A friend recently put it quite nicely when he said that what's currently being classified as 'minimal' is simply today's version of progressive house. Goes a long way in explaining why 90% of it bores the fuck out of me...

Minimal Techno, on the other hand =

Rob Hood
Terrence Dixon
Pole
Regis
Surgeon
James Ruskin

to name a scant few of many.

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If anything, the old prog guys have been trying to cross over to tech house, not minimal techno.

Again, what's being touted as minimal these days is not techno. So the prog guys are still producing prog, they've just changed the sounds and relabelled it as something else.

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Scrolling through the BP Top 100 "Minimal" chart, most of it sounds like either techno (but not minimal techno usually, funnily enough) or tech house to me, not prog.

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Scrolling through the BP Top 100 "Minimal" chart, most of it sounds like either techno (but not minimal techno usually, funnily enough) or tech house to me, not prog.

That's what he said, the sounds have changed - but the prog song structure conventions that made it prog in the first place have survived - dramatic buildups, breakdowns, chorus-esque sections, etc.

In pure techno, elements are added and subtracted vertically as layers - the emphasis is not on the horizontal 'song' sequence. It's a subtle distinction but I think it's pretty evident.

compare this robert hood track (vertical, layered, a 'sound image' or 'sound sculpture') with this generic tech house track (horizontal, sequential, a 'sound narrative')

rob hood


generic


the rob hood track uses pure sound synthesis and sampling with the simple addition and subtraction of elements in the sonic space to create momentary sound sculpture, whereas the generic tech house track uses simplistic hooks, filters, oompa bass, other effects to create buildups and narrative structure.

the generic track is like a boring, slow version of a prog trance or prog house track, stealing sound design and superficial aesthetic from minimal techno, but it feels in no way like it. it is severely reduced, but still accessible and understandable by the world-at-large as a 'song', whereas the rob hood track is more like an UFO, as some alien sound artifact which demands its own understanding.

Last edited by nefardec on Nov-19-2009 at 16:51

Ive noticed the more music sounds deep and boring the more people like it thesedays

quote:

Originally posted by nefardec

Good points, I didn't listen to the samples long enough to get much idea of the overall structure.

continued...

moritz von oswald touches on vertical composition in this video:
http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/...ning_freestyles

i could take this whole vertical/image - horizontal/narrative dialogue farther by framing it in the context of this fascinating book:


The author of this book claims that the invention of the alphabet precipitated a rise in patriarchy and masculine values (superseding the age-old dominance of the image and feminine values), values which include sequentiality, hierarchy, a one-at-a-time mode of perception, and reductionism. (feminine values being holistic, integrated, all-at-once perception, the dominance of the image) The author cites neurological evolutionary developments in the sexes as the basis for this profound duality in perception and values.

I think this dialogue between image and word manifests itself in electronic music as the difference between pure techno and this generic tech house. techno is image based, sculptural, rhythmic, black music, imbued with deep cultural traditions of an image-based culture, whereas the prog is sequential, of european descent, a word-based culture, from same essential tradition as the choral hymn.

quote:

Originally posted by mr.anderson Ive noticed the more music sounds deep and boring

that's how people who don't meditate describe meditation too



there is a time and place for music of every level of emotion. 'boring', to me, is a lack of emotional dynamics.

quote:

Originally posted by nefardec I think this dialogue between image and word manifests itself in electronic music as the difference between pure techno and this generic tech house. techno is image based, sculptural, rhythmic, black music, imbued with deep cultural traditions of an image-based culture, whereas the prog is sequential, of european descent, a word-based culture, from same essential tradition as the choral hymn.

The Belleville three were middle class Americans who lived a very conventional middle class Western life. To suggest that because they were black their music encodes some sort of genetic prehistoric cave painting method of communication seems nothing short of fucking racist.

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I also don't think black American music is essentially vertical (blues? gospel? jazz?) in the first place. How closely connected were the Detroit guys to stuff like African drumming anyway? They were listening to disco, funk, and Kraftwerk growing up, right?