live electronic music these days

[kcinsu]

poborsk

 

just googled him.

 

listening.

 

very awesome...

[kcinsu]

ok, poborsk is pretty fucking awesome. got any similar recommendations?

[Brandi_B]

yes

 

I wholeheartedly agree more can and should be done during a live performance. Some things to note. With dancing, yes dancing is something that if you are able to dance and rock out for a couple hours and not even care about looking at where the performer/dj is then thats awesome.

 

however with stuff like idm, its not always that easy to dance to. Here's some really cool things i've seen that help make better performances (talent and creativity)

 

Squarepusher - playing the bass live over tracks and having awesome energy, also i think he has some foot midi controllers or maybe it was automation, but something kept doing reverb pops all the time when his hands were playing the bass

 

Plaid - Live visuals tweaked in person also live mixing with an actual board

 

Mike patton - kaoss pad, all his gear during fantomas/tomahawk etc

 

Skinny Puppy & Tool - Cevin key and danney carey both rocking the midi triggers, sequencers, and laptops in addition to and combined into their drum kits

 

Mouse on mars - the whole band really just has so much they can mess with especially the drummer just rocking out and singing etc

 

Meat beat manifestso - takes like a huge modular and synth rig out with him, which isn't necessarily the most awesome thing to look at, but is admirable and more intriguing than a laptop

 

Cylob - Taking out his drum machines, and synths and mixing them in and out hi and lo with a mixer live, very nice...I understand chris moss's comments on it being pain especially syncing a bunch of analog gear and worrying about temperatures and tuning.

 

Billy Idol - Not really dance music and surely not idm (well he may be but not the music) but check out videos of his live keyboardist. That's someone that i can really look up to, he really PLAYS the keys as expressively as a guitar.

 

Useful tools - Electribes, grooveboxes, roland hand sonics, nord modulars, electronic drum kits, monomones, any kind of live remixing setups (max/msp, kyma, modulars) with fun interactive midi triggers, djembes, touchscreens, therimins, etc.

 

 

Also i've still really surprised that RDJ hasn't come up with some fantastically amazing and creative way to perform. As brilliant as a lot of his music is, it just shocks me he wouldn't want to be just as creative with his performance. I know he is, in a matter of speaking, inside of his laptop, but that's nothing to look at, he's like the king of live solitaire playing.

[Guest jubes]

Does anyone ever hire a group of temporary musicians to play the keyboards and electronic drums like the good old days?

 

It seems these days it's always just some faggot with a Mac laptop standing behind a table playing .MP3 files of audio taken directly from the albums/singles/demos that said artist released.

 

What's the point of live music if it's just some lazy asshole playing audio files from his laptop?

 

call it minesweeping

[Guest idrn]

Also i've still really surprised that RDJ hasn't come up with some fantastically amazing and creative way to perform. As brilliant as a lot of his music is, it just shocks me he wouldn't want to be just as creative with his performance. I know he is, in a matter of speaking, inside of his laptop, but that's nothing to look at, he's like the king of live solitaire playing.

 

too true!

 

it can be hard to get into the 'flow' of something when people are watching though. in RDJ's case everyone in the room is gonna be bang on staring at him, scrutinising what he's doing - if he were to do something other than sit there then this would overwhelmingly become a 'show' for the audience, less just something interesting he's doing with the music. this is why i reckon at bloc he had that flashing phex symbol - if you tried to stare at them then you got it scorched into your retina. at the same time they had gurners and blue horn woman coming out to gawp at. he's probably just really shy.

[Guest chax]

Does anyone ever hire a group of temporary musicians to play the keyboards and electronic drums like the good old days?

 

It seems these days it's always just some faggot with a Mac laptop standing behind a table playing .MP3 files of audio taken directly from the albums/singles/demos that said artist released.

 

What's the point of live music if it's just some lazy asshole playing audio files from his laptop?

 

i'll let you know after seeing the flahbulb and wisp live tomorrow

[Guest Deep Fried Everything]

well, yes, exactly...why is this any more "live" than doing the same thing with a laptop? i mean, he's just tapping buttons. i get that he's wearing a nice suit, he has intriguing facial hair, his hand gestures are not without their finesse; but ultimately he's just tapping some buttons that are triggering pre-recorded sounds. what's the big deal?

 

I promise to tell you when you have the C added to the end of your name.

 

lol

 

well played

[Brandi_B]

I imagine some electronic musicians maybe having a kind of eddie van halen syndrome* going on may have something to do with why they don't want to do that. Also b/c there's not a whole lot going on, or they themselves think what they are doing is boring. I've toyed with the idea of doing that though, i've tried to do it myself once, failed (screen wasn't big enough or good enough for dark venue...also i was just putting a vid camera on it and got that line phase thingie you get when you video tape a monitor), and seen one dj try it (with some success but that was puting a vid camera on decks and mixer not a screen). I can say that I learned a lot and enjoyed a LOT of djs when i was right up there in front of them and their decks and could watch each crossfade, effect, scratch, loop point, etc.

 

*for some time eddie played with his back to the audience b/c he didn't want them to see how he was playing, fearing people would rip his style.

 

i like the oscilloscope thing.

[Chris Moss Acid]

syncing gear up is the easiest bit.. overheating dosnt come into it. you know, if analog machiens heat up its obviosuly good. but nm.

[kakapo]

While I don't want to see people pretending to perform while playing an MP3, I don't want electonic musicians to think they're U2 or something.

 

Although I would like to see the flahbulb do a gg allin style set that involves flinging faeces at the audience and then decapitating himself. With ever so tasteful visuals by tycho.

