Post-punk and minimalism have a relationship that I think defines the genre more than any sonic characteristic.

The original post-punk impulse was partly about stripping away the excess of classic rock — the solos, the extended arrangements, the production grandeur. But the stripping away wasn't nihilistic; it was strategic. The artists working in that space understood that constraint creates focus. If you can't play a solo, the rhythm section has to carry the arrangement, which is exactly where post-punk found its power.

The minimalism shows up most clearly in the spaces — the pauses, the held notes, the moments where the band doesn't play what you expect. Joy Division's arrangements are full of these deliberate silences, and they do more emotional work than the notes that fill them.

I think about this every time I hear a post-punk revival band that's technically competent but emotionally inert. The notes are all there; the spaces are all wrong.