Minimal techno blowing up

[simon silverdollar]

Ok, so minimal is big in clubs already...but what kind of minimal? I can't imagine Villalobos tracks ripping up that many semi-mainstream dancefloors.
Could someone post some examples of tracks/labels...I get the impression it's more towards the harder Bpitch or Kompakt side of things, is this correct?

to give a few examples, i guess loco dice's 'seeing through shadows' is THE big minimal hit of this year, and matt john's stuff on perlon is very popular, as is alex under's stuff on trapez: all of these are pretty uncompromising and un-hooky, without the quirkiness of, say, dandy jack or pantytec, or the blissiness of kompakt, or the poppy-electro edge of bpitch.

sorry to keep on harping on about Carnival, but people were shouting out for DJs to play 'seeing through shadows' there.

 

[tox]

to give a few examples, i guess loco dice's 'seeing through shadows' is THE big minimal hit of this year, and matt john's stuff on perlon is very popular, as is alex under's stuff on trapez: all of these are pretty uncompromising and un-hooky, without the quirkiness of, say, dandy jack or pantytec, or the blissiness of kompakt, or the poppy-electro edge of bpitch.

I'll add Alex Smoke to the list, last year it was a track called Chica Wapa and this year its Snider.

 

[vache]

This discussion is interesting to a New Yorker like me because it seems so cute that minimal has any likelihood of breaking in the UK. Here, a tradition of tacky prole trance spanning a couple of decades (and all the boroughs) was enough to send indie-minded listeners running to acoustic indie-folk and similar genres, never to look back. Even the Junior Boys' decent reception here isn't enough to truly pique American "hipster" interest (the real commercial demographic driving force behind what breaks in the U.S.) in microhouse as a genre: to the target market here, it's just another record with blips and beeps that P4k endorses, therefore it is ok despite the blips and bleeps.

So here in the US minimal will always be for uberhipsterdweebs who find themselves too cool and discerning for the DFA, and yes, probably doing k. Nothing could be more gauche to the staunch Matador/Kill Rock Stars/Sub Pop indies than this set. Mute is the only label that might be able to swing it stateside, but they're too busy with The Knife and Goldfrapp to care.

Couldn't have summed it up better myself. Here in Chicago, until recently I ran a (mostly) minimal night and while occasionally we'd have an unexpected good turn-out, it was mostly the same few people coming month-after-month.

 

[swears]

Even the Junior Boys' decent reception here isn't enough to truly pique American "hipster" interest (the real commercial demographic driving force behind what breaks in the U.S.) in microhouse as a genre: to the target market here, it's just another record with blips and beeps that P4k endorses, therefore it is ok despite the blips and bleeps.

Perhaps the next wave of hipsters will ditch folk/rock/guitars (here we go again) completely. I mean how cool is that?

"Heard the new Animal Collective album?"

"Huh...I don't listen to anything like that."

 

[Landfill Elektronikz]

speaking of the, er, yankee scene...anyone else pick-up on that EP that Sherburne was raving about? Y'know the four-tracker by Reanimator on the Community Library label straight outta Portland, Oregan? 'eavy tunage, innit. Distressed beats and violent-yet-oddly-discreet blasts of noise-improv, that was actually recorded a few years ago yet chimes in with that whole kinda Pan Sonic/Sahko end of the spectrum. bpms are all over the place, but i reckon its rockin'...

 

[vache]

I have to admit that the resurgence of the Mika Vainio school of minimalism as a hyped phenom is kind of baffling to me. Maybe it's my listening habits and the people I congregate with, but it really never went away. The sleeparchive stuff is alright I guess. I picked up the first 12" and thought, "this is what everyone is freaking out about?" It does go beyond the template to some degree, but I wonder how far one could take the aesthetic beyond Vainio's various monikers as well as artists like Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nikolai...not they are the ends of it.

That said, I do wish that the Sahko would rerelease the Hertsi 12" which is simply fantastic in terms of overdistorted square-wave minimalism.

 

[childrentalking]

Ok, so minimal is big in clubs already...but what kind of minimal? I can't imagine Villalobos tracks ripping up that many semi-mainstream dancefloors.

Villalobos played over an hour of his own productions on Saturday. remember he's playing a 5-9AM timeslot so his stuff makes a lot more sense. (and one of his new productions is, shock, a super-fun 15+ minute old school rap re-edit).

whoever said Villalobos hasn't been around very long, that's debatable. there's a definite shift up in quality of his productions c. 2001/2002, but he's been at this for a long time before that. and one of his new tracks (apparently about to get released on Playhouse) sounds a lot like 'Phylyyps Trak II' B with (beautiful) horns to these ears, hardly that radical.

 

[swears]

Hmmm...I always seem to forget how much more dancefloor friendly this stuff is when you really crank it. It goes from being slightly ambient, interesting listening music on tinny computer speakers or dinky headphones to being throbbing, groove-lead tuneage on a big, proper club system.

