# The 9 Best Minimalism Tracks of All Time American composers from the mid-sixties who replaced development with repetition and let a simple process run until it produced something nobody wrote. The idea underneath every loop-based record this site publishes. - **Origin:** New York and San Francisco, 1964 - **Also known as:** minimal music, systems music, process music, phase music - **Tracks:** 9 - **Updated:** 2026-08-29 - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/minimalism/ ## The list ### 1. [Terry Riley](https://waxonia.com/artist/terry-riley/) — [In C](https://waxonia.com/track/terry-riley--in-c/) *1968 · Columbia Masterworks* Fifty-three fragments, any number of players, each moving on when they feel like it. Riley wrote a set of instructions rather than a piece, and produced the founding document of the whole method. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Terry%20Riley%20In%20C) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yNi0bukYRnA) ### 2. [Steve Reich](https://waxonia.com/artist/steve-reich/) — [Music for 18 Musicians](https://waxonia.com/track/steve-reich--music-for-18-musicians/) *1978 · ECM* An hour of pulsing marimbas and breath-length harmonic cycles. The most seductive thing minimalism produced, and the record that made the argument to people with no patience for the argument. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Steve%20Reich%20Music%20for%2018%20Musicians) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1oOmUi4HGt0) ### 3. [Steve Reich](https://waxonia.com/artist/steve-reich/) — [Come Out](https://waxonia.com/track/steve-reich--come-out/) *1966 · Odyssey* One phrase from a Harlem riot testimony, looped on two tapes drifting out of sync until the words dissolve into rhythm. Devastating, and the origin of phasing as a compositional device. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Steve%20Reich%20Come%20Out) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni-LmThfV6c) ### 4. [Alvin Lucier](https://waxonia.com/artist/alvin-lucier/) — [I Am Sitting in a Room](https://waxonia.com/track/alvin-lucier--i-am-sitting-in-a-room/) *1969* A man records himself describing what he is about to do, then re-records the recording forty times until the room's resonance eats the speech. The purest process piece ever made. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Alvin%20Lucier%20I%20Am%20Sitting%20in%20a%20Room) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk) ### 5. [Tony Conrad with Faust](https://waxonia.com/artist/tony-conrad-with-faust/) — [From the Side of Man and Womankind](https://waxonia.com/track/tony-conrad-with-faust--from-the-side-of-man-and-womankind/) *1973 · Caroline* New York drone meets a German rock band and neither blinks. The single clearest piece of evidence that minimalism and krautrock were two halves of the same argument about repetition. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Tony%20Conrad%20with%20Faust%20From%20the%20Side%20of%20Man%20and%20Womankind) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gma2MJBCXZ4) ### 6. [Pauline Oliveros](https://waxonia.com/artist/pauline-oliveros/) — [Bye Bye Butterfly](https://waxonia.com/track/pauline-oliveros--bye-bye-butterfly/) *1965* Two oscillators, tape delay and a Puccini record, assembled live in one pass. Oliveros was building the vocabulary of electronic music while being left out of most accounts of who built it. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Pauline%20Oliveros%20Bye%20Bye%20Butterfly) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vepXC2RUW10) ### 7. [Julius Eastman](https://waxonia.com/artist/julius-eastman/) — [Stay On It](https://waxonia.com/track/julius-eastman--stay-on-it/) *1973* A minimalism with groove, gospel and a nervous breakdown in it. Eastman wrote the piece the school needed and was written out of it for decades; the score survived on a single tape. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Julius%20Eastman%20Stay%20On%20It) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Aw9TJ5HQ8) ### 8. [Gavin Bryars](https://waxonia.com/artist/gavin-bryars/) — [The Sinking of the Titanic](https://waxonia.com/track/gavin-bryars--the-sinking-of-the-titanic/) *1975 · Obscure* A hymn the band supposedly kept playing as the ship went down, looped and slowly drowned in reverb. Released on Eno's own label, three years before he named ambient music. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gavin%20Bryars%20The%20Sinking%20of%20the%20Titanic) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=2oVMRADOq5s) ### 9. [Philip Glass](https://waxonia.com/artist/philip-glass/) — [Opening](https://waxonia.com/track/philip-glass--opening/) *1982 · CBS* Glass at his most approachable: a single arpeggiated figure with the accents moved just enough to keep the ear off balance. Six minutes that have been imitated for forty years. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Philip%20Glass%20Opening) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-nBE9U7q1Uc) --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.