Searching for beautiful emotional minimal music

November 25, 2012 3:50 PM

Searching for beautiful emotional minimal music in the vein of Max Cooper, Marek Hemmann.

Two specific things I am in love with are Marek Hemmann's Infinity EP, and Max Cooper's Loop Topologies set, especially the unreleased track at about 40 minutes in the latter, which has brought me to tears many times. Gold Panda has been a recent love as well which is sort of similar.

I'm not even quite sure what to call this. Maybe minimal electronic dance music? I like that it has a beat, and I like the relative simplicity of it (hence 'minimal') but what really pulls me is the emotional power behind it. That's kind of a subjective thing, I guess. This stuff feels really beautiful to me and that's what I'm craving. This is maybe similar to my last question but I'm being a bit more precise. Also, I prefer newer stuff, because I'd like to find artists I can see in person.

What else might I like? How does one find this stuff, anyway?

posted by PercussivePaul to media & arts (10 answers total)

Just as quick suggestions: sounds like you want Tycho. Perhaps Arovane's Lilies too. Dntel's stuff has this quality with a definite indie influence behind it. It's perhaps loosely called indietronica, or emotive electronic music, but neither of those labels seem to stick particularly well. Lots of IDM ("intelligent dance music") has this quality too -- see Autechre here, here, and here.

There's a pretty rich vein to tap here; doubtless others will be in with more suggestions soon.
posted by zer0render at 3:58 PM on November 25, 2012

It may not be as minimalist as what you are looking for but might I suggest something like "Sonnenrad" by Michael Rother? I'm no expert on the Krautrock genre, which I think he is usually placed under, but exploring that particular vein might yield some results.
posted by sendai sleep master at 4:03 PM on November 25, 2012

I like some of the Fabric / Fabric Live stuff. I also find Sigur Ros' albums meet the emotional criteria, although I'm not sure if they count as electronic.
posted by backwards guitar at 4:04 PM on November 25, 2012

Andrew Bayer is what you want.
posted by empath at 4:06 PM on November 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Murcof:

Murcof's music is sparse, minimalist, electronica. Although founded on abstract, glitchy, sometimes complex electronic percussion, Corona's recordings are more melodic and traditionally structured than many contemporary electronic musicians. Many recordings feature orchestral strings sampled from recordings of works by modern composers such as Arvo Pärt
posted by mannequito at 4:24 PM on November 25, 2012

Here are some you might dig off the top of my head:

Proem

Phonem

Deru

Matthew Herbert

Ochre

Kettel

Christian Kleine

Morgan Geist

Junior Boys

wndfrm

Lusine

Solvent

Baths

Aoki Takamasa

Ametsub

posted by colorproof at 4:49 PM on November 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thought of a few more:

Scuba
John Talabot
Sepalcure
posted by colorproof at 5:01 PM on November 25, 2012

Try The Field. One of the many artists on Germany's Kompakt records that may appeal to you.
posted by the foreground at 10:11 AM on November 26, 2012

Lovely stuff. Thanks colorproof especially -- haven't tried many of these yet but already a few winners. The Field was one I was already a fan of. Andrew Bayer is blowing me away right now. Exactly what I needed!
posted by PercussivePaul at 4:56 PM on November 26, 2012

Astrobal
posted by univac at 10:50 PM on December 11, 2012