 

[blunt]

[...] and one of [Villalobos'] new productions is, shock, a super-fun 15+ minute old school rap re-edit.

So long as it's still recognisably him, I think this sounds facking great

I always seem to forget how much more dancefloor friendly this stuff is when you really crank it. It goes from being slightly ambient, interesting listening music on tinny computer speakers or dinky headphones to being throbbing, groove-lead tuneage on a big, proper club system.

swears, this is so so true. Case in point: the new Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi mix, this time from Luciano. Anyone else feeling this? In particular, the filth triumvirate that is Framework by Altitude > Eje Central by Lineas De Nazca > Starship Discothèque by Serafin. Dirty, in all the right ways.

 

[Gabba Flamenco Crossover]

minimal techno shouldn't need to dress itself up in indie rags to cross over.

No, at least not in terms of image. But it would be interesting to see artists building on the velocity and eerie space of the music, but adding dirtier, rockier sounds and more humanized rhythms - like a c21 krautrock.

This whole thread is wierd for me. I bought tons of minimal techno from 1994 to 2001, but I've been totally out of the loop since then. I've heard some of this stuff, and it's just too sterile for my tastes - it's really obvious that's it's been made in a PC. It's structured differently to trance, but sonically there isnt much to choose between them.

 

[labrat]

is Phil Sherburne's mix live @ raum july considered "minimal"-not heard it yet but he seems to be the don of this kind of thing and has anyone know the tracklistin'

listened PETE TONG last friday-LOADS of mininal type gear

 

[childrentalking]

So long as it's still recognisably him, I think this sounds facking great

it's recognisably him. I knew it was one of his remixes within 2 minutes of it starting and I'd never heard it before. then he played it again as his last track. the crowd went off, it's AMAZING. I think it's 3 or so different tracks mashed up. I'm hoping it pops up on a recorded mix very soon.

 

[swears]

No, at least not in terms of image. But it would be interesting to see artists building on the velocity and eerie space of the music, but adding dirtier, rockier sounds and more humanized rhythms - like a c21 krautrock.

But there's loads of stuff apart from rock that could provide the influence for a angrier, dirtier sound. Gabba, Front 242 industrial sounds, the harsher end of Grime, noisey 8 bit sounds, loads of possibilities. I think we've already had enough rock for one decade, thankyouverymuch.

 

[Landfill Elektronikz]

But there's loads of stuff apart from rock that could provide the influence for a angrier, dirtier sound. Gabba, Front 242 industrial sounds, the harsher end of Grime, noisey 8 bit sounds, loads of possibilities. I think we've already had enough rock for one decade, thankyouverymuch.

^^ The voice of truth.

Kill all rock stars, then kill your parents, then kill yourselves.

thank you.

 

[swears]

Cheers.

 

[gek-opel]

The dubstep minimal crossover still rests heavy on my mind... for about the first 15 mins of his set at DMZ earlier this month Pinch could have been replaced by Ritchie Hawtin!

 

[lazybones]

i was at fabric for villalobos too - was brilliant and had the entire crowd jumping all night!
This month they also have Hawtin , Magda and Hearthrob and for the fabric birthday party villalobos and matthew dear will be about.

i think the whole "minimalism as a genre in a record store" vs minimalism as a philosophy are so different that its hard to discuss it blowing up - what the hell is minimal - villalobos hawtin , magda , kompakt etc??with guys like matthew dear there is an acidic bent too i reckon. alot of it is nowadays most producers use computers so the natural thing is to go for finely edited sounds and clean production wheras with acid it sounded like that because all they had was roland stuff...

i don't think id even call sleeparchive minimal - thats steve reich , cage or riley to me and the early sahko stuff....


i mean until i see "now thats what i call minimal vol 3" on mtv dance i shan't be convinced its blown up per se... can see dubstep doing it if people like skream collob with more vocalists eg tapped w/jme ....

also andy stott has a great album that just came out on modern love... modeselektor are doing well .... those two at least are certainly not neu minimal!

 

[Sef]

roli widmer's utterly bizarre "pilleli and puelverli"

Some kind soul hook me up with this. I can't find it anywhere!

 

[Landfill Elektronikz]

also andy stott has a great album that just came out on modern love...

yes, i'm looking fwd to hearing that - plus he's got a little 10" dubstep sideline going on, right? i gotta check that too.
anyone know much about this Andy Stott character? He's from Manchester, right?

 

[mms]

yes, i'm looking fwd to hearing that - plus he's got a little 10" dubstep sideline going on, right? i gotta check that too.
anyone know much about this Andy Stott character? He's from Manchester, right?

his music isn't really dubstep at all . It's elegant classicist intelligent techno in the old fashioned sense of the word. There are some nods towards dubsteps sonics and rhythmic structures on there but mainly it sounds like an update of the kind of artificial intelligence sound, much like his label mate claro intellecto.