The zen garden theory of minimal techno
April 8, 2008
As you can probably gather from this blog, I have a deep and abiding love of pop songs. However, in the last year or two, I’ve gotten more into techno music, especially minimal techno. Techno is a pretty maligned genre, and minimal definitely has a reputation as one of its least accessible forms – it’s widely considered to be all bleeps and glitches, of interest mostly to geeky boys who are high-functioning Asperger’s cases. It’s also somewhat overwhelming to get into – there is a massive amount of music available and not a lot of guidance.
But I’m going to argue that it’s worth persevering, or at least not dismissing minimal techno out of hand. Traditional pop songs are like Western gardens – a showcase of colour and form, easily accessible and understandable, and rewarding to our senses. But minimal techno is like a zen garden. At first glance, it seems impossibly austere, even barren. However, sustained attention reveals that its severity hides just as much complexity as greenery does. I listened to the song below half a dozen times in a row, and heard new details with every iteration. Give it a try.
Further reading: A Spirited Defense of Techno
MP3: Dominik Eulberg – Potzblitz und Donnerwetter
Image: Zen Garden by Flickr user Neilio, reposted here under its Creative Commons license.
zed equals zee 
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Very well written with a great sense of association and analogy. Your image went well with the article and you hit home for folks just getting into minimal.
Thanks for your kind words!
[…] DJ and producer (and part-time park ranger) Dominik Eulberg was scheduled to play a Kontrol SF night this weekend, and I’ve been looking forward to it […]
as with any other genre, bad minimal can easily be written off as nothing more than wallpaper music, giving the genre as a whole a bad rap, when some of it is incredibly interesting, once you get past the inherently heady trappings. i really liked the way you put it.
[…] (obnoxious ADD noise) MP3: Dominik Eulberg – Potzblitz und Donnerwetter [buy] […]
Very interesting! If you’re still interested in finding new minimal techno, or any form of electronic music for that matter, visit my blog: Love Electronic Music.
I’m still in the early stages but I’ve already hosted the opening track from the new Bryan Zentz ep, Midnight Teeth. Cheers!
Thanks for coming by, and good luck with your blog!
[…] A taxonomy of electronic music; The zen garden theory of minimal techno; xkcd and […]
One thing which is common for all techno minimal tracks is the soft beat. So I think it is quite relaxing comaping to hard techno.