Techno Minimalism

[MARKEG]

I'm hearing alot of very minimal techno out there at the mo. Really loving alot of it, although don't know if I'd like to spend a whole night at a club listening to it. Richie Hawtin's latest CD, Slam's latest mix comp on Resist. It's all an increasing trend for techno artists and dj's to move to this style.

I really like the tougher aspect to minimal techno - not so much into the Rob Hood on Ketamine style, but each to their own.

Is anyone else really digging this sound at the mo??

[Traxx]

For home listening maybe but a whole night of it in a club would & has bored the arse off me on a good few occasions.

[massplanck]

yes and no.

to me minimal can be hard... but when I mean minimal i mean a complete absense of this "wall of sound" uber compressed shit that hurts my ears (dont kill me).. old heckman stuff is a minimal to me as it gets. A few bit of hardware floating over each other with the notes & spaces in all the right places. No need to hide the mistakes or rush things with a compressor.

Did you know that if you program all your sounds/level right.. you dont actually need to have a compressor.. Not to say i dont use one but you may get my drift..

Anyway dont hit me... Some of the minimal stuff is ****ing yawn yawn yawn but DBX\Bell is the king for me... and some Vanquer stuff is lovely.

[pumpinglemma]

Love the "master of mininalism" himself Rob Hood

[doc12inch]

i rekon some nights shud start out minimal and go through the motions.


i know my sets and cds are going from a minimal point thru to more heavier/tribally stuff - depends how i feel

[JamieBall]

Did you know that if you program all your sounds/level right.. you dont actually need to have a compressor..

Depends, really. On whether or not you want it to sound 'compressed'. Your opinion about programming isn't strictly correct, though.

Feeling the old DBX myself, in my opinion none of this modern stuff stands up to old dan bell/pulsinger/hood stuff (even the output from these guys themselves!).

Whether or not something is fast or slow, hard or soft, you can always tell something cool when the hook grabs you straight off. All this old minimal stuff used to do that for me, I'd be zapped in straight away - the 'new wave' of minimal gear.... well.... doesn't.

One of the best nights out I've ever had was seeing Dan Bell about 8 years or so back, it was ****ing perfect. Hypnotic and punishing. I doubt anyone would have the gall to drop anything so relentlessly minimal and robotic these days. His sets seem to have gone all jazzy now (though the quality of the music is high and I love it, it's not the same style).

A lot of this minimal stuff these days seems a bit too much about chin stroking and being clever as far as I can see. Random squirty little metal noises fiddling around with each other. I mean 'MICRO HOUSE', 'GLITCH HOUSE' etc etc.... It's just minimal techno that thinks it's more intelligent than it is.

Also, minimal doesn't just mean 'slow and quiet'. Minimal tracks can be banging too ! As far as I'm concerned myself and many of my contemporaries play and produce 'minimal techno'. It fits all the criteria, anyway, it just don't sound like 'I'm losing control' anymore.

I think these categories may have arisen cause kids nowadays don't know the old gear and to them it's NOT what they are used to calling 'techno'.

Anyhoo, that's my 5 pence worth. :lol:

[SlavikSvensk]

Love the "master of mininalism" himself Rob Hood

not sure i've heard any minimal tracks from the past few years that can throw down with his m-plant classics.

[massplanck]

Did you know that if you program all your sounds/level right.. you dont actually need to have a compressor..

Depends, really. On whether or not you want it to sound 'compressed'. Your opinion about programming isn't strictly correct, though.

I know it isnt but you know what i mean.. uber compression of drumloops\songs hurt my brains sometimes.. no space to breath for sounds... I just like notes floating around by themselves.

[JamieBall]

Love the "master of mininalism" himself Rob Hood

not sure i've heard any minimal tracks from the past few years that can throw down with his m-plant classics.

Indeed. That's what I'm talking about.

