Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Alright...this thread may be a bit of a stretch.

 

But I love Bad Timing, and Glenn Kotche's Mobile. I'm looking to find other artists within the genre of minimalism. I'm wondering if anybody on here has any suggestions...

 

Thanks

Link to post
Share on other sites

Steve Reich- Music for 18 Musicians.

 

Do it. Do it. Do it. Possibly my all time favorite album. Theres a few versions: Ensemble Modern version; the Nonesuch version, played by Reich and musicians along with new musicians; the Amadinda Percussion Group version, a live concert recording; and the most recent, by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble. Personally (and perhaps surprisingly), my favorite is the GVSU version..I like the acoustic dynamics of it the best. But yea, seriously..go out and buy this now. A sample of what its all about:

 

Supposedly one of the most difficult pieces of music to perform ever written. The GVSU ensemble trained intensively for over a year before attempting a live performance.

 

Also, Reichs other stuff is good too. Some of my favs:

Electric Counterpoint-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwxKtr5nF7Y

Different Trains-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJPyOh__zXw

 

And if you find yourself liking that, you should probably delve into Philip Glass as well.

 

 

Also, are you interested in ambient? If so, stuff like Stars of the Lid, Fennesz, William Basinski, Tim Hecker, Eluvium, Ulrich Schnauss...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3CoihmU1ok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go4ZZ3Ozc84

Link to post
Share on other sites
Riech, John Cage, there's a lot of 'em. Are you talking minimalism in "pop" music or as a genre, including the "classical" form of it?
Good question.....

 

While Reich has more hip cachet, don't forget Phillip Glass.

 

For far less hip cachet but far more intense and even minimal music check out the work of Morton Feldman; I don't know his work that well, but he is truly the man for minimalism.

 

Somehow I don't think of John Cage as a minimalist. He is experimental however.

 

LouieB

Link to post
Share on other sites
Steve Reich- Music for 18 Musicians.

 

Do it. Do it. Do it. Possibly my all time favorite album. Theres a few versions: Ensemble Modern version; the Nonesuch version, played by Reich and musicians along with new musicians; the Amadinda Percussion Group version, a live concert recording; and the most recent, by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble. Personally (and perhaps surprisingly), my favorite is the GVSU version..I like the acoustic dynamics of it the best. But yea, seriously..go out and buy this now. A sample of what its all about:

 

Supposedly one of the most difficult pieces of music to perform ever written. The GVSU ensemble trained intensively for over a year before attempting a live performance.

 

Also, Reichs other stuff is good too. Some of my favs:

Electric Counterpoint-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwxKtr5nF7Y

Different Trains-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJPyOh__zXw

 

And if you find yourself liking that, you should probably delve into Philip Glass as well.

 

 

Also, are you interested in ambient? If so, stuff like Stars of the Lid, Fennesz, William Basinski, Tim Hecker, Eluvium, Ulrich Schnauss...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3CoihmU1ok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go4ZZ3Ozc84

 

 

This thread has inspired me to track down Basinski's Disintegration Loops discs as well as the Music for 18 Musicians disc. I can't wait til they get here.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Maybe Cage is too trendy to be considered minimalist. :lol
Cage has always been trendy, but his work is not strictly minimalist at all. It involves all sorts of theoretical ideas including electronics. Cage created his own cult actually.

 

From Wikipedia on the subject....

 

Minimalist composers

Notable minimalist composers include:

 

Louis Andriessen (born in the Netherlands)

David Behrman (born in Austria)

Barbara Benary (born in the United States of America)

David Borden (born in the United States of America) (and his ensemble Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company)

Gavin Bryars (born in the UK)

Tony Conrad (born in the United States of America)

Julius Eastman (born and died in the United States of America)

Ludovico Einaudi (born in Italy)

Brian Eno (born in the UK)

Frans Geysen (born in Belgium)

Jon Gibson (born in the United States of America)

Philip Glass (born in the United States of America)

Karel Goeyvaerts (born and died in Belgium)

Christopher Hobbs (born in the UK)

Terry Jennings (born and died in the United States of America)

Douglas Leedy (born in the United States of America)

