Minimal Wave
Minimal · 1981 · 100 to 130 BPM · also known as Minimal Synth, Cold Minimal Wave
Minimal wave is the posthumous rediscovery of obscure, cold synth-pop recorded between 1978 and 1985 on cassettes and tiny private pressings: primitive drum machines, monophonic synths, blank vocal delivery and bedroom production. The name comes from Veronica Vasicka's Minimal Wave label, which began exhuming this lost continent of music from 2005 onward. It is placed here by convention: a cousin of the synth-pop roots rather than a true descendant of minimal techno, sharing only a name. The music itself is intimate and modest in scale, made by isolated bedroom artists with a handful of cheap machines rather than by any organized scene.
12 reference tracks
- Crash Course in Science: Flying Turns (1981)
- Oppenheimer Analysis: The Devil's Dancers (1982)
- Solid Space: Destination Moon (1982)
- Martin Dupont: Just Because (1984)
- Deux: Game And Performance (1985)
- Riki: Napoleon (2020)
- Oppenheimer Analysis: Radiance
- Linear Movement: Way Out Of Living
- Solid Space: A Darkness in My Soul
- Crash Course in Science: Cardboard Lamb
- Linear Movement: To Another Soul
- Oppenheimer Analysis: Don't Be Seen With Me
At a glance
- Tempo: 100 to 130 BPM
- First appeared: around 1981
- Machines: Korg MS-20, Roland TR-606, Boîte à rythmes, Magnétophone quatre pistes, Magnétophone à cassette
- The sound: Boîtes à rythmes primitives, Enregistrement cassette quatre pistes
- Labels: Dark Entries, Minimal Wave, Vinyl-on-demand, Medical Records, In Phaze Records, Micrart
- Key artists: Martin Dupont, Oppenheimer Analysis, Crash Course in Science, Linear Movement
Producing Minimal Wave
Minimal wave sits between 100 and 130 BPM, usually 110 to 125, closer to chamber pop than club music, and its stiffness is part of the charm since period drum machines could not swing: play synth lines live and unquantized, or quantize lightly, to recreate a hand-played synth over an unsynced drum machine. Build the beat from one primitive drum machine, a thin analogue kick with no sub, a short noisy snare on 2 and 4 widened with echo, and closed hats in eighths or sixteenths. Unlike the rest of the minimal family, the bass is a melodic line carrying the song: a monophonic synth, resonant low filter, simple root, fifth and minor-third patterns, no sub below 60 Hz. Cheap synths for chords, blank vocals, and a cassette recorder for natural hiss finish the sound.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Minimal Wave?
Minimal wave is the posthumous rediscovery of obscure, cold synth-pop recorded between 1978 and 1985 on cassettes and tiny private pressings: primitive drum machines, monophonic synths, blank vocal delivery and bedroom production. The name comes from Veronica Vasicka's Minimal Wave label, which…
What tempo is Minimal Wave played at?
Between 100 and 130 BPM.
Who are the key Minimal Wave artists?
Martin Dupont, Oppenheimer Analysis, Crash Course in Science, Linear Movement.
In the same family
- Minimal Techno
- Tech House
- Microhouse
- Clicks & Cuts
- Minimal Tech
- Minimal Prog
- Ro-Minimal
- Deep Tech
- Fidget House
- Micro Techno
Listen to Minimal Wave in the atlas · Cette page en français
