loop
19 tracksA section of sound repeated seamlessly. Loops, from tape to software, are the building block of hip-hop, house and techno, where change comes from what is added or taken away.
Melody
ostinato
3 tracks.
What it is
A pattern repeated persistently, often for a whole section, while other parts change above it. Minimal techno and much film music build tension from ostinatos.
Read more on WikipediaRelated concepts
arpeggio
1 trackA chord played one note at a time instead of all at once, rising, falling or cycling in a steady rhythm. Synthesizers and sequencers can play arpeggios automatically, and the pulsing synth arpeggio became a signature of electronic disco and much dance music since the 1970s.
riff
14 tracksA short, repeated melodic or rhythmic figure, usually played by an instrument, that anchors a song. Rock riffs are often guitar figures; in electronic music the same role falls to a synth or bass line.
fingerstyle guitar
1 trackPlaying the guitar by plucking the strings with the fingertips or nails instead of strumming with a pick. One player can then carry a bass line, chords and melody at once, and tapping or slapping the strings and body can add percussion.
Hear it in these tracks
Mount Sims
Restless
Seven minutes of slow-burning tension, Restless loops a nervous synth figure and a stalking beat until the repetition itself becomes the thrill.
Marek Hemmann
Gemini
Nine minutes of melodic German minimal from the Jena label Freude am Tanzen: Marek Hemmann's Gemini drives on a swinging house groove while synth patterns and funky tenor-sax licks twist around each other.
Lamomali
L'Âme Au Mali
The song that names Matthieu Chedid's Franco-Malian collective: Toumani Diabaté's cascading kora, the voices of Amadou & Mariam and Jain, and a pun on 'the soul in Mali', from the 2017 album Lamomali.