I dunno. I respect this viewpoint, but at the same time, even if what you
say is true, I still got to see the chaps, hear some alternate versions and
unreleased stuff, on a NICE sound system with NICE visuals. So I'm not sure
that a comparison to a "live" band show is necessarily appropriate. In some
ways, it is what it is, right? Still a thrill.
I agree about the crowd, to some degree. One problem is that Calix is,
IMHO, not a great DJ. I mean, on a Friday night, before seeing Plaid, I
kinda wanted to get hype. And she just stood there looking sour and played
a bunch of ambient shit that would make Brian Eno look like a tweeker. Not
all that inspiring, and we all know that there's plenty of hype IDM, even if
she was just limiting herself to IDM. I doubt there was an "exciting part"
that you missed. The crowd wasn't that liquid at the Portland show, either.
I think I remember thinking that the music Plaid played wasn't exactly
dancy, though. Lots of switch ups in the beats and so forth. I can't
remember for sure. Not to mention that IDM heads aren't exactly known for
their dancefloor prowess, are they (we)? There was something of a lay down
and be counted vibe going.
I don't know what they were doing, but I think they were doing more than
just playing the entire songs off Protools. If they were, they were faking
the intent stares and all the knob twiddling. Besides, the songs sounded
pretty different in places than the album release versions. A lot more
techno oriented, I felt. I don't know about the improvisation, but you
know, lots of bands don't improvise live. DJs, too. I understand the
issue, but I guess I just don't mind what they did.
The parts of the visuals that just showed either/both of the guys, staring
at the screen... that stuff was a bit odd, I thought. Didn't like those
vignettes that much. The rest of the visuals were stunning, though.
And I would agree that Plaid's stage presence was a bit wack. I mean,
they're HEROES to a lot of people, who come out of the woodwork to show up
at their show. The least they could do is grab a mic and say hello or
thanks. They walked up, rocked the knobs, waved and left. Maybe that's the
"cool" of the electronic music world, but I thought it was sorta stupid.
::slaps down .02::
peace,
Chris
np :: Issa Bagayogo / Diarabi
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben Knowles" <knowles@Colorado.EDU>
To: "intelligent dunce music" <idm@hyperreal.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2001 10:21 AM
Subject: [idm] Re: Plaid in Denver
quoted 85 lines Ray Lind wrote:
> Ray Lind wrote:
>
> > visuals were very cool. Went well with the music,
> > which was incredible.Well it was Plaid, on a good
> > sound system. I havent heard a good part of what they
> > were playing, and I am pretty familiar with all thier
> > recordings, at least the albums. It was all remixed
> > differentley as well, other than a few tracks bieng
> > played straight. Also I usually dont bitch about this
>
> i suppose i'll chime in a small dissenting opinion, which i'll preface by
> saying that 1) plaid was my first "idm show" (ie. non-dj set), 2) i
> enjoyed it, both the music and visuals, and 3) plaid are one of my
> favorite electronic artists. HOWEVER, i don't understand how anyone can
> say that this was an "excellent show." first of all, the energy sucked.
> there were about 6 people dancing, total, and a whole bunch of
> chin-scratching idmer-than-thou fuckers standing around with straight
> faces and not so much as a toe tapping! wtf? second, the performance
> itself was not all that exciting. the amount of sound manipulation
> actually being performed was minimal - as far as i can tell they were
> playing their song files in whatever their mac software of choice is
> (max/msp i presume?) and tweaking a few parameters here and there. maybe
> i'm expecting too much, but it seemed to me that the format they adopted
> left absolutely no room for improvisation or variation of any but the
> slightest kind. in other words, it all seemed very rigid to me. a song
> would start, various parts would come in and out, and the song would end,
> all completely independent of what ed and andy were doing. i'm sorry but
> that's just not all that interesting from a performance perspective.
>
> i know this is a bigtime rehash of previous threads, but i figured there
> should be at least one alternative view posted to the list. again, i'm not
> saying i didn't enjoy it, but i am glad i only spent $10 for the ticket. i
> wish plaid the best, of course, but i'm wondering how long it will remain
> acceptable to "perform" without doing much of anything. i totally don't
> buy the "it's about the music" argument - you shouldn't be going on tour
> if that's your performance philosophy.
>
> other mentionables: the show was short. plaid played for, what, an hour?
> also, i don't know how they usually act, but the boys didn't look like
> they were having much fun up there. when they left the stage it was a
> little wave and that was it - i'm guessing they were as unimpressed with
> the audience as i was, but who knows. the visuals were generally very
> cool, especially the stuff with the start-stop minicams. i missed all but
> the last 10 min of mira calix, which was basically a 10 min autechre
> track. i'm not sure exactly what she was doing behind the decks, but i
> hope i missed the exciting part. and finally, the encore of squance with
> the pacman-eating-80's-iconoclasts imagery was hilarious. i'm assuming
> that was some manner of made-for-mtv footage?
>
> btw, could someone who is familiar with such things give a list of the
> gear plaid were using? there were the two G4s, of course, a huge array of
> knobs in between them (what was that thing?), at least one touchpad midi
> controller of some kind, and some other stuff behind them that was
> obscured from my viewpoint.
>
> > shit, but Jesus christ all you cool people
> > chainsmoking, give it a rest for a few! Fuck I know
> > you have nervous energy and dont know what to do with
> > your hands other than smoke cigarrette after
> > cigarrete,I smoked for ten years and I usually dont
> > mind second hand smoke that much but that place was
> > disgusting to breath the air in last night. Even my
> > smoker friends were complaining.
>
> it wasn't me! i only had one cigarette! my girlfriend started to feel very
> ill toward the end due to a combination of heat + smoke, and left a bit
> early to get some air/sleep in the car. the smoke didn't really bother me
> though - they've all but completely banned smoking in boulder, so i
> appreciate a good smokey club every now and then. not that i want to start
> a thread about it!
>
> -nub
>
>
>
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