Minimal Wave Records

Hey Falck! Where the hell ya been?

[quote author=“falck”]But otherwise, generally I think too few releases are more of a problem than too many.

And one reason for this problem may be that the old bands reform and re-issue their old cassette stuff, so the young bands get lost in the avalanche of old genre-defining classics…

Well - let’s add ‘maybe’. Could also be that I’m more interested in music from 1982 than new music that sounds a bit like 1982, I don’t know.  :wink:

There you can have a point.

A little resume about ABC :

1) After long insisting by friends of Dirk Ivens, he finally gave his agreement for the release of the dcd Lost/Found.  These friends are the 2 guys of Tarantulla Shop.
2) Surprised by the success of this dcd, Dirk agreed that V.O.D. would re-release the whole tape-thing of ABC (and let’s admit, a lot of people asked for a re-release of these tapes instead of paying high prices for a copy of a copy of a copy of what might have been one of the original tapes).
3) The fact that there is now this picture disc has one good reason : Dirk decided to stop making cd’s knowing that people prefer to copy the whole thing on the internet.  And so he started this Minimal Maximal label with only vinyl releases, knowing that people who are still interested in buying the original stuff are merely into vinyl than ito cd and prepared to buy it instead of “stealing” it.  And yes, as a first release to put this new label under the spots, the “easiest” thing to do was this ABC-disc, being aware of the popularity of this group the last months.

But, no worries, next release will nothing have to do with this minimal stuff : it will be a compilation with all kind of belgian electro acts.

And after this one, I know that there are rumours of a very fine re-release of an excellent minimal group.  Which one ? We’ll find out the next months….

But, no worries, next release will nothing have to do with this minimal stuff : it will be a compilation with all kind of belgian electro acts.

That doesn’t sound appealing.

[quote author=“reactorlgtn”]Hey Falck! Where the hell ya been?

[quote author=“falck”]But otherwise, generally I think too few releases are more of a problem than too many.

And one reason for this problem may be that the old bands reform and re-issue their old cassette stuff, so the young bands get lost in the avalanche of old genre-defining classics…

Well - let’s add ‘maybe’. Could also be that I’m more interested in music from 1982 than new music that sounds a bit like 1982, I don’t know.  :wink:

Evening Governor,

Now where haven’t I been? Just go to Siberia and you’ll find out I was in Riga :D

Old bands, new bands….I’m a bit of simpleton, really, I just divide into music I like and the one that I don’t. If the new bands are no good, well they deserve to be eclipsed by the old ones, and if any old rubbish gets (re-)released, then people will probably go for something fresh instead…

I just say hey, cool, there’s old music, new music, music on tapes, music on vinyl, music on CD, original versions, remixes, covers versions etc. and the choice is completely mine what to pick.

Given all the trash put on the market by the music industry these days, I think it doesn’t make too much sense to complain about having too much choice in our little niche haven 8)

M has a point in that not everything that is being rereleased is a true Minimal Wave classic. We all own them, but we don’t talk about it.
But I doubt it very much that VOD or Dirk and Eric make a lot of money from the mentioned 5 LP box. They really are made for the true fans like us that rather have an actual product in our hands rather than a CDr full of mp3’s.

Having said that, I am amazed that no one has mentioned the ABC CD ” Eat This” yet, that came out in the early 90’s on Subtronic Records. Another prove of shamelessly cashing in.
:D

An artist deserves to get payed for what he has created, don’t we all agree? If you don’t want the record, I do, you don’t have to buy it.

[quote author=“cr-78”]

But, no worries, next release will nothing have to do with this minimal stuff : it will be a compilation with all kind of belgian electro acts.

That doesn’t sound appealing.

True.  But this new label Minimal Maximal is not an exclusif minimal label. :wink:

[quote author=“AirCrashBureau”]M has a point in that not everything that is being rereleased is a true Minimal Wave classic.

