LIVE electronic music?

nochexxx

nochexxx

harco pronting
i was wondering what peoples thoughts are on LIVE electronic music. what do you expect as a paying customer to see?

is there still a lot of negativity generated towards po-face'ed laptop sets? or what about dubplates sets?

personally i'm not into acts that dress up and prance around unless they really have some kinda measured pose that is integral to their work. v/vm's pig masks come to mind, that shared intensity is for real.

if the music is good then should it matter what happens live?

i have no objection hearing / seeing artists dj their own work, being the selector with little or no live trickery. venetian snares is great 'live' but as far as i can tell he doesn't seem to do much on stage.

are there exceptions to be found within jamaican sound system culture? are there some artists that clash wearing a bunny suit or some other type of comedy garb?

i share pretty much the same perspective as mike banks, which is to believe that the many gig attenders don't hear music when the ego is placed in front of the sound. i've done that thing of having bought a record excitedly after a show but realising the next day the band are utter shit, having been lured in by that magnetic charisma!

i've noticed a current trend for promoters to list artist as being either LIVE of dj. is this to avoid complaints?

what's the consensus dissensus? i'd be interested in hearing everyones thoughts as to what they expect from an electronic music show.........

forgive me if you think that this is BORING subject but i've been out of the gig loop for a few years now.:(
 
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mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Live music has to be one of the biggest cons ever really, nowadays I can't stand 'performers' at all, I just think what wankers they are, playing live is all about/for the person/people doing it really, which is fair enough but I really don't want to watch other people's fantasies or egos.

We try and make up for that by doing good visuals... the only reason I go to places is to hear shit loud, I'm really not bothered by the performance aspect of it and actually I'd rather people didn't do it. I hate masks as well, it's so lame. I think I just hate being in an audience, or even the concept of it actually. But hearing music loud rocks.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
ascoltare said:
are there exceptions to be found within jamaican sound system culture? are there some artists that clash wearing a bunny suit or some other type of comedy garb?
Click to expand...

ninjaman loves to dress up:
1.jpg


black scorpio's djs used to dress up as jockeys (jack scorpio likes horse racing, iirc)

iration always wear camoflage boilersuits

sounds don't just play records though- singing and chanting etc is a live addition
 
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C

Client Eastwood

Well-known member
Didn't Rodigan come on dressed up as Elvis in a clash, there's a youtube clip somewhere.

Dont mind if the DJ/performer/whatever gets into what they are doing but it can over the top and distract from the stuff coming out of the speakers and that what really matters.

Talking of Banks. If I'd have seen this live performance > happy.

Model 500 w/ taylor/banks/skurge

http://www.yournight.ie/play.php?vid=938

Im still trying to work which MN8 (sp?) Taylor produced, anyone know ?
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
I think if someone is on a stage there should be a visual element to what they are doing.

It doesn't have to be very much, but I don't see any point in having someone on a stage fiddling with a laptop.

Even if someone is DJing with vinyl you get to see their hands moving, turning around and picking up another tune, cueing it up. Usually with floor-level DJ booths then there is scope for at least a nod at the audience, or of course having a mic man.
 
subvert47

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
mistersloane said:
Live music has to be one of the biggest cons ever really, nowadays I can't stand 'performers' at all, I just think what wankers they are, playing live is all about/for the person/people doing it really, which is fair enough but I really don't want to watch other people's fantasies or egos.
Click to expand...

no indeed — unless there's an improvisatory element; music that's being made up on the spot, right there, right then is completely different
 
subvert47

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
john eden said:
I think if someone is on a stage there should be a visual element to what they are doing.

It doesn't have to be very much, but I don't see any point in having someone on a stage fiddling with a laptop.
Click to expand...

If it's the traditional concert format with a stage, audience all facing the performers, then yes, it's a bit pointless if there's no visual element. You're just standing or sitting there looking at... not very much.

I think live electronics works better in the club environment, performers shoved away in the corner where they take up least space, and then all there is is the music.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
subvert47 said:
no indeed — unless there's an improvisatory element; music that's being made up on the spot, right there, right then is completely different
Click to expand...

unfortunately, that often means sitting on the floor, which is uncomfortable.

not fucking up my back/knees/whatever is more important than visual stimulus at my age.
 
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jambo

jambo

slip inside my schlafsack
You mean Iration don't always walk around in camo boilersuits? *illusion shattered*

...

Doing properly live / improvised electronic music has historically meant taking out quite a bit of kit for most people which becomes quite annoying, involves breaking down your rig and then putting it back together, and things get lost and broken. It's great in principle though. If I'm jst doing a laptop type set I'd rather be in the DJ booth or out of the way, it's ridiculous to try and make a show of that, unless you have some particularly entertaining antics.
 
