Here's some top shelf industrial dronage fer yer perusal. Grating and noisy, one of the few minimalist CDs I actually tolerate. Sorry if you're a huge fan of minimalism, but I just don't get most of it! Actually, can you explain the appeal to me? I can understand minimalism in the context of meditation and Eastern religion, but I don't think you'll meet any Macronympha fans at your yoga studio, and I'm pretty sure these dudes would sooner drink scorched engine oil than kombucha. I can also understand minimalism in the context of drugs...probably some of these dudes do drugs and I'd encourage you to do the same. Other than that, I can't see any reason why I'd listen to the same note for twenty minutes.
Unlike a lot of minimalism out there though, most of these tracks offer interesting development of ideas to the attentive listener - without this, I would've gotten my fill after about thirty seconds. Another tip too: I met Chop Shop briefly earlier this year and he told me that he's a 'sound artist', not a musician. Not sure what to do with that distinction exactly, but I'd agree if you told me that listening to this comp feels more similar to looking at an abstract painting than to listening to rock and/or roll. Heady, heavy stuff: the same color as your sudden death.
Limited to 1000 and released in '93, this isn't the first Artware release I've featured. Also check out Sat Stoicizmo's masterpiece Mah 2 and Oral Constitution's Bibel Priek EP. A Dislocation mp3 is on the Pure Will, Without The Confusions Of Intellect compilation, and you'll also find Real Audio archive troves for Chop Shop, Nord, Hijokaidan, Macronympha, Aube and Andrew Chalk
Freudwerk - Widerfuhr | D.D.Dobson - Furnace In A Cloud
Andrew Chalk - Lyga | Nord - Paramasukha | Macronympha - Caustic Benediction
Hijokaidan - Cancer Of Music | Alan Lee - Annie Sprinkle Loves Latex
Chop Shop - "........" | Miguel Ruiz - El Hombre Que Devoro Manhattan
Small Cruel Party - Without Arms But With Some Sort Of Peculiar Attachement
Nash, Thanks for the post; it's nice to hear some rarer tracks by Nord and Hijokaidan especially. In terms of strict definition, though, I'd consider most of these artists to be "noise" (in the sense of someone like Maurizio Bianchi), rather than minimalists per se, though I understand that the delivery of the final goods is ultimately similar in many respects. I'm the first one to admit that since I no longer do drugs, I'm not slapping on my minimalist records nearly as often. That said, I haven't thrown them away, either. The appeal, for me, of things like Merzbow, Hijokaidan and especially the work of La Monte Young is that it's not "the same note for twenty minutes," but rather a complex, multi-layered onslaught of harmonics, overtones, and rhythmic subtlety. There's a lot to listen for if you're in the proper receptive mindset. I swear that more than once in Young and Zazeela's Dreamhouse I have heard all the music of mankind, coming at me in dense clusters and from every conceivable direction, including "inside"....
Posted by: WmMBerger | November 27, 2007 at 11:59 AM
with the possible exception of andrew chalk I would say none of this is minimalism. I associate musical minimalism more with composers like Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and early Philip Glass with their swirling repetitious forms. where the core musical phrase or cell material that is being repeated is very basic and simple but the complexity and interest is created from the harmonies and rhythmic changes brought on by the arrangement. I find minimalist works like "in C" or "Drumming" or any of Reich's phase music music to be the perfect music for working because it's propulsive and relaxing simultaneously. I find it helps keep me focused since on one hand it's kind of easy to ignore and keep it to the background and concentrate on the task at hand, and when you need distraction it helps because it rewards investigation with it's harmonic and rhymic nuances.
Posted by: patrick | November 27, 2007 at 01:00 PM
The Chop SHop link doesn't seem to be working...
Posted by: Brian | November 27, 2007 at 03:26 PM
Yeah, I mean, Hijo Kaidan is more maximalism, if that really exists as a genre term. Though what this video is of Jojo is pretty puzzling to me:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CHJO4GmTNhk
Minimalist fans should be excited though, EM Records in Japan is issuing a slab of Yoshi Wada discs, I can't wait.
Posted by: Brian Turner | November 27, 2007 at 06:18 PM
The mp3 is fixed, Brian, thanks for the heads up.
Something makes me glad that I don't understand the lyrics that Jojo is singing...
ps, I saw Terry Riley last year and man, he sucked!!!! I guess if you're a fan of his later piano work you'd like it, I just found it a bit fruity. Although I did dig his huge beard and burlap bag shirt. Terry Riley is living proof that minimalism couldn't have happened without pot.
Posted by: Nash Roads | November 27, 2007 at 06:53 PM
ooh, chop shop! i've got a 10" of his that was packed in 2 steel plates, and literally broke the foot of someone who dropped it. plus, it sounds cool.
but what really gets my shorts fillin' is the wada; brian, any more info? are they new works, or rereleases?
Posted by: craig | November 27, 2007 at 10:25 PM
this is a bit of a coincidence, considering i just so happened to have been listening to aube earlier today
In terms of referencing this as 'minimalism', ive fallen into this word trap once before. a while back, i went to a local preformance that said there would be a night of minimalism. while going to expect something akin to an amataurish steve reich or philip glass, i see a man with a very strange looking bell-and-mini-speaker-resonance contraption. though i definately commend noisicians for pushing boundaries, i prefer my noise art to be a little less . . . boring.
Posted by: Pandoras Boxing Ring | November 28, 2007 at 05:30 AM
Great post Nash, I'll be enjoying these for a long time. WFMU truly rules.
Posted by: Bill | November 28, 2007 at 07:27 AM
Fans of Sound Art used to hang out at Generator and Generator 547 in the very late 80s-early 90s. Noisy fun! Here's a link to Gen Ken Montgomery, proprietor: Gen Ken
Posted by: Webhamster Henry | November 28, 2007 at 12:06 PM
A project like Macronympha could not be regarded as Minimalist, there's just too much going on in his sounds. Aube, perhaps, because he has done a lot of sounds that are repetitive variations on singular sound sources. But overall, I'd agree with the consensus, this is more a Noise album.
Just out of interest, what rate where these mp3s encoded at? Because they sound a bit dull on my system.
Posted by: Andrew | December 13, 2007 at 02:36 AM