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First of all, sorry in advance for the epic length of the post!
I have never read an official description of what minimalism exactly is, so what is minimalism to me?
I guess as long as a piece has a strong focus on something, a theme, it's minimalist.
So what's a theme? It might be a repeated musical or rhythmic pattern, a background sound layer, or a particular effect; these make for very explicit, recognizable minimalist results.
But the theme might as well be a bit under the hood, like a single sound source used to make all the sounds in a piece.
Then, concepts can be a minimalist theme too, as long as it doesn't take a whole concept album to express them. Soundscapes probably belong here.
I wish I had a simpler view on all this, voting would be easier: is the grass greener than a mountain is tall?
Besides... despite AlienXXX's guidelines, I just can't ignore the most relevant factor that music and sound have on me, an impact that can make me resonate inside, or give me goosebumps, or enhance my mood or change it.

I might post more thoughts in the discussion thread once the voting is closed, not strictly related to the voting criteria, but one thing has to be said now:
the votes go from 10 to 1, leaving some out, but to me they're like an extra added to a much bigger base value.
In different ways, I've enjoyed listening to all the entries, all had at least a good impact on me, and none of them is worth to me less than 80 on a scale to 100.
I've been amused, entertained, amazed, hypnotized, mesmerized, dragged into grooves, brought to places on Earth, in space, in mind...
Thank you all.

10 points - afleetingspeck - "Voices in the Head"
Cool always changing rhythm, great panning and pitchwheeling, irresistible groove.

9 points - Kyster - "Triangular Bells"
Great sense of vastness on earth, and soothing effect, very interesting contrast between the strong bells and the thin quick sound cascades.

8 points - soneproject - "Half Dozen Minimalist"
The musical pattern is consistent and repetitive enough to be minimal, but never boring; rather, it gives me a good feeling and induces me to slightly nod in sync, sort of halfway between the groovy ones and the ones I like to listen to comfortably sat in my chair, eyes closed.

7 points - jgeralyn - "Built to Look Weathered"
The whole atmosphere really brings me to some place, it's one of the powers I value the most in sound and music. The changes in volume and the episodic spatializations blend nicely with the main theme, enrichening it, without breaking it.

6 points - Schluppipuppie "minimalist[at]work"
Awesome manipulation of a single source, crafted into a very groovy piece, much more minimalist that it might seem. Listening to this and standing still? Not for me.

5 points - thatjeffcarter -"Ten Till Four"
This composition would be a nice soundtrack for a documentary, but it's even better to just close your eyes and let your mind fill the visuals. The "typical Jeff start" (as klankbeeld called it ) brings me to a travel in space, freely floating, maybe fast from my point of view, but so little to the universe's eyes.

4 points - escortmarius - "Dont think Dwight will slow down"
The tension through the whole piece keeps it interesting and groovy, the electronic feeling is quite strong.

3 points - AlienXXX - "Minimal Sequence"
Very natural groove, electronic but smooth, definitely pleasant to the ears.

2 points - bebops - "Dwight's bad dream"
Another highly skilled composition out of a single source. Less is more, but less that just this sound would be silence. ...Although I suspect bebops could compose even on just that.

1 point - toiletrolltube - "please slow down"
I listened to it on a player with a fancy spectrum visualization plugin, the whole gave me a sort of 2001 feeling, this is probably close to how HAL felt while being slowly shut down...

Special awards:

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Dwight" award, presented by Arthur C. Clarke: toiletrolltube
"...where was I?" award, presented by Franz Anton Mesmer: Michael_Trickery, Cannonrayj
"Attack of the Clones" award, presented by Jar Jar Binks: OSH37
"Sheik Yerbouti" award, presented by Frank Zappa: schluppipuppie
"Keep talking" award, presented by David Gilmour: Puniho
Best recognizable belch award, presented by Homer J. Simpson: klankbeeld
Best unrecognizable belch award, presented by Maggie Simpson: schluppipuppie

And now excuse me while I go hating myself for all of the undeserved exclusions...

So, voting is a bad thing again. So much creativity and diversity!
While listening to all the entries again, I always pulled the actual piece higher in the ranking. But I recognized, that if i continue to do that, it never gets finished. So here is the state of the ranking for today, but first my definition of what I read out of "minimalism":

For me, it was the theme of the dare. Not so much a rule. The rules set it to be minimal, because you have a very limited amount of slots for effects/samples. Minimalism for me was, to make "something" out of the limited material. If it has an atmosphere, a catchy groove, a good idea for a technic creating music out of that minimal'ness, catchy sounds, it represented the goal of the dare for me. Maybe the sounds are so far away from the original, that you can't recognize them anymore. Or they are so familiar, but in a very unexpected setting, it could "catch me".