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Dunninger

-
john eden said:
I think if someone is on a stage there should be a visual element to what they are doing.

It doesn't have to be very much, but I don't see any point in having someone on a stage fiddling with a laptop.
Click to expand...

So would you say that if there's no visual element there's no point in performing the music at all or would you just rather not see it? Francisco Lopez plays in pitch black darkness because of that.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
one of the most boring bands i've ever seen didn't use electronics but did use dry ice, capes and volume.

i have seen good laptop gigs, but i can't remember them.


v/vm were poor and my better half deducted a couple of points due to being hit by a sweet thrown from the stage.

kid 606 also dull.

oh hang about- donna summer was quite good visually.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
i also enjoyed seeing aphex when he djed for a couple of hours whilst lying down behind the record players for the entire time.

much better than when he stands up.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
Dunninger said:
So would you say that if there's no visual element there's no point in performing the music at all or would you just rather not see it? Francisco Lopez plays in pitch black darkness because of that.
Click to expand...

I'm all for music which has no visual element but I would like the venue to be set up appropriately for it.

Pitch black and/or in the DJ booth - these are both fine by me.

There seems to be a slightly rockist assumption by some venues/promoters that laptop sets are in some way superior to DJing - i.e. laptops on the stage, rekkids in the booth. I object to that.
 
jambo

jambo

slip inside my schlafsack
One good thing about laptop sets is that you can put a stop to them with the simple application of a pint of beer. Water works too but beer is symbolically more potent.
 
M

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Saw Kraftwerk a month or so back and really liked that they just busted out the (fantastic) visuals and being who they are could play the whole "I think one of his elbows moved... maybe" angle as a kind of performance stance. I mean, it completely fits their weird man-machine business.

Still, generally I'm definitely with those saying to get the electronic performer a DJ-like setup and off stage. I think it's more important at a party, where there's a big "up" mood. There a stage suggests a performance that will crank the party vibes up and it's pretty hard for someone inscrutably noodling away to do anything like that. Especially on their own.

Also, personal experience of being that guy playing "live" with a (desktop, for years!) computer on a stage has not exactly been great. Even when I'm really actively doing stuff (as I can nowadays, admittedly in the 90s it was a bit more tricky) I feel acutely aware that there's nothing to see and a million discussions along the lines of this thread tend to rise up when I'm not keeping myself busy... Been wondering about sending a feed of my screen to a projector as part of visuals but not sure if that really helps at all. Just adds to the nerdy vibes?
 
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D

DJ PIMP

Well-known member
For a dance set most kids don't give a shit about decks vs laptop etc, they want to party and that's it. Grumpy old buggers and people with large (emotional) investments in their vinyl collections may be crabby about it... and that's fair enough, to an extent. Seeing someone go nuts on 3 decks can still get people hyped up, but then an enthusiastic laptopper with a midi controller can jump about like a spacker if need be...

But I do think it's nice to have some kind of performance aspect. Did a couple of epic ambient collab sessions recently and it was great to mix it up with the laptops, one person doing live radio stuff playing with the static and positioning little transistor radios and contact mics around the site, while someone else was noodling away with nintendos and electric guitar and fx etc. It certainly helps sonically to break things up and get a bit more non-digital grit in there too. The plan from here is to get a range of vintage technologies happening, gramophones, morse code, etc, and stuff we can hand out to people to play with, e.g. Simon type toys, and get some interaction happening that way. I'd love to work in a telegraphic facsimile machine if I can find one...

What I really really want for dancefloor stuff is a wireless setup so I can walk about the dancefloor and cue and mix while having a boogie and partying with people, have conversations with randoms etc. That seems like a really nice balance between being Mr DJ and keeping it personable and fun.
 
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mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
matt b said:
v/vm were poor and my better half deducted a couple of points due to being hit by a sweet thrown from the stage.

kid 606 also dull.

oh hang about- donna summer was quite good visually.
Click to expand...

I think Donna Summer tear-gassed the audience when I was there, which I thought was very cool. It was them or some other one of that lot. Either way 10 out of 10.
 
nochexxx

nochexxx

harco pronting
the best perfomances i've seen were

the gaeodjiparl at the garage
playing with his balls!. ok i mean planets and bringing out his singing bird. i honestly thought i was dreaming

v/vm @ the colchester arts.
audience bumrushed the stage to sing michael jackson's earth people :mad:

bernard parmegiani at atp fest

200 ish people watched an empty stage.
 
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