Minimalism, Type Records, etc.

[TheWarmth]

Not sure if anyone here is familiar with these artists, but I've been listening to the following recently:

Hauschka ~ Ferndorf (avante garde, treated piano stuff)
Goldmund ~ The Malady of Elegance (minimal piano, Type Records)
Grouper ~ Dragging a Dead Deer Through The Woods (airy synths, mellow acoustic guitars, airy vocals, Type Records)

While I enjoy this material, I had a few thoughts today:

I don't understand why these artists don't seem to put any effort into varying their songs. They all sound the excruciatingly similar. While it's good for the work environment (mostly background music) or to chill out to while on the train, it would be near impossible for me to learn the titles because it's so difficult to differentiate one track from the next. Perhaps this is just one of those "it is what it is" kindof things, but I figured I'd post and see if anyone else has any thoughts on this.

[alan_cohaul]

I'm pretty much with you. I know some people that are into abstract noise records, like Nurse With Wound and other stuff. I like minimalism and avant garde, but usually when it's spliced with more accessible moments as well. On my own records, I try to have a good blend of the immediate and perhaps more rock oriented or metal oriented stuff, but with some minimalist and drone and noise stuff here and there that signifies that it's a different sound, a different concept. Kind of like how a band like the Melvins intersperses some of that--like on "Stoner Witch", you've got the abstract noise and ambient stuff, but also the direct rock/ metal stuff. Every band needs shades and textures and differentiation to retain interest....that's my own take. If a band only plays the same punk, metal, ambient, jazz, light rock, etc, it gets a bit one dimensional after awhile, and I feel that there's a very small contingent of bands that do that well enough to make it exciting (ie: i'm a huge Ramones, Motorhead, AC/DC fan).

The Velvet Underground did it well---they had noise and really weird shit, but they always reined it in and came back to something that was melodic or something that was catchy. Same with Hendrix--"Axis Bold As Love" starts out as an avant garde noise epic, but evolves into more classic terrain. My guess is that those that rely only on noise can't play...which says alot, as even the VU weren't exactly technical wizards. Even SP3 had noisy moments, but got back to more traditional structures....as out there as SP3 are, they're still way too traditional, too "rock" for true minimalists and avant garde guys. I've often thought that they were the odd band out because they were too weird, too experimental for the rock crowd, and too rock, too traditional for the extreme avant garde and noise crowd.

Even bands like Sonic Youth toggle back and forth, but some of their normal rock album crowd have said that their noise albums have been "forced" or attempts to sound overly arty....and some of their noise rock fans don't even like the main, more rock or normal sounding albums. "Daydream Nation" worked so well, namely because it had so many shades.....same with LAGWAFIS. They easily could have just done the avant noise like on "The Individual" or something like that.....but if they could make an album like LAGWAFIS, why just focus on the noise aspect? There's points in "Cop Shoot Cop" where it hits that noise rock apex, but it's not just about that, there's yin/ yang, push/ pull, up/ down.

Edit: it's also a good idea to point out that to hardcore fans, what most of us will perceive as "all sounding the same" sounds very different to the dedicated fans.

[James T]

When I saw Stars Of The Lid there was some sort of Type Records supergroup supporting, it was great!

[TheWarmth]

I know that the guy who does the Goldmund records also releases albums under the name "Helios" and those are more electronic and varied. He's obviously a talented guy. Seems like blending the two projects together might prove more interesting than keeping them separated.

[alan_cohaul]

I haven't heard the Helios or Goldmund stuff, but I agree with what you're saying in theory. I think that there's some artists that keep it all separate because it becomes too varied or too in between genres. Justin Broadrick did that alot, he was making music that didn't fit into the Godflesh standard sound, and instead of expanding the Godflesh sound and I guess being worried about upholding a certain sound or maybe not wanting to offend long time fans, then they'd slap a "featuring Justin Broadrick of Godflesh" sticker on the front of it to get people acclimated to the new project!

[James T]

Jesu got so shit after the 'Silver' tour. Oh well.