Minimal techno

Minimal techno
Stylistic origins	Minimalism Detroit techno Acid techno Ambient
Cultural origins	Early 1990s, Detroit, Michigan, USA, Berlin
Typical instruments	Keyboard, synthesizer, drum machine, sequencer, sampler
Mainstream popularity	Underground initially, widespread club trend by mid 2000s
Derivative forms	Maximal
Fusion genres
Microhouse - Tech house - Skweee

Minimal techno is a minimalist sub-genre of techno.^[1] It is characterized by a stripped-down^[2] aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition, and understated development. This style of dance music production generally adheres to the motto less is more; a principle that has been previously utilized, to great effect, in architecture, design, visual art, and Western art music. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detroit based producers Robert Hood and Daniel Bell,^[3][4] although what is currently referred to as 'minimal' has largely been developed in Germany during the 2000s, and made very popular in the second half of the decade by labels such as Kompakt and M-nus.

Style

In an essay published in the book Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music (2004), music journalist and critic Philip Sherburne, asserts that minimal techno uses two specific stylistic approaches, one being skeletalism, and the other massification.^[5] According to Sherburne, in skeletal minimal techno, only the core elements are included with embellishments used only for the sake of variation within the song. In contrast, massification is a style of minimalism in which many sounds are layered over time, but with little variation in sonic elements. Today the influence of minimal styles of house music and techno are not only found in club music, but becoming more commonly heard in popular music.^[6] Regardless of the style, "minimal Techno corkscrews into the very heart of repetition" so cerebrally as to often inspire descriptions like 'spartan', 'clinical', 'mathematical', and 'scientific'."^[7]

The minimal techno producer Daniel Bell has commented that he had a dislike for minimalism in the artistic sense of the word, finding it too "arty".^[4] Robert Hood describes the situation in the early 1990s as one where techno had become too "ravey", with increasing tempos leading to the emergence of gabber. Such trends saw the demise of the soul infused techno that typified the original Detroit sound. Robert Hood has noted that he and Daniel Bell both realized something was missing from techno in the post-rave era, and saw that an important feature of the original techno sound has been lost. Hood states that "it sounded great from a production standpoint, but there was a 'jack' element in the [old] structure. People would complain that there's no funk, no feeling in techno anymore, and the easy escape is to put a vocalist and some piano on top to fill the emotional gap. I thought it was time for a return to the original underground."^[4]

The minimal techno sound that emerged at this time has been defined by Robert Hood as: "a basic stripped down, raw sound. Just drums, basslines and funky grooves and only what's essential. Only what is essential to make people move. I started to look at it as a science, the art of making people move their butts, speaking to their heart, mind and soul. It's a heart-felt rhythmic techno sound."^[8]

Origins

In his essay Digital Discipline: Minimalism in House and Techno^[5] Philip Sherburne also proposes what the origins of Minimal techno might be. Sherburne states that, like most contemporary electronic dance music, minimal techno has its roots in the landmark works of pioneers such as Kraftwerk and Detroit Techno's Derrick May and Juan Atkins. Minimal techno focuses on "rhythm and repetition instead of melody and linear progression", much like classical minimalist music and the polyrhythmic African musical tradition that helped inspire it.^[9] By 1994, according to Sherburne, the term "minimal" was in use to describe "any stripped-down, Acidic derivative of classic Detroit style".^[10]

Los Angeles based writer Daniel Chamberlin, attributes the origin of minimal techno to the German producers Basic Channel and in doing so fails to credit the contributions of Robert Hood or mention the influence of Hood, and other members of Underground Resistance, on the Berlin techno scene of the early 1990s (the scene out of which Basic Channel emerged).^[11] Chamberlin draws parallels between the compositional techniques used by producers such as Richie Hawtin, Wolfgang Voigt, and Surgeon and that of American minimalist composer Steve Reich, in particular the pattern phasing system Reich employs in many of his works; the earliest being "Come Out". Chamberlin also sees the use of sine tone drones by minimalist composer La Monte Young and the repetitive patterns of Terry Riley's "In C" as other influences.^[12] Sherburne has suggested that the noted similarities between minimal forms of dance music and American minimalism could easily be accidental; he also notes that much of the music technology used in EDM has traditionally been designed to suit loop based compositional methods, which may explain why certain stylistic features of minimal techno sound similar to works of Reich's that employ loops and pattern phasing techniques.^[13]

