quoted 3 lines What do you expect them to do - put on clown suits and do some> What do you expect them to do - put on clown suits and do some
> juggling? It's not much different from most bands with guitars - they
> stand there motionless, unsmiling - why is this any different?
Well, I have to agree that most guitar bands suck too, just like almost
everything sucks. But even a guitar allows for some unique expression of
sound, and a live drum kit allows for improvisation and idiosyncratic
performance. A sampler and an effects processor rarely allow for such a
degree of real-time performance because they are simply not designed for
live performance. And a turntable, unless abused by a tricknological
wizard, is rarely used in a way that I myself can't use one.
Let's imagine an empirical measure of this idea, let's call it "performance
activity level", or PAL. Let's measure the PAL in terms of the number of
actual sonic variations producable by the performer at any given time. A
person who presses play on a dat machine is only capable of one variation,
on or off, so they have low PAL. A person with a triangle is capable of a
few more variations, but still not very many. Moving up the scale we get to
the piano, drums, and the violin. Where does a sequencer or a 303 fall in
this system? Somewhere slightly above a cowbell I'd say, because there are
so few things you need to do with them to produce sounds. Most electronic
instruments are designed to give the user an enormous amount of control over
a single sonic element at a time, allowing the studio musician to fine tune
every aspect of their product. They are not designed for producing a
real-time performance for an attentive audience.
To put it another way - if the artist you are watching were to suddenly pass
out onstage, or if they were drunk or blindfolded or otherwise
reflex-impaired, would you be able to immediately tell the difference int he
sound?
Let's just imagine what electronic live shows *could* be, beyond the
traditional "let's build the home studio on the stage" model: A great deal
of electronic music is composed using keyboards. A keyboard synth is a type
of electronic instument that allows for a rich range of virtuosic control
over the sound produced. I *never* see IDM artists using keyboards (probably
because they can't play). What about making their own instuments that allow
for more real-time control over the sound? What about vocalists? Or live
drum kits? Or theatrical performance? Or dance? Or a collaboration between
these elements, mixing samplers with live drums, etc.
quoted 3 lines You know the score before you go to see any electronic music artist -> You know the score before you go to see any electronic music artist -
> it's music composed on machines and so will be played back to the
> audience on those machines.
As far as knowing the score, the score is this: Most electronic music is
produced using a painstaking process taking hours, days, weeks, or even
months. It involves editing, tweaking, multitracking, etc, etc. It is
usually a process that does not produce great music in real time, it is more
like painting or composition in that the final product takes a long time to
make. In most cases it is a process not at all worth paying to watch. Which
is why so many electronic shows (though not IDM shows usually) have lasers
and drugs aplenty.
I think that as long as IDM musicians continue to have boring shows that
appeal only to their starfucker fans and to electronic musician gearheads,
we shouldn't expect their audiences to have to keep their mouth shut.
By the same token, if an IDM artist doesn't have a great live skill set
worth watching (or if they don't have a bad skill set they're hoping to
develop into a good one) they flat out should not perform live.
quoted 5 lines I know Aphex has addressed this problem by getting Rephlex staff> I know Aphex has addressed this problem by getting Rephlex staff
> dressed up in giant Bear costumes and I admit this is
> entertaining, but
> most of us go to hear the music. If you want to talk to your mates, do
> it at home. It's cheaper.
It's also cheaper to pop the CD in at home too, and with the exception of
the loud volume (which is admittedly a huge appeal for many music fas) it's
the same thing.
After having been ripped off by countless IDM artists over the years,
staying home with friends is exactly what I do. Unless of course I'm on a
guest list, in which case I go in and chew the fat with my friends about how
much more the artist(s) might do on stage to make the show worthwhile for
the poor suckers who paid.
I will however pay to see Aphex Twin again. The dancing bears were
brilliant, and I know that I can count on him to put on a show that will at
least have *something* interesting going on.
-cf
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