All right it's that time of the month, I'm going to be a bitch.
Electronic music challenges the performer in ways that traditional performance
does not. Since the music is created outside of real time (sometimes
WAY outside of real time -- like when I tweak the same 1 bar loop for two
hours), it is a challenge to really make it a performance.
Just pushing 'play' on a laptop doesn't constitute a live performance, granted.
But it sounds like what people are asking for is the kind of spectacle created
by rock bands. If you want that, maybe Nelson will attempt a comeback and make
you happy. But is there is something inherently valid about prancing around
like a drunken weasel playing a 3 note bassline?
I don't think so. And some of the most riveting performances I've seen,
like the Philip Glass Ensemble, were very static on stage.
It is possible to be very spontaneous with a laptop. Vladislav Delay's
set was done with Reaktor, and it is very much live. Kit Clayton live
is very live. Stewart Walker live is very live.
Rich Devine (when I saw him) was playing digital audio straight out of
cubase, but he was tweaking it live with effects and an access virus.
I thought it was way cool because it was cool music. People dug it.
But if someone wants to come in and push play, judge it on it's merits.
If they were up all night the night before lashing a new track together,
and no one except the artist has heard it before, isn't that something?
And if you're not a musician, how do you know what they're actually doing?
You want grand gestures, and there may not be any associated with what
a person is doing musically.
Let me tell you a story -- about a year ago, I played live -- I had 3 or
4 tracks that were really live -- i was playing a keyboard, and programming
a drum machine in live mode. But I also had tracks to cover setting up
for a new song on CD, and some tracks on an Akai S20 sampler that were
just 'push play' tracks. But I did have a lot of funky looking gear on
stage. After I played people said they liked the set, but a lot
of people seemed to be impressed with the gear. They didn't know what I
did with it, if anything.
Gear for gear for it's own sake is about as creative as the front window
of a music store. I was getting props basically for my ability to hump stuff
up the back stairs and plug it in, as much for the music I actually played.
Which is to say that the showbiz stuff is bullshit. Aphex Twin got a lot
of mileage out of smelly teddy bear suits. I've thought of hiring a clown
to make balloon animals during my sets. Given my ridiculous stage name,
maybe I should get a chair from the Goodwill and smash it up on stage.
The point, I guess, no matter WHAT you do it's at least as valid as playing
records. And everyone knows it's the DJs that get all the booty.
kent williams -- kent@avalon.net
http://www.mp3.com/chaircrusher -- tunes
http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=chaircrusher -- mix
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