plaid may sit behind their laptops, but they make great music and it can be
a great experience to watch them do it live. In the good old days before we
had to look at a glowing grey titanium apple blocking artists' faces during
every single damned electronica show, I had an awesome time watching plaid
do a super-long rendition of the 45 second 'Lat' off of Not For Threes. My
favorite 45 seconds on the album, into a full song. It was awesome, and one
of the best times I had watching live music get done ( it was at one of
those warp shows in new york, after blech, before nesh... byzar and autechre
was there, big warehouse, can't remember the name). Now maybe it would've
been just as satisfying had this long Lat been released as some B-side, but
the surprise of hearing it, with an appreciative crowd, seeing them groove
up there doing it, was awesome. So they're tweaking knobs on stage, at
worst looking busy. That's an expression as qualifying of 'performance' as
any show I've seen.
-squiddity
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matthew Ross Davis" <regis@sounding.com>
To: <idm@hyperreal.org>
Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 10:10 AM
Subject: [idm] performing
quoted 1 line someone mentioned the plaid show as their best live performance, and it> someone mentioned the plaid show as their best live performance, and it
makes
quoted 3 lines me wonder what peoples' definition of "live performance" is.> me wonder what peoples' definition of "live performance" is.
>
> in my view, performance is the entire package, and it's done for an
actively
quoted 2 lines listening audience, which in turn give energy back to the performer. there> listening audience, which in turn give energy back to the performer. there
> is a very important - indeed critical - relationship here. if the
performers
quoted 1 line don't acknowledge that they are there to perform and have an audience,> don't acknowledge that they are there to perform and have an audience,
that
quoted 42 lines relationship fails to develop.> relationship fails to develop.
>
> plaid does not perform. they sit behind their laptops and make cool music
> while some guy throws video on the screen (i too saw plaid both for the
> last two tours, and was pretty put out that they used the same setup (and
> miserable DJ) for both). 80% of the electronica shows i've seen are like
> this, and that's probably being generous.
>
> i was playing a show at the mca in chicago, and the folks on before me
> finished and came off stage and started saying how they wished that they
> were facing the screen *with their backs to the audience* so they could
> see the visuals. then one of them commented that she preferred to be off
> to the side of the stage, and another guy mentioned he'd rather be
> completely offstage.
>
> the best live *performances* i've seen tend not to be electronica, and
> unsurprisingly so: laurie anderson, kaffe mathews, joe mcphee, pauline
> oliveros, phish, frank zappa, squirrel nut zippers, marc ribot w/ mike
> patton, john zorn's masada, shelly hirsch... one of my favorites was
> the violent femmes. granted i haven't seen some of the more active
> electronica folk live (yet... twine will be up performing a show with me,
> greg davis, m.mercer and warmdesk later this month), but i bet if i
> concentrated on doing so, i'd be done in a month. :)
>
> survival of electronica doesn't mean anything, every style of music must
> have exemplary performers to keep it alive. productions which use video
> and other eye-candy to supplant the interaction of live performers are,
> in my book, not live performances.
>
> this is much much longer than i had planned to write, but it's a topic
> which i think deserves much attention by those who really want to express
> themselves on stage and *perform* for an audience.
>
> m
> craque
> dot
> net
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org