking cake, especially.

Zascar

What's Maximal? I know it's a tune by Sebastian Ledger but I didn't know it was a genre of its own!

Electronic music has too many dam genre's....

jonny68

hans gruber wrote: »

Wonderful music in fairness.

Minimal's been dead a while, in my eyes...

Maximal is the next big thing. Its deadly when you're taking cake, especially.

Maximal FFS Jesus wept :eek::rolleyes:

jonny68

MikeHoncho wrote: »

This is gonna be the year of minimal for definite. Everyone and their mother will be harping on about it in the next few months. Sure their is a thread over on the Alternative and Indie forum about The Field at the moment.

Ibiza will have zero atmosphere in clubs (like certain minimal nites last summer) if minimal contiinues, i remember hearing some DJ in Space playing minimal last summer, i stayed there for 20 mind and everyone was just nodding their head to the music, you'd get more atmosphere in a funeral parlour:eek:

Riesen_Meal

jonny68 wrote: »

Ibiza will have zero atmosphere in clubs (like certain minimal nites last summer) if minimal contiinues, i remember hearing some DJ in Space playing minimal last summer, i stayed there for 20 mind and everyone was just nodding their head to the music, you'd get more atmosphere in a funeral parlour:eek:

Have you ever been to DC10? Best craic ever.....

Cocoon in amnesia?

Thats your opinion Jonny, just coz its not "bangin bangin" and you dont like it doesnt mean that "Ibiza will have zero atmosphere" - Ibiza will always have atmosphere, no matter whats played....

jonny68

Fieldog wrote: »

Have you ever been to DC10? Best craic ever.....

Cocoon in amnesia?

Thats your opinion Jonny, just coz its not "bangin bangin" and you dont like it doesnt mean that "Ibiza will have zero atmosphere" - Ibiza will always have atmosphere, no matter whats played....

No i deliberately didn't go to DC10 because it was minimal and i don't go places where i don't like the music no matter what the craic(plus ni heard it's way too overcrowded there), maybe zero atmosphere was a bit strong a word but the atmosphere wouldn't be half as good as say a funky/electro house nite in Pacha or something.;)

Anyway ill exit this thread now.:)

Cianos

Two of my favourite tracks at the moment. I'm living in Berlin and these are both from here.

Booka Shade - Night Falls

Extrawelt - Soopertrack

copeyhagen

johnny68 likes hard house.. jokin.

my mate was in ibiza last year and has loads of videos of filthy tech house and minimal gettin played at we love sundays at space. oliver huntemann - 37degrees and huntemann and bodzin - rubin..slice of filth. looked amazing. he said the crowd were goin mental for the minimal.

some minimal rocks, but read this interview with sasha:

Skrufff: Writing in DJ Mag’s top 100 issue last month you said “A lot of minimal music is self-indulgent music for people to **** off to,” why do you think it got so popular (a lot of **** out there?)

Sasha: I don’t know, I think with all kinds of music, all the genres, you have people who just copy, who are not innovators. I know it’s too self indulgent for me to say that, it happens in all genres… I obviously had a bee in my bonnet that day.

classic.

jonny68

Sorry guys couldn't resist it:o:D

http://www.discogs.com/release/90095

There's no arty "minimal" aesthetic at work here, oh no... and the time could not have been any other than 1991-1992: a nice fat 202 bassline, a breakbeat, robot voices screaming "Exterminate!", and then a huge "Strings of Life" sample in the middle of it with an eerie female vocal on top,Perhaps you had to be there, but to hear this sort of thing when it came out: it still sends chills down my spine. Even with the entire crowd on Doves I'm still surprised these sort of records did anything but confuse people.

.

MikeHoncho

Time to stop living in the past Jonny. Dance music is a progressive movement. I cant stand people bringing up this cheesy sh!t from way back when, it just sounds so dated. I mean I respect these guys for being pioneers but lets move along please.

You realise you sound like an old man right:

"not like it was in my day il tell ya, these kids and their minimal techno no tune to it anymore"

jtsuited

MikeHoncho wrote: »

Time to stop living in the past Jonny. Dance music is a progressive movement. I cant stand people bringing up this cheesy sh!t from way back when, it just sounds so dated. I mean I respect these guys for being pioneers but lets move along please.

You realise you sound like an old man right:

"not like it was in my day il tell ya, these kids and their minimal techno no tune to it anymore"

.

KevIRL

Mikehoncho & Jsuited, lets not turn this thread (or any other) into a slagging match over people's tastes.

Jonny68 may not like minimal, his post however was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek.