[ericsosh]

How come nobody has mentioned Tim Exile yet? That dude's got some entertaining live shows.

[QBLA]

Does anyone ever hire a group of temporary musicians to play the keyboards and electronic drums like the good old days?

 

It seems these days it's always just some faggot with a Mac laptop standing behind a table playing .MP3 files of audio taken directly from the albums/singles/demos that said artist released.

 

What's the point of live music if it's just some lazy asshole playing audio files from his laptop?

 

this one dude apogee has a live band sometimes... although i haven't seen him perform in like 4 years... i've seen him perform alone aswell!

[soundwave]

So called 'live' electronic performances have been playing on the naivety of their audience more than playing or interacting with much on stage for many decades now although it's much harder to pull this off and dismiss in these times where the common man is often a little more savvy about the technology used. Saying that most electronic music is preconceived studio work than a performance art so any attempt at some kind of show must be given credit somewhere and although the DJ seemed to be the perfect avenue to get electronic music out there they did steal the limelight a little too much methinks. <br /><br />I myself have a little performance outfit with two mates, we sync groovboxes and stuff together and start totally from scratch with blank patterns then we decide on a key and tempo at the start then see where it takes us. Still early days yet but it's lots of fun if a bit chaotic at times.<br /><br />I think decent 'live' electronic performances are heavily dependant on the technology used which is getting better as time goes on and is much better than staring at a macbook.

[Guest idrn]

How come nobody has mentioned Tim Exile yet? That dude's got some entertaining live shows.

 

brilliant showman/musician, top of his game! his live shows in the past have polarised opinion amoungst the people i speak to though. not necessarily on his maniacal banter/antics but the music performance itself. if you're not of the disposition to appreciate and enjoy a hectic mostly improvised mashup using lots of very clever reaktor trickery then people can dismiss some of it as too messy and grating. there is more of a show element though; ninja midi controller skills as well as the visceral vocal spazzery. funnily, since listening tree came out he has been doing more proper tunes live, but seeing as opinion is now split on his singing too, people are still similarly polarised.

 

essentially, if you're polarising opinion then you're definitely doing something right. i reckon he's a legend.

[sneaksta303]

Although I would like to see the flahbulb do a gg allin style set that involves flinging faeces at the audience and then decapitating himself. With ever so tasteful visuals by tycho.

 

/thread

[Guest theSun]

lol

[Guest Calx Sherbet]

Although I would like to see the flahbulb do a gg allin style set that involves flinging faeces at the audience and then decapitating himself. With ever so tasteful visuals by tycho.

 

or maybe then running out naked, heading back to buddies apartment then overdosing on heroin

[Guest chax]

Although I would like to see the flahbulb do a gg allin style set that involves flinging faeces at the audience and then decapitating himself. With ever so tasteful visuals by tycho.

 

or maybe then running out naked, heading back to buddies apartment then overdosing on heroin

 

i'm seeing him live in about 4 hours so maybe it might happen! who knows hahah

[awepittance]

i have a theory that i don't think has been brought up in this thread yet (but im too lazy to read)

 

electronic music djs can get paid practically the same amount of money or more as a Live PA electronic musician at the same party.

from an economic standpoint it doesn't give computer/laptop/electronic musicians in general much incentive to come up with a visually pleasing stage show when a cokehead with a bag of vinyl records bought based on a scensters blog suggestion can put in literally no effort besides beat matching (some djs cant even do this) and get paid the same amount as you and even get the crowd moving more than your set (after all an audience will generally always respond better to something they have already heard and like vs a new exclusive track)

 

there are a few exceptions to this, take the band Nommo Ogo for instance. They still lug out a studio's worth of electronic music gear for each show they play. a lot of is presequenced and daisy chained midi stuff (they have 3 members) but a good amount of is live drum triggers and keyboard playing. It's quite refreshing to see an electronic 'band' do a climactic dense breakdown keyboard/drum solos at the end of their set. but if the same guys had a laptop for each of them and they were comfortably planted behind each one during the show it would be quite boring to watch.

this is what Throbbing Gristle basically did when i saw them recently, 2 members of the band were just sitting with mac books and abelton live. it was quite a disappointment.

[Squee]

I saw Moderat "live" yesterday and it was a great show, beautiful visuals etc etc. I was actually afraid that it was going to be the three of them just standing there looking at their laptops and doing nothing, but it turned out to be wayyy more live than I had anticipated. I bet they had all the things arranged but they fucked around with the effects, some synths, guitars, and Apparat grabbed the mic and started singing on a couple of tracks.

 

I was definitely pleasently surprised.

[Guest Hanratty]

best "live" electronic music was seeing Pole back around when Pole 3 had just come out. That was just awesome bass. He did some full body gestures of knob twisting which is pretty silly. Pan sonic did the same knob twisting body moves. I dont go see much live music anymore but if it's electronic it has to be something that will sound really cool on a big system. I really wish Pole would play my town again.

[Guest beatfanatic]

any djs or knob twiddlers live are usually a waste of money in my book.

[Eggs]

uh theres this one guy called kj sawka...

[Guest Iain C]

i don't get the daedelus hype; the monomome is just a grid of buttons, how is this "cooler" or more live (or whatever the fuck ya'll are getting at) than a laptop or turning some knobs?

 

That thunderclap you just heard was the invocation of Dan C's wrath

[Guest chax]

met up with wisp last night, we talked about watmm for a while, good times all around

 

also the flahbulb only pulled a HALF WAY GG ALLIN by stripping naked (but still wearing shorts) the venue in this artspace collective factory thing was hot as fuck

 

also apparently i don't remember how i got home last night...

 

i blame it on the 3 dollar drinks haha