10 pt: michael trickery "phase slow down"
- very minimal, clear technic and attracting mood

9 pt: jeffcarter "ten till four"
- very ambient, minimal, musical

8 pt: joannageralyn "build to look weathered"
- very minimal with clear technic and very musical atmosphere

7 pt: cannonrayj/ro unit "meleduct"
- creative sounds
- nice minimal atmosphere, good tension

6 pt: ramacod/bebops "dwight's bad dream"
- voc-overkill
- clear minimalism

5 pt: copyc4t "speed limit"
- very nice atmosphere and authentic industrial groove

4 pt: afleetingspeck "voices in the head"
- nice dance atmo
- like the voc-creativity

3 pt: osh37 "knocking"
- nice sounds

2 pt: Kyster "Triangular Bells"
- catchy minimal atmosphere, mysterious piece

1 pt: puniho "mr. dwight rides again"
- nice sounds, creative expression

escortmarius "don't think dwight will slow down"
- good kick, nice beat

saoe
- nice atmosphere

alienxxx "minimal sequence"
- nice sounds, but little development

klankbeeld "she loves me even if i drink too much"
- humoristic atmosphere if you think of it, but can't really connect to it

toiletrolltube "please slow down"
- little development or too random? but yet kind of groovy

Thank you for all the sounds, i'm looking forward to the next one!!!

...and thanks to copyc4t for the awards...

A little later than usual due to some technical difficulties...
( a fuse blew up in my house... I write this post in darkness... only have power in the power sockets: no lights!)

Here are my votes and a brief commentary on each piece.

10 - afleetingspec - "Voices in the head"
Awesome: Overall effect
Good: Use of vocal sample
Excellent/unique points: tempo change / pitch bent triangle / vocal overlaps / "ts" sound for percussion
Room for improvement: outside the scope of the dare, rework song and give the percussive sample more 'boom'

9 - Kyster - "Triangular bells"
Good: Perfect balance between complexity / minimalism / effect
Excellent/unique points: emotional impact of the piece

8 - Cannonrayj (ro unit) - "meleduct"
Good: Overall effect
Excellent/unique points: reversed vocal fragments

7 - Schluppiepuppie (Sonofapreacherman) - "minimalist at work"
Good: Overal effect
Excellent/Unique points: Creativity with samples
Not soo good: perhaps a bit too complex for a minimalist themed dare
Second part with broken rhythms not so much to my liking.

6 - bebops (ramacod) "dwights bad dream"
Good: rhythmic feel of the piece
Excellent/Unique points: Vocal sample cut-ups / use of the filter
Not so good: stereo enhancer / panning

5 - Michael Trickery - "Phase Slow Down, Dwight"
Excellent/unique points: use of phasing techniques
Not soo good: a bit too minimalistic/repetitive

4 - jgeralyn - "Built to Look Weathered"
Good: Emotional impact / story / message...
Excellent/Unique points: Loved the dualism in this piece
Not so good: the drone sounds can be a bit unkind on the ears at times

3 - ThatJeffCarter - "Ten Till Four"
Good: minimalist
Excellent/unique points: peaceful (pads) / restless (blips) dualism
Not so good: triangle sample could do with reverb / ends abruptly

2 - Copyc4t - "Speed-Limit"
Good: Could be the theme music for a C64 racing game
Excellent/Unique points: Retro computer feel / James Bond theme / cowbell sound!
Not so good: the pitched down vocal sample is a bit of a cliché

1 - saoe - soneproject - half dozen minimalist
Good: Overal feel
Excellent/unique points: best integration of vocal sample in mix
Not so good: ending could be improved / synth sound not too convincing

I will post some detailed comments on all entries tomorrow.
Right now I am going to stumble my way to bed

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VOTING ON DARE 10 IS NOW CLOSED

Please do not post any further votes after this post (they will not be counted)

-------------------------------

Comming soon:
- My detailed comments on each entry for dare 10
- Voting results for dare 10
- Dare 11 !!!!

I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the voting. I'm terribly busy these days...
I understand I'm automatically disqualified . No problem. I enjoyed making the track very much. Thank you everyone who gave me points in the voting!! and good luck!

bebops wrote:
I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the voting. I'm terribly busy these days...
I understand I'm automatically disqualified . No problem. I enjoyed making the track very much. Thank you everyone who gave me points in the voting!! and good luck!

Sorry bebops.
I have not counted the votes yet.
When I post the results I will still post how many votes you have got. But you will not be in the official list...

I missed the voting too. Which saves me the humiliation of coming in last place. I think I even got less votes than Toiletrolltube, no disregards, but that's quite an achievement in itself...! That Mr Dwight truely is an obnoxious charactor..!

Also, my track should not have been in the voting in the first place because Mr Dwight was late and he went over time by one tick tock... ;>

Hi Puniho,

I think the lack of votes is due to the latness of your entry. Rather than it's quality.