The Official Minimalism Thread
 

I looked through several pages of this and the classical section but couldn't find any pages specifically dedicated to minimalism, so I don't think I'm at risk of making a repeat thread.

Who are your favourite minimalist artists? This doesn't have to be oriented towards classical music, but that's where a lot of minimalism resides so I'll be focusing my post in that area. The biggest names as far as minimalism goes are Steve Reich and Philip Glass, who make great music but neither of them appear on my favourites list tbh.

I'd have to say my all time favourite is Terry Riley. His most famous piece is In C, which is a piece made for any number of musicians where they choose from a series of phrases and introduce improvisations all In C. Really beautiful piece, but here's one that maybe most people haven't heard that's incredible as well.


Another composer who I've come across whose take on minimalism is really hypnotic and beautiful is Charlemagne Palestine. His album Strumming Music is phenomenal imo.

Some do come to mind...

Apart from the one's you've mentioned I really like Tony Conrad, especially the collaboration with Faust. I'm sure you know it.

La Monte Young is one of the big names of the genre, but his foray into blues seems to be less known. I really like it.



Michael Nyman has some great music, me being a huge fan of Greenaway's films might be a factor though.

The Necks' "Drive-By" is pretty much easy listening, but it's a great hypnotic album to relax to.

A lot of Evan Parker's solo sax albums are very minimalist and repetitive and should satisfy fans of minimalism without aversion to some nice screeching.

And apropos minimalist solo sax: Colin Stetson :bowdown:

Interesting, I've never really considered these two to be minimalist but they do totally fall under the category. Didn't really like the whole album, but the track Stetson's To See More Light is phenomenal.

To jump a little bit more outside of the classical I mentioned in my post, here's Eleh. Super minimal electronic drone. I think it's best listened to extraordinarily loud, being stoned as hell is a plus as well when you're drowning in the alternating rhythms.

Stetson's solo albums all have some incredible tracks, but I'm rarely patient enough to listen to them as a whole, the worse tracks, while still good, always seem like pale copies of the better ones.
The "Those Who Didn't Run" EP might be my favourite of his solo releases.
The album with Sarah Neufeld on the other hand is great as an album, the songs are much more distinctive and well thought out.
I'm really curious as to how his music will develop further.

I can listen to Judges all the way through, same with Never Were the Way She Was, which I honestly think is his best as an album. I was a bit worried that he would start to get stale and keep trudging on with somewhat updated versions of New History Warfare, but his latest shows that he's ready to step out of his comfort zone.

I'm trying to figure out which musician I'd like him to collaborate with next.
Peter Evans would be great. Or, if one wants trumpet, Arve Henriksen, although the resulting album might turn out to be a little new-agey with him on board.
Stian Westerhus might also fit nicely. Or even Fred Frith, especially on an acoustic guitar.

I think he should have another go at it with Gustafsson. I don't think they were ready for Stones, but it's a possibility now.

Big yes to that.
When I heard two of my favourite sax players would release an album, I expected a lot more than "Stones" turned out to be.
I respect them for not taking the obvious path with it, but come on, an "obvious" album of Gustafssons deliciously mad wails over Stetson's usual minimalist pulse would have been orgasmic.

In C is probably my fav Riley piece as well. heres a pretty cool rendition of it as well:



I love quite a few of the names that have already been dropped, particularly Charlamagne Palestine and La Monte Young. maybe my favorite minimalist work is:

http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/7e0bdb4e15c...3e/1599025.jpg

Sinking of the Titanic by Gavin Bryars

it's gorgeous. cant forget about all of William Basinski's works as well.

That's pretty much my favourite version of In C that I've heard. It captures a lot of the fun that the piece is about better than the orchestral versions. That's Sinking of the Titanic, right? Text is a bit small to read.

yeah sorry should've added it in the post. but yes it's Sinking of the Titanic

Anyone else likes Time Machines?
I'm not a huge Coil fan (although they do have some nice stuff), but this one is great.
Hypnotic, minimalist, psychedelic drone.

I love Coil and that album quite a bit and I know that our local Mondo Bungle likes it quite a bit as well. He even did a tribute album to it that's pretty sweet.

Hey while we're at it I make minimalism from time to time.

