Being the recent accessibility of rare vinyl and cassette music via blogs, as well as the digital backlash which is driving more people to crave the tangible - most of these minimal wave releases are hand-numbered vinyl editions, which adds another level to the listening experience. They can listen to an LP and it's there for them to look at, examine its cover art, and hold whilst buying and downloading music in digital form remains such an ephemeral experience.
Veronica VasickaI was attracted to the aesthetics of post-punk bands and also their specific histories. Some of these acts could have achieved the level of fame of Joy Division or other peers, but circumstances didn't allow for it. I was looking at some old music charts in the magazine Vinyl - and all these songs had a brief moment in the Top 20 in various European countries. Then, they vanished. It's really fascinating, and sometimes a bit sad.
Veronica VasickaI was really into what is called "minimal synth" - music made strictly on analog synths, and also cold wave, basically a more synth-based version of European post-punk, at that point. So, I decided my own show Minimal Wave was a good way to combine the minimal electronics aspect with the "wave," where guitars come into play.
Veronica VasickaIt's a weird technique but it works. If you bake tapes at a certain temperature - I think it's 130 degrees - something happened to the magnetic particles, so you can restore them. The key is to do the transfer to digital while it's still warm. If it's done right, the new digital version will actually improve upon the quality of the original. If you do it wrong, though, the tapes will melt!
Veronica Vasicka