Richard Maxfield (born and died in the United States of America)

Angus MacLise (born in the United States of America, died in Kathmandu)

Robert Moran (born in the United States of America)

Phill Niblock (born in the United States of America)

Michael Nyman (born in the UK)

Pauline Oliveros (born in the United States of America)

Mike Oldfield (born in the UK)

Charlemagne Palestine (born in the United States of America)

Steve Reich (born in the United States of America)

Terry Riley (born in the United States of America)

Howard Skempton (born in the UK)

Dave Smith (born in the UK)

Ann Southam (born in Canada)

Yoshi Wada (born in Japan)

John White (born in the UK)

La Monte Young (born in the United States of America)

Other more current minimalists include:

 

Australia

Nigel Westlake

Robert Davidson

Belgium

Wim Mertens

Canada

Peter Hannan

Estonia

Arvo P

Link to post
Share on other sites
Good question.....

 

While Reich has more hip cachet, don't forget Phillip Glass.

 

For far less hip cachet but far more intense and even minimal music check out the work of Morton Feldman; I don't know his work that well, but he is truly the man for minimalism.

 

Somehow I don't think of John Cage as a minimalist. He is experimental however.

 

LouieB

 

I agree with Louie - Feldman is brilliant, well worth checking out. I think you can even find some of his records freely available on the web.

 

A resource worth looking at is radiOM.org, has loads of stuff you can stream for free and is a good place to "try before you buy":

http://radiom.org/

Link to post
Share on other sites
I agree with Louie - Feldman is brilliant, well worth checking out. I think you can even find some of his records freely available on the web.

 

A resource worth looking at is radiOM.org, has loads of stuff you can stream for free and is a good place to "try before you buy":

http://radiom.org/

There is so much cool shit out on the web I wish I make the time to actually check it all out. (I have spent all this weekend moving my LPs to the basement in anticipation of painting the living room. I can't believe how many of them I have yet to listen to....)

 

LouieB

Link to post
Share on other sites

Has anyone heard of Anthony Moore? He's been a band member of Slapp Happy and Henry Cow

 

I heard a song off of one of his solo albums (I believe it was "Pieces from the Cloudland Ballroom") it was a very minimalist piece and fantastic! I believe most of his early solo work would be defined as minimalism and is worth a listen.

 

Also for a good read, I just started reading a book called "Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond" by Michael Nyman and I believe the book had a influence on such minimalists as Reich and Glass.

Link to post
Share on other sites

That book sounds interesting... I've just started reading "The Rest Is Noise" by Alex Ross which I purchased with some recent vouchers. Loving it so far, he writers with such enthusiasm, it's great.

 

Louie, you're right, I don't know how much music I've got to actually listen to, but I snatch and purchase anyway. Finally got round to listening to the Steve Reich Nonesuch Retrospective box set last night. Great stuff.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 6 months later...

I finally pulled Steve Reich's "Sextet and Six Marimbas" out of the pile of LPs I needed to listen to. Great record, but only if you like marimbas, because it is full of them....

 

LouieB

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...

A reminder to any and all persons in the Chicago area tomorrow that GAS will be performing his first ever North American show (and its free for christsakes!). Not to be missed.

 

Almost a decade after the last of his four landmark albums as Gas, Wolfgang Voigt is rewarding our patience with his presence: this Chicago concert, the first Gas show in North America, is one of only two U.S. dates on his current tour. (Dude is minimalist all the way.) Though he’s best known these days as a producer and as one-third of the Cologne-based label Kompakt—the world’s epicenter for artful techno and poised to break big stateside—and though he’s released compelling, progressive work under a dozen-odd pseudonyms, just like the rest of the label’s roster, Gas remains Voigt’s signal accomplishment. In contemporary ambient electronica, he has no peers. The music reissued in the 2008 box set Nah und Fern (Kompakt)—savage, rolling tones and drones, dark and dreamy in their lushness, pulsing at times with the soft thud of a 70 BPM heartbeat—is perfectly timeless, just as unsettling and mind-blowing now as it ever was.

 

7 PM, Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, 312-744-6630.

 

-Chicago Reader

 

Do yourself a favor and attend. This will be epic.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...