That was NOT the point I was trying to make… but I leave it…

Anyway… I am curious for the maximal sounds then on minimal maximal… and I like it that the label will not just be minimal orientated…

[quote author=“minicold”][quote author=“cr-78”]

But, no worries, next release will nothing have to do with this minimal stuff : it will be a compilation with all kind of belgian electro acts.

That doesn’t sound appealing.

True.  But this new label Minimal Maximal is not an exclusif minimal label. :wink:

Yes, it’s a good thing but lets see what they put out. Hopefully they will deliver something worthwhile.
Whot are these belgian electro acts anyways?

[quote author=“cr-78”][quote author=“minicold”][quote author=“cr-78”]

But, no worries, next release will nothing have to do with this minimal stuff : it will be a compilation with all kind of belgian electro acts.

That doesn’t sound appealing.

True.  But this new label Minimal Maximal is not an exclusif minimal label. :wink:

Yes, it’s a good thing but lets see what they put out. Hopefully they will deliver something worthwhile.
Whot are these belgian electro acts anyways?

I really don’t have any idea.  Belgian electro acts were quite good in the 80’s and the early 90’s but the last couple of years they suffer from a serious lack of creativity, at least in my opinion.  So, will it be a compilation with contempory artists or a mix between “old” and “new” ? I don’t know.  Normally, the release is forseen for end of June, so we’ll find it out quite soon.

But this is exactly what I complain about. Yes, during the 80’s Belgium was GREAT! but now??!?! so if it’s another recycled material and nothing new (once again!) then we are back to square one.
Soooo… as you say we will find out soon enough.

Back to square one indeed.  :D

Do I personally find current Belgium electro appealing? No. :?

Will I buy a sampler of current Belgium electro? Most likely not.

But unless you are a label owner (like some people on here are), you cannot influence much what gets released, and you cannot dictate what other people want to buy either.

Bad releases will thus continue to happen and the unforgiving God of not Breaking Even will hopefully smite the culprits.

And just for the sake of argument: how do you establish the idea that you got great taste if any release out there is good?  :wink:

[quote author=“falck”]
Bad releases will thus continue to happen and the unforgiving God of not Breaking Even will hopefully smite the culprits.

...making break even or not says not always if a record is good or not… how many rare and wanted records from the 80’s did not at all break even in those days!!?? ... only time will tell if a record is a classic or real collector piece… if it has real value…

...besides that if I want to release certain music as I know it has value but it will not sell I will release it… even if it is only for my pleasure…

Hi M,

To quote you in this thread: I think this wasn’t really the point I was trying to make.

Quality and commercial success hardly ever walk hand in hand in this scene and I already said earlier on that for this reason I appreciate very much the fact that people are running minimal synth labels although there’s no big bucks in there.

What I am trying to do here is simply advocate a narrower definition of “bad release”, for me any release has a right to exist if it offers something new (and that may even be something as base as remixes by contemporary artists, while this doesn’t necessarily mean I would personally buy them 8) ).

For me a truly - and thus useless - bad release is rather something like the 5th “Best of” compilation with a slightly different track sequence and some re-arranged artwork.

Somebody might send you an order for the Solitaire Effekten, BTW

[quote author=“falck”]Hi M,

To quote you in this thread: I think this wasn’t really the point I was trying to make.

Quality and commercial success hardly ever walk hand in hand in this scene and I already said earlier on that for this reason I appreciate very much the fact that people are running minimal synth labels although there’s no big bucks in there.

What I am trying to do here is simply advocate a narrower definition of “bad release”, for me any release has a right to exist if it offers something new (and that may even be something as base as remixes by contemporary artists, while this doesn’t necessarily mean I would personally buy them 8) ).

For me a truly - and thus useless - bad release is rather something like the 5th “Best of” compilation with a slightly different track sequence and some re-arranged artwork.

Somebody might send you an order for the Solitaire Effekten, BTW

I think in a sense we agree…