Really enjoyed the piano track, the others seem cool as well, although I didn't have the opportunity to listen to them as thoroughly and immersed as such music demands.

im kind of the same way about Coil. I really love Time Machines, but most of Coil's discog hasn't done much for me

What do you guys think about Orthrelm's OV?
I've had it for years now, and considered it kinda cool, but also kinda gimmicky and hardly ever listened to the whole song. But some time ago I sat down to really listen to it and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Although I'm probably still not going to do this often.

I think its a cooler concept than it is in actuality. like I probably wont listen to it again, but I can respect what theyre doing maybe (?) idk its just not my thing.

Thanks mate. The piano one is my favourite of those as well. The second track is aleoteric electroacoustic music, and the final is just me making love to my cymbals.

I had only listened to their s/t before, but I'm listening to it now and it's not bad persay. Around ten minutes in and their approach to repetition as far as minimalism goes doesn't really entrance me like so many more of the artists within the genre do. It just sounds like a speed metal album that has a lot of scratches and the skips change from time to time. Clearly talented musicians, but I wish they would incorporate a little more in the way of diversity in their music. I definitely agree with Ninetales that I like the idea better than the end result.

Found some very minimalist free improvisation through member rostasi called Monkey Plot. It's extremely stripped down which is kind of rare for the free improv genre, especially seeing as they might be the only free improvisation artist posted in this thread where I'm not trying to promote my music :D. There's still a heavy influence from both genres as you can see in this video.



Their album Angående omstendigheter som ikke lar seg nedtegne is incredible, plus it doesn't cut out like that video does.

Writing about the broken record sounds brings Old Time Relijun to mind. I think they qualify but minimalism is simply one element of their music, I'd be more ready to call them punk than minimalism. Minimalism would be an appropriate secondary genre to name though.

are my minimalism attempts good too

https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/al...alconstruction
https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/track/the-slow-olds
https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/track/void-man
https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/tr...ns-of-the-wind
https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/track/glacial-era

Actually I don't even know if these qualify. What a whacky thing.

It's still basically my favorite thing. It moved a little bit away from being a Time Machines rip off which was my original goal. Still sounds pretty similar though. Track 3 is the most minimal. the same thing for 20 minutes while slowly increasing in volume.

Turns out Deathprod is awesome.
Too bad I hadn't listened to him closely all those years. Missed out on much fun.

Don't fret, I just found out about him today.

But you do know Supersilent, don't you?

Sure do, wasn't aware that he was affiliated. Now I'm not kicking myself as hard for not knowing about Deathprod earlier.

Lately I've enjoyed listening to something really minimalistic while fallling asleep.
The music has to be very slow and soft. Preferably without a beat or sharp sounding acoustic instruments.
Stuff like Time Machines, Eliane Radigue, Deep Listening Band...
Any recs?

Have you listened to Max Richter's Sleep? His album From Sleep is a shortened version of it that can be found more easily (Sleep is 8 hours long).

Thanks. Haven't heard this one yet.
I'm obviously going with the 8h version.

This Guy does a mean Time Machine rip off. Be pretty stoked on it if I made something as good https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/al...-sleep-machine

Whoever this nameless asshole is, the music's pretty good. Checked it out a while back.

Slept 2-3 hours to Richter's "Sleep" earlier today. Pretty good album. The vocals bug me a little and are hard to sleep to, but that's a minor thing.

Gonna listen to Robert Rich's Somnium tonight, another several hours long album for sleeping.

Never had the time to really give this album a chance today but it's absolutely gorgeous.

^Big yes. Had a few days several weeks ago when I had this album on repeat all the time. So surprisingly much going on there.

Jetsun Mila and L'ile Re-Sonantes are also both really great Radigue pieces.

Great thread.
I don't think Phill Niblock is mentioned. I listened to two releases/albums: Music by Phill Niblock and Touch Works: For Hurdy Gurdy and Voice . There isn't anything of the former on youtube (and I don't feel like uploading now), so here's from latter.

"Hurdy Hurry" (hurdy gurdy is played by Jim O'Rourke)

Best minimalist composer?

For me, it's a tie between Charlemagne Palestine and Terry Riley with LaMonte Young as a strong contender. If John Cale made more work along the lines of the New York in the 1960s series, he'd be an easy choice.

My vote goes to La Monte Young

Steve Reich
Henry Flynt

if you want the more popular appeal, then Philip Glass