When I was nine years old, I was briefly fascinated with magic tricks. I took out a lot of how-to books from the library. I never got very good, never even good-for-a-nine-year-old good. But there was something about the way the books were written, how they combined plain, step-by-step information with this idea that you were about to receive this vaguely hermetic/ mystical revelation… I liked that more than the magic tricks themselves.

I thought about those texts as I watched this little YouTube clip above, which shows minimal techno godfather Thomas Brinkmann in the act of messing about with clicks and pops and effects. I really like how matter-of-fact he is here — just like, “yep, this is how I play around with these percussive noises.” If you’d like to see one of his actual music videos, I rather like this one.

Of course, not everyone is so open about their own creative methods. The most hilarious example I’ve seen recently of a musician who has the exact opposite approach to their work can be found in this Craigslist post from Seattle. The only way this “genius” will allow you to be in his “supergroup” is if he can first hypnotize you! (In case you were wondering, that’s not a good idea. Also, the more someone says they are a genius, the less likely it is so.) —Mike