Minimal Synth Revival

http://thequietus.com/articles/03537-analogue-alienation-the-very-rare-sound-of-weird-records

Was reading this article and wanted to create a thread around bands that fall into the coldwave/minimal tag that are new. I have been noticing interest growing amongst my peers for the last year or so and would love to hear about more new stuff in this vein. I'll start with this clip which is fantastic and is in the article in question. What artists should I be checking out ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUq65XZp_RI

thanks for this vid

Wow that sounds exactly like what my bf's doing at the moment in his Pselodux project. I'd pimp it here but im not sure if he's put it online yet.

dude in xeno & oaklander works at the bookstore, nice guy.

been meaning to start this thread for a minute.

here's something i posted referring to xeno & oaklander and led er est and nu minimal synth.

i don't know any of the new bands besides telepathe. about to try and rectify that. was searching around those 2 bands u mentioned and found this w/a downloadable sampler to Wierd Records stuff at bottom
http://www.thefader.com/2009/11/02/freak-scene-46-wierd-records/

and this kid i know in sf who throws a minimal synth/gothy type party in a loft called Warm Leatherette told me to check out these bands:

the minimal wave-y stuff i was thinking of is mostly centered around a couple labels- wierd records has martial canterel, xeno & oaklander, automelodi, and a few others of slightly lower degrees of awesomeness. sacred bones is more out there on the noisier minimal tip, with blank dogs, the pink noise, and dead luke. zola jesus is like minimal synth with super weird strangly vocals. there's also some synth punky stuff out of france that has minimal synth elements, especially cheveu. and you probably know cold cave..?
― jaxon, Thursday, December 17, 2009 6:52 PM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oscar, you're bay area based, right? did i make that up? if so, i started a monthly minimal synth/kraut/italo/post punk night at 222 hyde

hey jaxon, did you know that sacred bones is run by one of my bet pals and is currently run out of the basement of where i work? i had no idea you were into that stuff at all.

didnt know about that warm leatherette night here in the city, jaxon. looks good, i will have to check it out. i am investigating that wierd records stuff now on discogs, a record trip is in order.

whats the name of your night, jax ? fb link so i can stay updated ?

our happy hour party is called Radioactivity (me and Tristes Tropiques - who posts on ilm occasionally). it's every 3rd friday of the month from 6-9. it's this friday but i can't make it. the warm leatherette dudes are taking my place.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=237713229546&ref=ts (add me, i'm bottom most commenter)

ian, ya, i don't know anything about this new stuff. been trying to collect old stuff as much as possible. it's not cheap or easy to find usually.

I think there's already a good minimal synth thread around.

this seems like something i should like but i don't know why i'm suspicious. possibly just old and jaded and need to trust my instincts and allow myself to like things without worrying about the impulses of others

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf_Mqb5SGTA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfIpYbC7jio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0lwkFYDyJ8&feature=PlayList&p=931432F6949AD57E&index=31

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d39PkoftgjM&feature=PlayList&p=931432F6949AD57E&index=30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JcqA-Tv0uE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXt6j5xrl4M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87n0F4ZdL7g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdQkM5_DreI

and on...and on....

http://www.stonesthrow.com/news/2009/12/the-minimal-wave-tapes

Did I hear or dream that this GEM was being reissued?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHlfuv422Bw

john bender is god

more artists that sound like John Bender, please.

woah, "other message" posted while typing this.

this is the REVIVAL thread, y'all. stuff that's being made currently

but some of us are old enough to have lived through the first wave and we want to cuddle with it some more . . .

The records for the videos posted above are so outlandishly expensive that I've almost gave up collecting this music. I didn't know that new bands were doing this. Excited to hear them.

that's why I'm saying MORE artists that sound like John Bender....NEW artists.

Btw my favorite is Iron Curtain 'The Condo' But that an old artist for sale for $59 for a reissue or 600 for the original.

http://www.discogs.com/Iron-Curtain-Tarantula-Scream/release/1050582

Ooh that Stones Throw comp linked to above looks ace.

was just listening to iron curtain! original still sells for hundreds. its great though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLyGEsJEHZc

more youtube goodness... youtube thread of synthpop/minimal synth/dark wave classics

I would argue that some parts of the more recent Legendary Pink Dots/Edward Ka-Spel/Silverman output fit this description, although they go in a lot of other directions as well. But then again I am always stanning for them here. And they are old first wavers, not revivalists.