Development

In recent years, the genre has taken great influence from, to the point of merging with the microhouse genre. It has also fragmented into a great number of difficult to categorize subgenres, equally claimed by the minimal techno and microhouse tags.

Minimal techno has found mainstream club popularity since 2004 in such places as Germany, Japan, France, Belgium, South Africa, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Ireland and the UK with DJs from a wide variety of genres incorporating differing elements of its tones, the famed after-hours club DC10 in Ibiza being one exponent of the genre.

By the second half of 2006, the term 'minimal' had in many ways become contradictory, as it serves as a denominator for the tech house sounds of the moment, many of which should rather be coined as 'maximal' in terms of their sonic content, in contrast to the original stripped down, i.e. minimalist electronic genre.^{[citation needed]}

Artists and labels

Notable artists include:

• Gui Boratto
• Pantha du Prince
• Daniel Bell
• Richie Hawtin
• Ricardo Villalobos
• Jeff Mills
• Robert Hood
• Stewart Walker
• Paul Kalkbrenner
• Trentemøller
• Claude VonStroke
• Oval
• Moritz Von Oswald
• Baby Ford
• Minilogue
• Ellen Allien
• Loco Dice
• Umek

Some record labels specializing in minimal techno are Traum Schallplatten, BPitch Control, Cocoon Recordings, Kompakt, Perlon, Clink, Plus8, Sähkö Recordings.

See also

• Microhouse
• Electronic music

References

1. ^ Nor-tec rifa!: electronic dance music from Tijuana to the world‎ - Page 8
2. ^ Wartofsky, Alona, "All the Rave", The Washington Post, August 22, 1997 Pg D01
3. ^ Mike Banks interview, The Wire, Issue #285 (November '07)
4. ^ ^{a b c} Sicko, D., Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk, Billboard Books, 1999, (pp. 199-200).
5. ^ ^{a b} Cox C. & Warner D. ed.(2004), Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd, London.
6. ^ Sherburne, Philip. "Digital Discipline: Minimalism in House and Techno," in Audio Culture, New York: Continuum, 2006, (pp. 324-325).
7. ^ Sherburne, Philip. "Digital Discipline: Minimalism in House and Techno," in Audio Culture, New York: Continuum, 2006, (p. 322).
8. ^ Robert Hood interview hosted at spannered.org
9. ^ Sherburne, P., "Digital Discipline: Minimalism in House and Techno," in Audio Culture, New York: Continuum, 2006, (pp. 321-322).
10. ^ Sherburne, Philip. "Digital Discipline: Minimalism in House and Techno," in Audio Culture, New York: Continuum, 2006,(p.321).
11. ^ Sicko, D., Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk, Billboard Books, 1999, (pp. 174-175)
12. ^ Chamberlin, Daniel. "Party Arty: Minimal techno producers live up to their avant-garde heritage and turn the party out, brainiac-style" The Miami New Times, September 18, 2003, Music section.
13. ^ Sherburne, Philip. "Digital Discipline: Minimalism in House and Techno," in Audio Culture, New York: Continuum, 2006, (p.322).

External links

• - shoutcast.com minimal directory – an online directory of minimal web radios.
• - minimalstation.de – an online non-commercial webradio project specialized in minimal techno.
• - dance production information – resource for modern techniques.
• - digitally imported minimal radio – one of the most listened to radio on the web.
• - uzic.ch :: techno-minimal – underground minimal radio from Switzerland