Half joking, but Berlin techno :)
replyYou can have a whole set developing motifs, then multiple minutes of a single note being played in the middle, and somehow that sounds awesome (if you’re into it)
Not quite one note, but "Open Eye Signal" (2023 remaster) by Jon Hopkins has wide spectrum background and heavy rhythms, but once the song gets going the main instrument moves between fifth -> seventh-flat -> sixth -> fifth on repeat, and that's the melody for the song. And yet, to me, it's captivating.
replyThanks for the suggestion, that’s a really neat discovery! I will try to integrate that in my own music
replyA long hold of one note doesn't mean there isn't harmonic progression. It just means the progression is slow in that part of the song. It's often done to create a massive contrast that occurs when the progression finally...progresses. In electronic music, this often comes as the drop or some similar kind of break.
replyI can only think of examples which as you describe have accompaniment moving underneath. Neil Young's solo in Cinnamon Girl is one example. Another is Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone in which he sings one note as the chords run up C Dm Em F and only breaks on the G.
replyAdam Neely has an interesting video about one-note muisc, with some good (and bad) examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSuK_5zW2iM
replyI'm finding this difficult to imagine
replyMaybe go on Youtube and listen to music that you might not be familiar with?
Cage, Schaffer, Stockhousen, Boulez are some composers in the tradition of European classical music.
If you go outside that tradition, there’s even more. Endlessly more.