Cheers

Kev

MikeHoncho

KevIRL wrote: »

Mikehoncho & Jsuited, lets not turn this thread (or any other) into a slagging match over people's tastes.

Jonny68 may not like minimal, his post however was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek.

Cheers

Kev

As was mine. If any offence was taken I apoligise.

Although I would expect that I am as entitled to my opinions as he is his.

BillyoftheBeast

Zascar wrote: »

What's Maximal? I know it's a tune by Sebastian Ledger but I didn't know it was a genre of its own!

Electronic music has too many dam genre's....

Maximal FFS Jesus wept

You two guys some up this forum here.

TechnoFreek

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but I too have never understand the minimal thing. I didnt mind it too much a long time back when people used to refer to it as minimal techno and Hawtin pretty much had the scene more or less to himself!

Anyway, rambling aside...I'm going to give this new fangled minimal one last try in the hope that I "get it".

I am looking for minimal mix cd recommendations by big name artist/players in the scene.
Preferably stuff from the past two years and something that has a little bit of bite to it e.g. I find Villalobos a little bit too much down tempo.

All suggestions welcome! No flame wars please!
I'm here to learn!!

Zascar

I'll start by giving myself a shameless plug - I've only recently started getting into the minimal thing and have made a few mixes so they might be useful to ease you into it:

Minimalistic - tech house with some minimal, focusing on the more chunky bouncy side.
HeavyWater - Some of the more deep, minimal and sometimes just weird tunes I'm listing to at the moment.

A agree Villalobos can be quite boring at times (his fabrix mix was awful I thought) but he does have some great individual tunes.

Check out anything from the Poker Flat label. Vol 5 is pretty good, took me a few whirls to really get into it. I'll have a route around and see what else I have.

Interested to hear everyone else's tips too though!

jtsuited

Zascar wrote: »

I'll start by giving myself a shameless plug - I've only recently started getting into the minimal thing and have made a few mixes so they might be useful to ease you into it:

Minimalistic - tech house with some minimal, focusing on the more chunky bouncy side.
HeavyWater - Some of the more deep, minimal and sometimes just weird tunes I'm listing to at the moment.

A agree Villalobos can be quite boring at times (his fabrix mix was awful I thought) but he does have some great individual tunes.

Check out anything from the Poker Flat label. Vol 5 is pretty good, took me a few whirls to really get into it. I'll have a route around and see what else I have.

Interested to hear everyone else's tips too though!

I recommend Pokerflat, Bpitch Control, Kompakt, Autist, and Audiomatique (sublabel of Pokerflat).
Absolutely amazing quality labels releasing really well thought out, clever sounding minimal/tech-house.

sur_1_nuage

BillyoftheBeast wrote: »

You two guys some up this forum here.

I was just thinking the same to myself.
Please stop about minimal-maximal, it just means nothing.
The likes of Guy J, Shlomi Aber, Radioslave, Trentemoller have a Minimal sticker on them in the mind of a lot of people but have really listened to what their music sounds like?
I m not saying it doesnt exist but minimal is sub to another style.(tek, electro, tech house, progressive now as well)

sur_1_nuage

Zascar wrote: »

A agree Villalobos can be quite boring at times (his fabrix mix was awful I thought) but he does have some great individual tunes.

Just for your personal info, the Fabric CD by Villa is only filled with his own productions.

Zascar

Yeah I know - I was quite looking forward to it when i heard that but didn't realise what it was going to be like. The review on Amazon is very good, it's not really to my liking...

Listen to a preview here: http://www.amazon.com/Fabric-36-Ricardo-Villalobos/dp/B000RJEIDY

jtsuited and sur_1_nuage - thanks for those recommendations, I'll check them out this weekend. You guys seem to really know your stuff here, please keep them coming! The more I get into this genre the more I like it, it's enthralling...

Riesen_Meal

I'll go home and have a rifle round my new tunage for ya Zascar, you may pick out something you like.....



I'll post a top 10 later

hans aus dtschl

Lads, just to add insult to injury, my references to "maximal" and "cake" were strictly tongue-in-cheek jibes.

In time-honoured fashion, therefore, I shall continue on my merry way, after I depart with this important message;

For all the newly interested in minimal, do a bit of research beyond the bpitch control/kompakt/k2/poker flat/berlin sound, if you havn't already done.

Find the likes of Rob Hood, and such, for an entirely non-ableton take on it.
For me, that sound is a lot nicer, because I find the hats and kicks in the berlin sound a little overbearing. De-tuned hats and sluggish thin low kicks that are borderline sub-bass rumble are enough to make me not buy a record. A record's gotta have good beats and a groove for me. I come from house through to techno via detroit, not minimal, personally. So yeah; its not all ball-delay....GO DIG!

galwayallday

Lads, just to add insult to injury, my references to "maximal" and "cake" were strictly tongue-in-cheek jibes.

