by Henry Oberholtzer

Advisor: Kirsten Volness

This thesis looks at how minimalist concepts, established by composers and visual artists in the 1960s, inform the expressive techniques of techno in the 1990s. The first chapter discusses the aesthetic sensibilities of artists like Sol LeWitt, Carl Andre, Steve Reich and Philip Glass, and how their influence was carried into the 1980s by artists like Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, and the album \emph{E2-E4} by Manuel G{"o}ttsching. Reaching the birth of techno in the late 1980s, the collective Underground Resistance begins to establish a style of ``minimal'' techno with industrial, repetition-focused aesthetics. As minimal techno gains global traction, similarities to minimalist composers become more apparent. To understand how minimalist concepts are implemented in techno, recordings by Plastikman, Subsonic, and Basic Channel are analyzed in the second chapter. The analysis is focused on the use of timbre, space, volume, and structure as key methods of musical expression. These methods are demonstrated to be just as capable of creating intrigue as pitch and rhythm. In the third chapter, I discuss my own compositions, informed by techno, acid house, and the vinyl record. My two pieces implement musical features discussed in the previous chapters and help me determine what minimalism means for my own work as an artist. I conclude by recognizing minimalism as a creative process focused on expanding small gestures, rather than a specific aesthetic goal.

This is my senior thesis from 2021 that I wrote at Reed College, now archived on my GitHub page for posterity & future-proofing.

Thanks again to all who helped me with this project.

(c) 2021 Henry Oberholtzer

Sources & images as attributed, and used under a fair use educational policy.