quoted 7 lines i also think you're making assumptions that a CD listening> i also think you're making assumptions that a CD listening
> experience is going to be a) at home and b) individual/introverted.
> first, because of busy lives, a lot of people listen at work and/or on
> portable systems a lot more than at home (myself included).
> second, a home listening experience could just as easily include a
> bunch of friends and neighbors, thus bringing in some of the
> "community" aspect.
Oh, totally - I'm lucky enough I get to sit around with friends listening to
sick new stuff in our living room almost everyday, a total communal
experience. I was invoking the home/show contrast in reponse to the
whole "why don't I just go home and listen to the cd" argument. Also keep
in mind the event nature of a live performance is a great excuse to get a
bunch of people together that might not dig on your living room as much as
you do. Oh yeah, and my neighbors hate it when we crank up the double
18"s - being a bass junkie I definitely appreciate the concept of an area
without noise constraints, and hate the fact there aren't more of them.
quoted 8 lines not all live shows are as interactive as you mention, either> not all live shows are as interactive as you mention, either
> between the artist and audience or between audience members.
> in fact, it's the lack of interaction between the artist and anything
> but a glowing screen that i'm talking about. personally, i find it
> hard to get my friends to come to shows like this, and i consider it
> rude to talk too much during a performance. not to mention i did
> pay to see a show, not hang out with my friends and drink, which i
> could go to a bar and do.
I guess I just consider the artist/audience interaction to be potentially a
more subtle thing than the standard dudes rocking out model we're all so
used to. It all comes down to the vibe, I suppose - if the artist or crowd
is noticably bored/inattentive/low energy/etc. then no amount of sound,
atmosphere, or visually stimulating performance is gonna pull it out. On a
side note, why limit yourself? See a show, drink/smoke, and hang out with
your friends at the same time! That's my objective, usually. I think
attempting to separate the artistic and social aspects of cultural events is
artificial, and counterproductive, to boot. Then again, that might just be
burning man talking (insert peace sign here)...
The whole laptop performance issue is a tricky one, don't get me wrong. I
can totally sympathise with your friends and their reluctance to go to
laptop shows. IMHO the only things that allow it to work at the moment are:
a) people into electronic music have gotten sort of used to watching djs
(more commentary on the event nature and it's focusing aspect I mentioned
above, people obviously need to focus on something shared), and b) the
technological nature of the music and production (i.e. that's actually how
it's done, and you probably wouldn't want to be the dude in the Snap video
holding the guitar). Just imagine how much worse (or better?) it would be
if you went to see Michael Jackson and he was rocking Traktor. Totally
different worlds, production-wise.
I guess I'm lucky to be enough of a geek I can fully appreciate what's going
on, sans theatrics or frenetic movement, and love it as much as seeing some
kick-ass band like
Lightning Bolt or Nashville Pussy or No Means No or whatever. The whole
laptop/idm/electronic thing is just the shit, and we are all sitting in on
the beginning of one of the most important things to happen to music in
western culture since electricity. It's gonna evolve, obviously, so for now
my advice to the malcontents is just hold on a minute, support the scene,
see what happens, try to meet some people, and do your best to enjoy
yourself in the meanwhile. If that doesn't work, start working on some sort
of physically interactive hardware for Abelton Live or something and show us
how it should be done - technology has gotten us into this condumdrum and
I'm willing to bet technology is going to get us out. Some guys turn out
the lights, some guys rap, some guys dance around like loons, surely these
aren't the limits of computer-based performance innovation...
a'ight, rant over. I'm sure I just said a bunch of shit that's been
repeated on this list for ages, sorry if you've heard it before. I just
hang out with a lot of people that enjoy the shows and it seems the laptop
lovers are a little underrepresented in these parts at times. Big ups to
the laptop jockeys! esp.the ones that like to travel, you know we love
you..
chris
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