You should stay over at DMI, teh plebs here are as blunt as they come.

hans aus dtschl

I'm more of a PROC head myself...

I thought I'd do some good by coming on here, but my enthusiasm is fading a little. At least I got a banning, in my first few posts, so its not all doom and gloom.


As for minimal, how many years do you guys reckon it has left in it? One? Less than that?

Zascar

Cocorico 02 - Mixed by Marc Romboy: http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=8757

Really liking this CD right now - check it out.

jtsuited

think i'll throw in a recommendation here

tales from the lab pt 1 & 2 by gui boratto. Weird hypnotic beautiful tracks. Very surprising middle section.

oh and my own releases on beatport as of next month (i think). Probably shouldn't plug this in a minimal thread but i've got a remix on beatport. if you search for Kid Handsome you'll find it. (it's electro house btw)

jtsuited

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

As for minimal, how many years do you guys reckon it has left in it? One? Less than that?

I was thinking about this the past few days actually. I think it's going to last a lot longer than people think.
Electro came and went fairly quickly but there wasn't really anywhere it could go musically after the 5 billionth electro track was released.

In minimal, pretty much anything is possible. Well i mean that I see a huge amount of routes to go down in producing a track when you're doing minimal stuff. A lot of tech-house, techno, and even prog (:eek:) is starting to be heavily influenced by the minimal scene, and I really can't see people getting tired of minimal as quickly as they did electrohouse.
Probably because the electrohouse boom was sort of very novelty based, and it's appeals quite immediate. Minimal on the other hand has a lot more subtlety and musical finesse (despite ironically being 'minimal').

I reckon there'll be a new breed of super-melodic minimal becoming quite popular soon, a la bpitch control, Systematic Recordings, and the Audiomatique stuff.

On the downside, a bad minimal track is really horrific to listen to and I'm sure we'll have to endure tons of these over the coming months.

Personally I'm excited as I am of the opinion that any form of electronic music that moves the public perception of dance-music being tacky trance and hardcore rubbish to intelligent progressive music that has not an ounce of nostalgia for the early 90's, is a very good thing.

Maybe this thread should be renamed the Anti-Asylum thread, not to enflame our more nostalgic brethren but to reflect the fact that dance music has finally shaken off the influence of the acid-house boom.

Anywho I'm rambling.

MikeHoncho

jtsuited wrote: »

Personally I'm excited as I am of the opinion that any form of electronic music that moves the public perception of dance-music being tacky trance and hardcore rubbish to intelligent progressive music that has not an ounce of nostalgia for the early 90's, is a very good thing.

Maybe this thread should be renamed the Anti-Asylum thread, not to enflame our more nostalgic brethren but to reflect the fact that dance music has finally shaken off the influence of the acid-house boom.

Hells yeah.

gerry99

minimal has been around a while if u think about it !! if u look back 2 richie hawtin's " closer to the edit " it was heavily minimal but its only the last 2\3 years that the word " minimal " has been floating around !! it has a been around a few years when u think about it !!! im a massive fan of techno\ electro \ minimal so im delighted that more and more people are recognizing the style , which will only be a good thing 4 music !!! my fave's wud be richie hawtin , ricardo villalobos , magda , john gazier or anything of the M_Nus label !!

Zascar

The reason I think minimal is more likely to go the distance is that it is less likely to get exposed commercially like ElectroHouse was. Electrohouse was much nore accessible to the pop generation: Tunes like Mason-Exceeder which were tearing up dancefloors in the early days, were later getting teenagers bopping to "Princess Superstar vs Mason - Perfect Exceeder". If there is one thing to dampen the excitement it's commercialisation. Personally I can't really see 2fm playing all 13 minutes of Droppelwhipper any time soon.

jtsuited

gerry99 wrote: »

minimal has been around a while if u think about it !! if u look back 2 richie hawtin's " closer to the edit " it was heavily minimal but its only the last 2\3 years that the word " minimal " has been floating around !! it has a been around a few years when u think about it !!! im a massive fan of techno\ electro \ minimal so im delighted that more and more people are recognizing the style , which will only be a good thing 4 music !!! my fave's wud be richie hawtin , ricardo villalobos , magda , john gazier or anything of the M_Nus label !!

