13. Steve ReichElectric Counterpoint
Minimalism? I don’t really want to say much about it… No, I first stumbled across this because of the sample used on The Orb’s Little Fluffy Clouds. I knew Pat Methany’s early albums like Bright Size Life – and have always loved his playing.
On this, I was amazed to hear the electric guitar in a classical setting where it didn’t sound cheesy. The strange, bell-like quality of that undistorted electric guitar building up chords track by track in a way I’d never heard before. I still love the record.
I don’t know much about Steve Reich, but there are conceptual ideas are going on throughout his work, repeated phrases that become musical. I don’t want to denigrate it, but I can have this music on when I am working and writing. It gets into my brain in a meditative way. It aids that state of mind.