Does Salem fit into this? Seems like it, a bit. All those French bands on the Cheveu label are a good call too.

isnt this the 3rd revival of this since 2000? there was a comp on tigersushi in about 2002. I suppose all mutant sounds style blogs making this stuff available would cause some stirs. The asshole promoter I work for has caught on to it I think (as in hes trying to get me to knock off Factory Floor's artwork)which would suggest we are weeks from a backlash

tons of current bands listed in that led er est interview

Martial Canterel
Epee Dubois
Figure Study
SSPS
Further Reductions
Mazing Vids
Death Domain
Silk Flowers
Human Puppets
Blank Dogs
Light Asylum
Ramiro Jeancarlo's projects Opus Finis and Staccato du Mal
Frank Alpine
Automelodi
Frank Just Frank
Agent Side Grinder
Music Cargo

it's funny how it's all getting mixed up, when Minimal Synth initially was a sound pretty much narrowly defined by it's limitations. I guess that's the easy way of looking at it, the easy way to describe the aesthetic, but if go beyond the Flexi-pop hits there's definitely a more expansive sound. Just look at the range of Thierry Mueller/Ruth's stuff. It's also interesting how there's an intersection happening where you have people coming out of goth/new wave, but also people coming from italo/electro/techno backgrounds and now also the synth-punk revival (and bands like Mazing Vids and Blank Dogs owe more to Chrome than say, Vice Versa).

But like any "scene" it's sometimes just defined by slightly like-minded people hanging out. A lot of those bands on that list don't have much in common with each other except that they use analog synths and are "dark".

not that Chrome is just "synth-punk", but you know what I mean.

I am so excited to check all this music out! Thanks ILM

I really wish I could listen to some of this to get an idea of the sound that's being referenced here. Is it kind of a "So Young But So Cold" type of sound (ie. the Jacno track on there, etc.)? Stuff that sounds like Rational Youth? Thomas Leer? Grauzone? Where does industrial/EBM fit in?
I have gotten the feeling that ever since electroclash was a thing this has maintained a pretty steady level of interest, right? Every year there seems to be some comp or another of German coldwave synthpop, French coldwave synthpop, Belgian coldwave synthpop, etc. Definitely dig it if I'm guessing at the sound correctly.

^ that's pretty much it, as far as i see it.

and this: A lot of those bands on that list don't have much in common with each other except that they use analog synths and are "dark".

which is why early industrial/ebm sorta fit in. and new beat too. i know it's not "minimal synth", but it wouldn't feel outta place hearing them all together.

haha, yeah i was looking at that list jaxon posted from the article. been spending some time with it. the martial canterel is some of the best stuff ive heard so far. his synth melodies are really quite beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28u7kWCuF24

i know it's not "minimal synth", but it wouldn't feel outta place hearing them all together.

^^^^

Actually this appeals to me a lot. Good times.

http://www.myspace.com/garywargarywar

Listen to Hollow Futures, the psychdelic side of this stuff.

http://walrusmusicblog.com/blog/watch-video-profile-of-veronica-vasicka-founder-of-minimal-wave/

anyone know the song at 1.50?

jax, that's medio mutante a band out of nyc. song is "another land".

http://www.myspace.com/mediomutante

thanks man. appreciate it!

no way, they're current!? that's awesome

ha. i've been calling it beardwave and weirdwave

hyping this up again, but I've been obsessed by this Automelodi song lately: http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/song_details/90751

Going to see Xeno & Oaklander tonight. Dead excited, woo.

This was awesome, btw.

Anyone listen to that Black Bug record?

Some French coldwave 2LP comp just came out but I can't remember what it's called.

Can I just comment that Xena and Oakenfold act or whatever they're called typify something about this movement that annoys the shit out of me -- which is to say that they take themselves WAY too fucking seriously.

yes, they do take themselves quite seriously but i think that adds to the whole thing. i just came back from seeing them play and thought they were fantastic. loved it. i didn't get there in time for led er est sadly.

do xeno and oaklander have any records out? they weren't selling any tonight.

looks like they have quite a few, I've only heard their tracks on the "Wierd Records Volume 1" compilation

http://xenoandoaklander.com/?page_id=73

the dude in xeno & oaklander is aka Martial Canterel, who has had some tapes, and there's at least one out of print LP.

dmr--he works at the bookstore on bedford ave.

I met him there...tried to get him excited about the Metal Boys CD...still hoping it would gain some traction with the minimal synth revivalists...

X&O album is available mail order from Wierd. I'm partial to this kind of music but I'm still surprised how much it's grown on me. Ideal for solitary drives I find

Martial Canterel is great live solo. Saw himabout a year back and he had a nice early solo John Foxx thing going.

do xeno and oaklander have any records out? they weren't selling any tonight.

Yeah, the Sentinelle album is totally worth it. I heard that they sold out of merch on the first night of the tour [!] so they may not have been able to restocked.

*get restocked

I saw Led Er Est and X&O friday night, both of which were pretty great. Met Martial before the show. He talked the sound guy into putting on some burn of old cold wave stuff he liked and was intensely enthusiastic about hearing it over big speakers.

the dude in xeno & oaklander is aka Martial Canterel, who has had some tapes, and there's at least one out of print LP.

dmr--he works at the bookstore on bedford ave.

