Things that occured to me:
1)Beanies with motorized propellers2)Little flashing-light toy robots set on fire3)lab coats4)pinwheels5)go wireless and spin the laptop on your finger Harlem Globe-Trotter style6)breakdancers7)screensaver art project on a screen behind them
Has anybody seen an entertaining laptop performance? What did the act do to make it so? Does anybody have their own theatrical ideas?
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:01 (twenty-one years ago)
― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)
― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)
I dunno, otherwise I think they should maybe be banned.
― Jeff Sumner (Jeff Sumner), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)
― ___ (___), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)
― don (don), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:08 (twenty-one years ago)
― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)
― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)
― mark e (mark e), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)
― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:12 (twenty-one years ago)
Dog races.
― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)
― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)
― common_person (common_person), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)
Sorry Nick, it is just I am getting a lot of enjoyment about informing people how bad he was following having to see him the other week. Come to think of it, I think he may have had a nice lamp with him.
― ___ (___), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)
― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:18 (twenty-one years ago)
― don (don), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:18 (twenty-one years ago)
― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)
― Øystein H-O (Øystein H-O), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)
― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)
― common_person (common_person), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)
― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)
― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:40 (twenty-one years ago)
― ___ (___), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:40 (twenty-one years ago)
― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)
Once laptops become cheaper, maybe we'll see people destroying their laptops at the end of every show.
― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)
― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)
Try http://www.dictionary.com and search for the word "live".
If they aren't doing anything, it classes as a playback. Would you pay to mingle in a room with a band while their CD plays? No, neither would anyone else.
― ___ (___), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)
― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)
There's actually a band from round here, who have a member whose job is to play games with the audience during their set. Once she played Hungry Hippos, and then Pop Up Pirate
― jellybean (jellybean), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)
I don't actually mind people not moving about: its all abt the experience of hearing sounds in that space.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)
cool, dog latin, i just wanted to hear who's been known to do that. most of the laptop performances i've seen are by no-names in small spaces. sometimes artists would just start a piece and let it go, sometimes they would sit behind the laptop and fiddle(~), but i haven't seen anyone i thought was trying to deceive w/r/t what they were doing.
― common_person (common_person), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)
if you at leats have a keytar you can trigger shit of it and give it a bit of a wiggle.
― don (don), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)
I would agree, except everybody was staring at the laptopeers. It was often too loud to have a conversation and it wasn't particularly danceable (I think consistent beats are a sin or something).
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)
if i know the program being used than it's really exciting to see what they're doing and how they're doing it. usually involves much more than minimizing windows :) like seeing an interesting max patch is fascinating for me. but i'm a niche market
― common_person (common_person), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)
that's always been the problem when presenting electronic music tho', not just a laptop thing.
''It was often too loud to have a conversation and it wasn't particularly danceable''
yr thread seems to be about the way the music is presented.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:59 (twenty-one years ago)
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)
You're one defensive dude, Hstencil.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)
― Lynskey (Lynskey), Friday, 14 May 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)
Encores, lots of them.
― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 May 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 May 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 14 May 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)
― peepee (peepee), Friday, 14 May 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 14 May 2004 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)
― peepee (peepee), Friday, 14 May 2004 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 14 May 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)
I think the last rock band I tried to see without having heard any of their music was this band The Warlocks. God, did they suck. Apparently, the shtick is having like 6 guitarists onstage, but they were so shockingly unengaging; 6 guitarists to do what? All they did was stand around, didn't explore any interesting textures or take advantage of this expanded sonic palette. Just horribly boring and I felt like I was imprisoned, forced to stand there and stare at these fuckheads for an hour. And I went there really wanting to like them!
On the other hand, I'd definitely count Mirror's and Ryoji Ikeda's laptop shows as two of the more intense live music experiences I've attended. Were you at those, hstencil? At 6Odum? I can't remember when you lived here. Oh also, Phill Niblock, when he performed a couple years back, used a laptop. That was fucking intense!! Oh man, was that loud. NOt gonna get that on the old home stereo system, nosiree bob. Yeah, that was probably better than the Mirror or Ikeda performances actually. Just relaxing, sitting down on the floor, real comfortable, eyes closed, soaking in waves of endlessly rich and simmering sound. SO there were three really great ones, at least. I mean, if that is not your thing, don't attend this type of performance! Pretty simple really.