[stjohn]

i'm with you when you say that you couldnt handle a full night of it.

a full night of minimal just doesnt have the drive, but its a prefect introduction to any bangin session. build it up!!

nowadays when im buying records, id usually pick up 5 tuff records, and 1 or 2 minmal.... with the intention to try and fit them all in together.

@massplank: dont hit me, but i agree with ye on the mulitmillion layers of compressed loops and hi's. the ear gets too used to the over-indulgence of sound, and dont hit me when i say this........ when its just a few simple layers, each track and sound is more distinguished easier, giving its unique quality.

[SlavikSvensk]

word justmusic...maybe i'm being overly cynical, but i'm just not sure there is any new exciting minimal trend right now. most sounds like a weaker version of what was being made in the mid 1990s.

[massplanck]

@massplank: dont hit me, but i agree with ye on the mulitmillion layers of compressed loops and hi's. the ear gets too used to the over-indulgence of sound, and dont hit me when i say this........ when its just a few simple layers, each track and sound is more distinguished easier, giving its unique quality.

@st john.. dont hit me I agree. Space is good.

[Jay Sanders]

I was reading Mixmag last night and they were saying how Minimal is massive in Ibiza at the moment... they said the best nights this summer were Circo Loco @ DC10 and Cocoon @ Amnesia.... both being well mininal with giuests like Hawtin, Vath, Vilallabos etc.

Theres also a goo Minimal CD on the cover.... Mixed by Loco Dice, very good stuff indeed.

[JamieBall]

I can see that set really appreciating the vibe of the stuff Richie et al are playing at the moment.

After all, the 'music' they listen to most of the time....

Must be refreshing for them to hear something a little less trite, ie not an 'anthem' for each and every mix ?

[FIK]

I like a bit of minimal, but not for a whole night out. I can't see me dancing all night long to the same blip-blop loop. For me it's more of pre or after-party style of music.

[Fordy]

I love it, cant be arsed to explain why I just do. But with everything, imo there should be moderation & variety.

Hawtins set on fri at sankeys, was minimal but built up to harder stuff, best set ive ever heard tbh, yet people i was with wasnt impressed.

[djshiva]

i don't mind some of the "modern" minimal like hawtin and villalobos and those cats play, but i can't handle an entire night of it, frankly.

and my main gripe is that most people i am hearing play the stuff, are boring ****ing djs. it's like, ok you can beatmatch. brilliant, now would you make the mix go somewhere please?

i can't be bothered with listening to the same ****ing bleep bloop for 8 hours...aaaaghhh...like chinese water torture...

[oldbugger]

minimal :love:

the less in it the better to me ;) i love all sorts of minimal techno, minimal house. infact if its minimal chances are i love it :lol:

why complicate tunes with all sorts of shit cluttering it up, one nice catchy hook is all you need any more just gets in the way ;)

[stjohn]

[quote="djshiva"]

and my main gripe is that most people i am hearing play the stuff, are boring **** djs. it's like, ok you can beatmatch. brilliant, now would you make the mix go somewhere please?
[quote]

with ye on that!! i only like playing minmal stuff if i have a djm600 or summin. it can make it all the more interesting

check the Jerome Hill micro mix posted in dark/exp forum. he well able to mix it up!

[DrewDavid]

Minimal (it would seem to me) is somewhat the new electro – in a good way though. Producers who have been at it for a while are getting more exposure and it's creeping into a lot of other's material, with some going so far as to start up new labels – Beyer's Mad Eye and Carola's Domino for starters. Thankfully it hasn't been as obvious or annoying as the electro revival, but I'm left to wonder how long this new interest will last.

There seems to be two camps: those producing/dj'ing absolutely stripped down, bleepy-bloopy weirdness ála Akufen, Hawtin; and those who have taken their formerly densely mixed sound, stripped it down a bit and upped the quirk factor, such as Beyer and Carola. It's minimal-ish.

A whole evening of Basic Channel and John Tejada might be best enjoyed at home surrounded by crushed velvet pillows, but I think with the amount of new minimal and "minimal-injected" coming out lately you could easily make a good night of it – it's really up to the DJs.