Does anybody know if there are any books about minimal wave or related genres such as Minimal Synth, Synthpop, Post-punk, Coldwave? Basically, I am looking for something that describes the structures and aesthetic of this music, the synthesisers, the main influences, the DIY approach, etc. I want to do a project about this music for university and I cannot find any books dedicated to this topic. I would really appreciate it if you can help me out! Thanks.
You could probably do a whole lot worse than picking up the new book on Factory Records; not primarily a synth label, but there when it started. “Wreckers of Civilisation” about Throbbing Gristle contains a bit of technical stuff and a lot of cultural background, there’s a bit of technical stuff in the book “33 1/3: 20 Jazz Funk Greats” too. Pascal Bussy’s book about Kraftwerk, maybe. I liked Wolfgang Flür’s book too, but I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for.
Marc Almond’s Tainted Life is a touching read… He writes a bit about the very start with Dave Ball, around the time of the Bedsit Tapes/ Mutant Moments stuff, but obviously he doesn’t know too much about the equipment used, seeing as he didn’t play any of it.
A good few of the more famous bands of the genre have biographies out… OMD “MEssages” from 1989 or so (?) is more technical, and what equipment they had and how they used it is actually something worth reading.
Who else? I’ve read good books about Joy Div, New Order, Cure, Pet Shop boys (I’m a fan so shut up! :wink: ), and of course Kraftwerk. Nothing I can recall about the “scene” as such…
Maybe we should write a book on minimal wave? We’ve got the contacts right here
-And although they’re maybe too short to use, there are some biographies on websites and best-of records/ box sets… Robin Crutchfields account on the no wave scene from his dark day website is indispensable and just what you’re looking for
Remember that there wasn’t a minimal synth scene as such, there just was an underground/alternative rock scene. Suicide and Dark Day come from a scene that also featured acts like Teenage Jesus and The Jerks (primitive punk) and James Chance and the Contortions (saxophone, nuff said). The groups you are interested in have appeared on bills with punk / goth / new wave groups. Think of all the compilations that feature one decent minimal synth track and the rest is new wave - that was what it was like back then. If you want to read about the scene, maybe the new book about the Hacienda club might fill the bill - I haven’t actually read that one, but it seems interesting.
I am aware of what you are saying, I do understand that there wasn’t a minimal synth scene back then. However, I was wondering if there was a new book that included gathered information about this scene and its main topic was the genre itself. I will check out the book you mentioned, thanks!
About the Sheffield music scene between 1973 and 1984. All the usual suspects are there, but it also covers the lesser known bands. Loads of nice anecdotes and facts and most importantly: its come with a very nice CD. Still available from Sheffield Vision.
Other readings that are more or less important to “minimalwave”:
Jürgen Teipel—“Verschwende Deine Jugend”
On German punk, NDW and minimal electronics.
Drew Daniel—“20 Jazz Funk Great”
An indepth analysis of TG’s most accessable album.
Geeta Dayal—“Another Green World”
On Eno’s album’s “Another Green World” and “Discreet Music”.
There is no genre of music called minimal wave and most people that listen to and collect synth records know that. Hence, there are no books on the subject.
Minimal Wave started in around 1999 or 2000 as what turned out to become a conceptual minimal synth record label run by Herve Hue of France. Herve Hue is a serious synth record collector and he has been since the early 1980’s. He used a minimalwave@ email address and ebay user handle beginning at that time, and started his own minimal wave website where he was going to post his entire record collection and release minimal synth records. Neither concept was actualized.
In 2005 another record label was started called Minimal Wave in New York which had in essence many of the same concepts as Herve’s record label, but the main difference was it was actualized. At the time the second Minimal Wave started to release records Herve agreed to change the name of his record label to Minimal Electro Wave instead of Minimal Wave to avoid there being confusion between the two Minimal Wave record labels. I don’t think there have been any releases on Minimal Electro Wave records to this date.
Since the second Minimal Wave record label began releasing records people that are naive on the subject have started to confuse the name of the label as being a genre of music. This most likely occurs because the name Minimal Wave combines two words that were used to describe genres of music during the 80’s. The word Minimal was used in the 80’s as part of the phrase Minimal Electronics, and the word Wave was used as part of phrase New Wave.
“There is no genre of music called minimal wave and most people that listen to and collect synth records know that. Hence, there are no books on the subject.”
That’s silly. It doesn’t matter where the genre got its name from or when it got its name!
Today, there is a genre called “postpunk”, it wasn’t called postpunk at the time, it began when somebody wrote a book and needed a good collective term. There weren’t any “freakbeat” bands in the 1960’s, but there sure are freakbeat collectors today; the collectors needed a word to describe what they’re looking for, so they made one up. Of course you can write a book about “freakbeat” or “minimal wave/minimal synth pop/minimal electronics”.
There are countless genres that have their names from record labels or reissue labels, “industrial music"and “motown” are the first examples that spring to mind. And you bet there have been books written about motown music!
