Introduction

What is "minimal music"?

“minimal music is a balance of sound and structure” - Richie Hawtin

What qualifies me to talk about the topic?
I had a music scholarship, I’ve had a short formal training in music, I played the violin, viola and tinkered with the piano. I’ve written a few software synthesizers, and occasionaly tried to make some of my own music with no success. I’m an avid music fan, and music has always played a strong role in my life.

My electronic music movements have flowed from starting with commercial big beat, dance and electronica as a child, to a progression through trance, drum’n’bass, house, techno (schranz), to my current favourite: minimal tech house. It is this minimal sound that seems to get me so many questions from all streams of life; family, friends, and musicians. Everyone asks me, what exactly is minimal techno?

I’d like to lump together a few similar sounding genres and labels, “glitchy” or “clicky”, minimal techno, minimal electronica, experimental techno, minimal house, microhouse, chiptunes, dub techno and IDM (intelligent dance music).

Terms that I feel are relevant to these genres are “Minimal”, “Clean”, “Intelligent”, and of course, electronic/dance music. I hope everyone is quite comfortable with the segregation of the electronic music stream from everything else (hint, Europeans: techno, Americans/old people: “dance music”, Asians: “Trance”).

Lets review my three terms, starting with “intelligent” first - as this seems to be the most controversial.

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Intelligent

Here is what Aphex Twin thinks:

"I just think it's really funny to have terms like that. It's basically saying 'this is intelligent and everything else is stupid.' It's really nasty to everyone else's music. It makes me laugh, things like that. I don't use names. I just say that I like something or I don't."

Not my view of the intelligent term, when describing these genres. I think it’s quite appropriate. There are many ways to define music, I feel the best two are technically (in terms of bpm, equipment used, etc.) and culturally / historically. The intelligent term I feel fits on both accounts. The IDM / experimental / minimal genre is pushed along by people (Richie Hawtin & Co.) who constantly claim to be doing an experimental “pushing the boundaries” approach to music, for music that “makes you think”, and all that “artsy-wank”.

Simply put, truth be it or not, the culture behind these genres (meaning the people, ie: producers, DJ’s, and punters) consider themselves, and present themselves as being more cultured / knowledgeable (or “intelligent”) about music than your average person. That is, they try to portray an image of intellect, as opposed to other forms of music, (eg: death metal) whose stereotypical fans build a different identity for themselves.

Secondly, a fair amount of knowledge about electronic music sounds are simply required to appreciate the ‘experimental’ aspect of these genres. (more on this later) If you have never heard the standard synthesizer sounds before, how will you identify something that sounds “new” and “different” as opposed to “old” and “standard”. If a piece is a “technical masterpiece”, how can you appreciate it without an understanding of the technologies and challenges involved?

Without a good knowledge of the existing electronic music base you can not effectively judge the novelty, or “expermintal” value of the piece. Hence, the “Intelligent” label can be justifiably attached to the music.

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Minimal

In general this is a term that applies to many areas, minimal design is common for professional webpages, or consumer products (iPod). Essentially the motto is “less is more”. The iPod might not have the bells and whistles and many things to press and twiddle with - but that’s part of its attraction the plain beautiful simplicity of it all.

This minimal sound, based on the minimalism philosophy further ties into the “intellectal culture” of these musical genres. It’s the standard audiophile joke from The Simpsons “You have to listen to the notes she’s not playing” (4F24, “Lisa the Simpson”).

This all boils down to a collection of atonal, monotonous repetition of short loops, subtle changes and a simple beat. In turn this leaves the producer with less to work with, or modify to create a good track. It means a finer attention to detail (for both producers and listeners), a slower, subtler progression for the sound.

A track needs to progress to keep you from getting bored, but not in such an obvious way as to remind you of another genre or sound negating the ‘experimental’ aspect.

It makes the song more about the journey of the transition rather than just the “good bits”. Just like a Russian going from a steamy sauna out to the ice, without the unpleasantness of a hot sauna you can not appreciate the temperature change sensation from jumping into icy water. With minimal music, sometimes you need to sit through slower, boring parts of a track to be able to appreciate the “good” part of the tune.

The minimal term means simpler sounds, subtly planned transitions, giving you an opportunity to deconstruct and enjoy the track.

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Clean

As a further elaboration to the ‘Minimal’ term, ‘Clean’ refers to the attention that has been put into the arrangement of the piece and the selection of instruments. Much like minimal it means that those superfluous sounds and patterns are removed, clean means that the instruments are produced with great attention to detail, and everything is constructed in a mechnical, algorithmic manner, everything has its correct place.

The intelligent, minimal requirements mean that standard synthesizer sounds are bared from selection. This requires the producer to have a good technical understanding of how to construct a sound, and this can often be achieved through atonal sounds to ensure a unique sound despite having a limited environment.

This ‘Minimal’ and ‘Clean’ requirement often leads to an overly-clean, ‘sterile’ feel to the sound, and gives rise to the “glitch” concept : introduce deliberate “error” sounds (like a skipping CD clicking sound) to the song to give it the balance it needs.

Futher expansion of the clicky, glitchy sounds concept leads to the microhouse genre - the extremely short noisy samples are now used in full - producing a track with a minimal feel, but full of longer, noisier samples.

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So is it music? Or just noise?

"If by noise you mean uncomfortable sound, then pop music is noise to me." - Masami Akita

There has been debate about whether atonal pieces are real music since the term was discovered. Any initially discovered form of music faces its critics. I feel music requires two components to distinguish itself from noise and sounds: a classifiable, technical description (patterns, rhythm, melody etc.), and a cultural backing.

Physical noise is simply random, changing frequencies. However to be noise to humans, it also means you can not interpret it. Two strangers having a conversation in a foreign language sounds like noise to you - but if you can understand it, bring it into context then it becomes an interesting conversation.

I definitely feel the minimal sound is music. There are clearly recognizable musical elements; beats, rhythmic bases and clicks, melodies (tonal or not), and a clear progressive structure to the music. There is a strong cultural following for the genre - its been really gaining enormous popularity in Europe over the last couple of years, and its even penetrating into the mainstream. It might just need some time and effort for people to build the appropriate context to appreciate the form.

Even though African tribal music often involves monotonous repetitive banging of a limited selection of drums, one definitely considers it music.

The minimal sound is intelligent, clean, experimental, and truly minimal music.