Don't worry kind reader, Minimal Wave isn't the shitty buzz band that happens to be making this weeks internet rounds in return for 5 minutes of fame. No sir. In fact, Minimal Wave isn't a band at all. It's a genre of sorts, albeit one named posthumously. Also known as Coldwave, it refers to a relatively small collection of musical output, originating in France in the late 70's and spreading throughout Europe, North America and Japan in the early 80's, spurred on by the French New Wave. Most songs rely predominantly on raw sounding analog synths and primitive drum machines, propped up by some otherworldly, oblique vocals and obscure lyrics. Much of it subscribed to pop formulations, but some of it was still pretty experimental, influenced as it was by the avant-garde, so there's some weird bat-shit-crazy songs in there too.
On the whole, it's a hit and miss genre on the whole, and to make matters worse, songs are often incredibly difficult to track down as most of the bands from the movement released a 7 inch with a distribution of about 5 and then disappeared into obscurity before anyone really knew what was happening.
Now the good news. Things are looking up, and Minimal Wave is seeing somewhat of a revival thanks to a few hard-working record collecting obsessives. Already this year there's been a couple of good introductory Coldwave/Minimal Wave mixtapes put out that offer a collection of some of the best songs from the movement. The first collection is called The Minimal Wave Tapes Vol I, and it's a decent introduction to the genre.
To get an idea of what I'm talking about, take a listen to the track below. It's by a French boy-girl duo called Deux, and the song is called "Game and Performance". Listen for the unique pronunciation of the word performance. It's great! The chorus is pretty swell too (You just need / Game and performance / Your life is a prospecting company / Business man / Yet you killed / Yet you killed with us / Computers programs shadows in the night). But it's the icy synths and the drum machine that take center stage here. I'll try and put some more Minimal Wave songs up another time...
11-deux - game and performance by cohenburg
you killed the boss*
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