yeah but what is called minimal these days is quite different than the Villalobos/Hawtin stuff. Probably because today minimal is mainly used to describe minimal house as opposed to minimal techno. maybe

not too much of a fan of villalobos/hawtin/sven vath, but i can see why people like it. i like a little more funk in my minimal.

the plastikman stuff is interesting enough. but it's like mega-minimal. not for the faint hearted. and a lot of it is not suitable for most dancefloors, unless of course your dancefloor is really really really out of it.

jtsuited

Zascar wrote: »

The reason I think minimal is more likely to go the distance is that it is less likely to get exposed commercially like ElectroHouse was. Electrohouse was much nore accessible to the pop generation: Tunes like Mason-Exceeder which were tearing up dancefloors in the early days, were later getting teenagers bopping to "Princess Superstar vs Mason - Perfect Exceeder". If there is one thing to dampen the excitement it's commercialisation. Personally I can't really see 2fm playing all 13 minutes of Droppelwhipper any time soon.

i'd like to see Ministry of Sound try some bastardised mashup between some ****e girly pop and some decent minimal. would be worth a laugh.

while i don't see doppelwhipper being dropped on 2fm, i can see a lot of people getting into minimal through the sort of Radiohead route. In the same way that Warp's popularity soared after Kid A, Modeselektor have become very popular due to Thom Yorke being a massive fan.
this will turn a lot of people on to the bpitch control stuff and they'll be minimal junkies before you can say '12 minutes of the same bassline, why i'd love it!'.

Soon I reckon there will be a renaissance in dance music, as people flock towards it from all genres.
I like so many others, got big into dance music because of electrohouse, and as time went on I became obsessed with tech-house, minimal and a bit of prog.
And low and behold now I'm gonna have international releases next month with some fairly good labels and one or two remixes on big ones.

Zascar

Yeah I'd agree, I suppose really I'm more into the "Minimal House" than the "Minimal Techno" - but I'm certainly not getting into another genre argument.

Never really been a big hawtin fan, apart from the odd live set or remix. The stuff here: http://www.myspace.com/plastikman is not very exciting really. But influence/mix with tech and progressive house seems to be really taking over. Just have a random flick through the DJ charts on beatport and it's mostly techno, minimal and tech house... I'm really liking the direction its all going now anyway.

Jeff, all I can say is fair f**king play to you! As I've said I really like your stuff - listing to it right now, and I did play one of your tracks on my last mix, will make sure to thrown down more on the next one too. I'd love to hear more, why don't you start a thread of your own, about your upcoming releases etc? I'm sure the boards members would not mind a bit of promotion of one of our own, and I'd love to hear more about how you've done it etc

Scubadevils

jtsuited wrote: »

I was thinking about this the past few days actually. I think it's going to last a lot longer than people think.
Electro came and went fairly quickly but there wasn't really anywhere it could go musically after the 5 billionth electro track was released.

In minimal, pretty much anything is possible. Well i mean that I see a huge amount of routes to go down in producing a track when you're doing minimal stuff. A lot of tech-house, techno, and even prog (:eek:) is starting to be heavily influenced by the minimal scene, and I really can't see people getting tired of minimal as quickly as they did electrohouse.
Probably because the electrohouse boom was sort of very novelty based, and it's appeals quite immediate. Minimal on the other hand has a lot more subtlety and musical finesse (despite ironically being 'minimal').

I reckon there'll be a new breed of super-melodic minimal becoming quite popular soon, a la bpitch control, Systematic Recordings, and the Audiomatique stuff.

On the downside, a bad minimal track is really horrific to listen to and I'm sure we'll have to endure tons of these over the coming months.

Personally I'm excited as I am of the opinion that any form of electronic music that moves the public perception of dance-music being tacky trance and hardcore rubbish to intelligent progressive music that has not an ounce of nostalgia for the early 90's, is a very good thing.

Maybe this thread should be renamed the Anti-Asylum thread, not to enflame our more nostalgic brethren but to reflect the fact that dance music has finally shaken off the influence of the acid-house boom.

Anywho I'm rambling.

It's interesting to read how you label minimal as 'intelligent progressive music' yet you deem IDM as being the 'silliest name for a genre ever' as you put it earlier in this thread. Maybe you should call this movement 'IPM'?

How old are you if you don't mind me asking? You really seem to have an issue with music that was possibly before your time. You should listen to more, it may be of benefit to you in your own productions.

The Anti-Asylum Thread? :rolleyes: It doesn't matter how much you dislike the idea, ALL dance music has it roots in acid house and the current minimal boom is in no different in this respect. How does minimal not have an ounce of nostalgia for the early 90's as you put it? Do you consider minimal to be a completely ground breaking movement that has absolutely no input from past music?