In an interesting turn of events, the form of techno that used to irritate me in its ubiquitousness has also been eclipsed by the mnml fad. The ADATT technique (”all drums all the time”) of the hard techno scene has been replaced with the more urbane but no less limited in scope mnml. Hard techno was actually my gateway to the four on the floor music, it all started at an all-techno party in Spring ‘98 in Pittsburgh called “Sub Phunk”. I can’t remember the entire lineup and there is surprisingly no info on it online, but Vapourspace played along with Christian Smith, Adam Beyer, and others. I stayed for the entire party, spellbound by how good a whole night of that music could sound. Of course ‘98 was a bit of a heyday for that music, and it wasn’t long after that that I grew tired of it and moved on to more melodic Detroit pastures.
Ben Sims was one of my favorites back then (along with Surgeon) and I just saw this new interview with him where he talks about his current projects and the state of techno music and of course, mnml. I haven’t heard his “Frequency 7″ deejaying collaboration with Surgeon, but it certainly sounds interesting. Surgeon’s own Ableton mixsets have been pretty nice recently, showcasing an industrial and noise element in techno that not many others seem to be covering. You can DL some Surgeon sets at his site, and if you can find it Ben Sims’ “Return of the Essex Rascal Pt. 1″ mix from last December is a hectic mixup of electro, hiphop, funk, soul, and disco music. It’s not online anymore, but check slsk or elsewhere, it’s worth hunting down. These guys have managed to stay relevent by sticking to their roots and not acquiescing to the fickle tastes of the public.
On a similar tip, my man ncw (a former hard techno producer himself who over the past few years has moved more housey and experimental, usually at the same time!) recently did a nice all vinyl mix similar in scope to what Surgeon has been up to. The mix is called “Broken Bottles”, you can DL it here and you can find the tracklisting here.
still only reading about the “mnml fad” from people who hate it now….it’s finished so why keep criticising it, seems the fad is just as popular amongst those who dislike it.
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come on now, dood. the same names and faces are all there, i dont care if its cool to call it “mnml” now or “deep house” or whatever other genre name theyre gonna jack to keep their careers going. let’s take a look at RA’s “top 5 producers of 07″: we have radio slave, villalobos, matt dear, a kompakt artist, and a guy who makes mnml that people seem to think sounds more like “house” than other stuff. nothing has changed! you can change the name but the essence of the movement is the same.
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but the music isn’t the same, at all!
even if you don’t like efdemin (as a producer I’m 50/50 on him), you can’t say he sounds like m_nus or mnml.
there isn’t really anything of that sound about him.
the essence of the movement, mostly digital house and techno made by European based producers is indeed the same.
but that’s the broad essence that you hate! Within that there is room for a huge amount of change.
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also like…everyone had a freakout about the word “minimal” being used, but now the same people seem to want to keep it alive as a pejorative.
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Where is the love?
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“the essence of the movement, mostly digital house and techno made by European based producers is indeed the same.”
but its not just that, its the same old style over substance, its the same hyping a music for qualities that it doesnt even have when other music DOES actually have those qualities and is good, etc etc. you can split hairs about efdemin, but the feeling i get from his tracks is not what i would call house music, that’s for sure.
“also like…everyone had a freakout about the word “minimal” being used, but now the same people seem to want to keep it alive as a pejorative.”
you make your bed, then you lie in it. they fucked that name’s meaning up, now they dont wanna use it anymore? too bad! i wont allow them to do the same with the phrase “deep house”, they will always be mnml.
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Nice find Tom.
The Frequency 7 project sounds interesting, I’d love to see it at some point.
NCW mixes are always spot on, the last one is no exception to the rule.
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“its the same hyping a music for qualities that it doesnt even have when other music DOES actually have those qualities and is good”
it’s the same old other people having different taste to you and you being incapable of showing them respect.
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you know, i hated all that “respect” shit when stupid ravers used to talk all that nonsense. i still hate it. respect this.
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ravers invented cultural relativism? funny, i thought it was a pretty blatant cornerstone of popular culture.
i don’t think music sounds how you think it sounds and nothing you can say or do can prove me wrong on that. the same is true for anyone else’s interpretation. there is no proof, there is no fixed sound, and there is no fixed “quality”, no matter how much you wish it were the case.
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It’s foolish to just blindly bash “minimal”. Point at what you think is the minimal “mainstream”. There’s no such thing. There is a whole spectrum of sound under that umbrella.
I hated all that “soul” shit when disco heads used to talk all that nonsense. I still hate it. WTF is it?
There’s crappy cookie cutter music everywhere you look and no movement has a monopoly on quality.
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glad someone said it. different styles are good for different reasons….what a shocker.
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