Minimal synth stuff

a recent entry in the category: cold cave. some interesting singles, a decent new album. noisy with a pop undercurrent. a little bit goth/darkwave in places, but don't let that stop you.

All that late 70s/early 80s stuff like Thomas Leer and John Foxx, but I suppose you're looking for more up-to-date music?

IdleRich said:

I have a bit of a cast about and just discover a load of rubbish that seems to go for incomprehensible amounts on ebay.

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personally I love it but I guess you could posit the idea that john bender fits into this category. :slanted:

IdleRich said:

Beyond the totally obvious what's good in this style?

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not that poppy but how about monoton?

too obvious for dissensus?

Monoton's brilliant and one of the few records that seems insanely ahead of its time. Rewired a few of my ideas about how original/groundbreaking Basic Channel were (they're still sublime, obviously).

I'm sure there's some other NDW that fits the bill - (I seem to remember a comprehensive Woebot article ont he genre that's bound to contain some things of interest in this category)

baboon2004 said:

I'm sure there's some other NDW that fits the bill

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yes, best dispense with the genre rule book entirely!

i'm not sure if there's a difference between minimal synth and minimal wave?

it's all bollocks really.

the so young but so cold comp from a few years ago is a pretty decent primer on the french end (with some benelux artists as well i believe)

yeah 'synth waves minimal'
putting the music into the little genre name slots leads to good things falling through the cracks, or getting slept on ...
Idlerich - how 'pop' are you thinking ?
imo, the pop side is almost always interesting .

Suicide really a classic template of sorts and Martin Rev still releasing some choice things ...
Hearing Monoton when it got rereleased was revelatory,
think they have another (re)release in recent Wire review i read in studio.
Respect to '80's W Berlin's Liasions Dangeruses because they had a raw punk bite with their Harmonizer, an ad -hoc approach to global language , knew how to use those racks of Oberheim gear and had the smarts to them go to Conny Plank's to produce the record.
Likewise DAF

There are always some edgy minimal racketing hybrid groups sounds around the US ,
some lab for hybrids.

nochexxx said:

personally I love it but I guess you could posit the idea that john bender fits into this category. :slanted:

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I really like John Bender but I don't really know why.....

http://www.woebot.com/2005/11/underground_ndw_19801983.html

great article
for me Geile Tiere: Liebst Du Mich? is the pick of the bunch (proto acid bizzniss)

IdleRich said:

things like Ruth - Polaroid Photo are exactly what I mean I suppose.

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Was just gonna mention this - brilliant track. Cold as.

hmmn. john carpenter's soundtrack for Assault on Precinct 13? first thing that comes to mind, though that makes it, i reckon, obvious...

Yes, must credit that So Young But So Cold comp. for turning me on to Bernard Szajner and The (Hypothetical) Prophets ...


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i like crash course in science, they did a couple of awesome records <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RpnJJZdd4aM&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RpnJJZdd4aM&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

check 'P1/E - Second Offender', great (but very rare) album of minimal synth/cold wavey stuff...

P1-E - 49 Sec. Romance:



Also, Optimo did a great podcast of this stuff recently, called 'Synth Summer':

http://www.4shared.com/file/116936994/f05eb1ec/Optimo_Podcast_1_-_Synth_Summer.html


A couple of others....

Metro Pakt - Neue Strassen:



Not sure if this is really minimal synth, or if it's a bit too obvious, but still a great tune...

Grauzone - Eisbaer:



This one's a bit daft, like Kraftwerk sped up...

Gleitzeit - Ich komme aus der DDR:



Oppenheimer Analysis are also worth checking.

I was just listening to the first Autechre album yesterday, and much of that's very sparse and cold-sounding - though I don't know to what extent 'sparse' overlaps with 'minimal' in the sense that Rich (or anyone else) intends.

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Also maybe checking out some early-to-mid '80s Cabaret Voltaire, i.e. after their electro-punk phase but before they went all acid house:

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Interesting that you don't want to listen to 'harsh' industrial or 'weak' synthpop, as Cabs from this era kind of falls in between those two camps. I mean, you could call a lot of it EBM, but it's a good deal less cartoonishly sinister and, well, 'gay-sounding' than most typical EBM of the period.