I knew the second part but I didn't know he was the same guy as Xeno & Oaklander. (I've never seen any of these bands live ... except Led Er Est once at NY Eye and Ear ... and SSPS). I like Martial Canterel a lot, "Refuge Underneath" is cool. I have it on CD, I think it may be a compilation of earlier tapes and 7"s

/Can I just comment that Xena and Oakenfold act or whatever they're called typify something about this movement that annoys the shit out of me -- which is to say that they take themselves WAY too fucking seriously.
/

yes, they do take themselves quite seriously but i think that adds to the whole thing. i just came back from seeing them play and thought they were fantastic. loved it. i didn't get there in time for led er est sadly.
--stirmonster

Oh come on. It's not like this is 1978 and these people are "glimpsing into the future" or something. It's kitsch. And the problem is it doesn't seem like they really get that.

consider this: it was always kitsch. mind blown~

q: does this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFhQMgV5Xus&feature=related count? and if so any recommendations for similar stuff?

that's really fun. i know these are really obvious answers, but it reminds me of Art of Noise and some Yellow Magic Orchestra stuff.

and holy crap, that record sold for $900+ on ebay

this could probably fit on the dark neopostpunk thread as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgTE7MexGek&feature=player_embedded#!

surprised no-one else here seems to gush over Automelodi - but i'm pretty pleased to see him getting reviewed on Quietus.
I havent heard the LP yet but after that first EP I'm pretty confident that i'll love it.

One of the new Silk Flowers songs, "Band of Color," is up on their Myspace page. Sounds really good.

RFID of a minimalist synth track I heard in a coffee shop the other day: no drums, eighth-note bassline, overlaid by a bass drone; female vocalist singing something like, "Can't feel the love anymore..."
Anyone?

http://img.youtube.com/vi/8PGk2b9w43k/0.jpg

i had one of those many many years ago.
was a pretty good calculator as well, if memory serves me right.

love 'bones'. could have been a grim version of 'beautiful losers'

never realized veronica vasicka was so photogenic ...

Veronica is the next guest DJ at Dazzle Ships. Working on flyer now. May or may not look like this:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3848975/2.jpg

ben deserves better than just "los angeles"

I don't know what to put there! Give me a good association. Or a funny one. Where'd you go to high school? I'll ask them what name their project is gonna be, that might work.

Rad poster.

Thanks. Got a few others to choose from, we'll see what's chosen.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3848975/DazzleVeronica3.jpg

see what happened to "LA" above, Jaxon?

Ya. I was gonna suggest zoovox. Or "Lyndon B"

Lyndon B, hmm? I'll keep that one in mind.

Or "family pants". But I really dig the new flyer.

thanks. here's the rest of them...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3848975/VeronicaFlyerComps.pdf

I'm trying to get back into doing more design and knocking out a bunch of these each month has been a fun exercise. I had a bunch of good ones for last month but Jeremy went with the simplest.

Really great stuff. My fave is the second on the PDF. I lolled when I saw the one with just "Veronica".

Oh, and Lyndon b comes from a college roommate of ben and I who had a girlfriend that he worked with. She would give him LBJ's. We said "Lyndon b johnson's"? And he said, "nah, lunchtime blow jobs". Lyndon b was our fictional band name when we used to make music.

This sort of loosely fits the bill but I saw these guys the other week, amongst a set of 6 other bands and it either it was the terrible quality of all the rest that pushed these guys up or they just sort of appealed to my 80's aesthetica preferences in music, but anyway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEwgCHL_o88

they're decent

Crash Course in Science and Chromatics (Australia) are both totally synthpunk bands and deserve to be there. Chromatics especially.

i mean, really tho, so many groups like can get placed all over the place. like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZtCh9bJ_jY

this is a squat. in oakland.

so despite being kinda cold on a lot of the new revival stuff, I'm really digging the new Staccato Du Mal single on Wierd Records. sounds like early Skinny Puppy and Psyche

anybody heard the new Staccato Du Mal album on Wierd? samples sound fantastic, he's def the best of the revivalists right?

this is the single from this year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsuxeSTaz2M

kinda sounds like "Assimilate" by Skinny Puppy

i am not really sure to put this and not entirely sure it even fits this thread (more zwischenfall/xmal deutschland-ish than, idk, xex or whatever) but i've been loving this track (although i have no idea when it's from - the original version of this track came out in 2009 i think? and then a 12" of remixes came out last year, but this isn't on it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5YOwb_9sx4

Tristesse Contemporaine - I Didn't Know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M_ZnD9iFSkI

not sure what thread to put this on but it's great. Veronica Vasicka is DJing their album release party in Paris so I'm slotting them in w/ minimal synth.

also not sure if this is the right thread but just came here to rep for the new Cultural Amnesia album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJTe2ReerSE