There's only a few electronic artists that can pull it off live. I really
enjoyed Aphex Twin's live shows back in the day. Really raw and really live.
Even when he started using laptops live (and he was the first), it was new,
and he added some dancing bears, female bodybuilders, and midgets to the mix.
I also was in London for the WARP rave last fall, and that was actually a
mind blowing experience. The Brits really get into their music, and people
were all dancing and screaming and it created a huge amount of positive
energy. Seeing Plaid/Anti-Pop Consortium/AFX live in London and comparing
the same experience in the states is totally different. The crowd just
dances like they just don't care...and are totally in their music. It's
incredibly infecting, and you feel like doing something...even if it isn't
dancing. People in the states seem like they're bored elitist music geeks
and just sit around...
Almost every "IDM" show back here in the states has been lame for a while
now. A few hednodders and everyone staring at the dude with a laptop (who's
ripping off autechre or aphex anyways). I thought I really got jipped when I
saw AE live last spring. I had heard of their huge amount of samplers,
analog synths, and modified gear they'd bring live, and had waited to see
them for 6 years. All they had was a couple of G4 laptops... REALLY
unimpressive. I was just recently dragged out to see Hrvratski live, and
must say that it was just like any of the other shows I've seen for the last
2-3 years.
Another problem is that all this music is sounding the same. Almost every
guy either has to either use this deliberite DSP fuckery to sound like
Autechre, or some cheesy video-gamey melodies or samples to be funny(a la RDJ
Album). I hope some people really end this era of laptop boringness, or
electronic music will be heading nowhere fast.
All I can say is that back in the day, electronic music was cool live.
Kraftwerk had a real intense live show. Ministry knew how to kick major ass.
Nine Inch Nails put on quite an incredible show (I'd rather see him express
something while playing to DATS than fucking geek out on laptops). Depeche
Mode and Meat Beat Manifesto brought modular gear and operated on analog
seequencers live! Skinny Puppy had huge epic live dramas. The Last Rights
show was simply incredible... Nivek Ogre pulled off objects from a huge
revolving tree, while we could view his experiences in the cyberhelmet on
screen... I could go on and on about how this was better live... Now some
kids want to tell me that these laptop shows are cool?
Maybe I'm a bit old school, but I think these laptop shows are degrading. I
write electronic music on a laptop since I'm a travelling college student,
but the last thing I'll do is play out on it. I'd think the only way I'd
play live is by taking a toilet to the middle of the stage while wearing some
geeky glasses and taking a huge shit while operating some software on my
laptop.
-David
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