Although, when I saw Oval the first time it pretty much sucked, I'll admit that. But that's cuz the music wasn't as engaging.
― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 14 May 2004 17:18 (twenty-one years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 14 May 2004 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)
Right!!
― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 14 May 2004 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)
http://www.idm.ru/images/Putin_2_q.jpg
― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 May 2004 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)
― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 14 May 2004 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)
― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 14 May 2004 19:06 (twenty-one years ago)
― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 May 2004 19:14 (twenty-one years ago)
― myke boomnoise (myke boomnoise), Friday, 14 May 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)
MORE JOYSTICKS
― NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS REMIND YOU THAT ZERO IS ALSO A NUMBER (ex machina), Friday, 14 May 2004 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)
― NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS REMIND YOU THAT ZERO IS ALSO A NUMBER (ex machina), Friday, 14 May 2004 19:24 (twenty-one years ago)
― King Kobra (King Kobra), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 14 May 2004 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)
― common_person (common_person), Friday, 14 May 2004 22:34 (twenty-one years ago)
At the same ATP, Pita and Jim O'Rourke both did really terrific laptop sets too, and again the music was exciting/loud enough to 'compensate' for the relative lack of on-stage grooving/posturing (although JO did manage to roll up a cigarette one-handed while whizzing his mouse around, which was a pretty gd trick)
To put it another way, I don't think Stencil is being 'defensive' on this thread, just anti stage-performance absolutism
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 14 May 2004 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)
― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 15 May 2004 00:11 (twenty-one years ago)
One problem is that there just aren't that many good venues for music that is best apprecited sitting down. At least not for bands that don't have a certain level of fame, and also at least not for bands who are attracting a younger crowd.
Unrelatedly: Of course there's a performative and visual element to classical music. The people who have been arguing otherwise are nuts. As common_person said above, the rise and fall of the string section's bows, the movement of the woodwinds as they get ready to enter, and the gesticulations of the conductor all are tremendous visual importance. With some pieces, such as late Beethoven (or late Shostakovich) quartets, I can't "hear" the music properly on CD, because I can't see the interactions between the performers, and have a hard time following what's going on.
What laptop performers should do to make laptop performances more entertaining: Make better music.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 15 May 2004 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Saturday, 15 May 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)
― common_person (common_person), Saturday, 15 May 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)
(Mind you, these performances use a bit more than just a laptop.)
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Saturday, 15 May 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Saturday, 15 May 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)
who's controlling the lights?
― common_person (common_person), Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)
― zappi (joni), Saturday, 15 May 2004 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)
― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Saturday, 15 May 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)
― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 15 May 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)
― Holy Crap! Typhoon is Coming!!! :O (ex machina), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)
what i've been waiting for is the hendrix of laptop performers - i want someone to play it with their tongue then light that bitch on fire.
― dyson (dyson), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 14:41 (twenty-one years ago)
― manuel (manuel), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Thursday, 5 August 2004 06:57 (twenty-one years ago)
― Zach Ayres (Z_Ayres), Thursday, 5 August 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)
― Holy Crap! Typhoon is Coming!!! :O (ex machina), Thursday, 5 August 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)
xpost
― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 5 August 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)
― fe7 (FE7), Friday, 19 August 2005 12:25 (twenty years ago)
― fe7 (FE7), Friday, 19 August 2005 13:23 (twenty years ago)
― The Macallan 18 Year, Friday, 23 February 2007 22:47 (eighteen years ago)
― nabisco, Friday, 23 February 2007 23:07 (eighteen years ago)
― PappaWheelie V, Friday, 23 February 2007 23:08 (eighteen years ago)
― nabisco, Friday, 23 February 2007 23:08 (eighteen years ago)
you can go watch a whole orchestra play some new composition that sounds like Keith Fullerton Whitman, but it's still mostly a bunch of people sitting in place, staring at music stands, and bowing slowly at stuff.
― Rockist Scientist, Friday, 23 February 2007 23:17 (eighteen years ago)
― m coleman, Friday, 23 February 2007 23:22 (eighteen years ago)
― PappaWheelie V, Friday, 23 February 2007 23:37 (eighteen years ago)
― The Reverend, Saturday, 24 February 2007 10:04 (eighteen years ago)
― idle_matilda, Saturday, 24 February 2007 10:15 (eighteen years ago)