From Che Sent Wed, Sep 30th 1998, 20:09
From Che Sent Wed, Sep 30th 1998, 20:09
At 06:49 PM 9/29/98 -0400, you wrote: > The problem is that with electronic dance music hitting a wider >audience, touring artists (and their labels, promoters, etc) are torn >between playing "parties" (i.e., DJ gigs with people mostly dancing) and >playing "concerts" along the traditional rock/jazz model (a bunch of people >face an onstage personality and *maybe* there's some dancing). And yet lots >of shows of celebrity producer/artists are modeled after rock shows. This >show was unfortunatley no exception. I didn't notice this in my town. The club had a tiny (too small for a band), high (too high to see anyone's hands) stage. Most people danced. Those that didn't stood or sat at the periphery. Nothing to look at on stage except a guy spinning rekkids, and the projected visuals covered two large walls so there was no need to even look at the stage if you're one of those types that dance with your eyes open (I liken dancing to kissing - the eyes provide an unwelcome distraction). My guess is that your experience was more a product of venue & a "we're too cool to dance" NYC audience. Personally, I don't understand how anyone could listen to this music & NOT DANCE! I had a serious toe injury, yet I didn't feel it until about 4 hours into the show. > I understand. It's tough to tour and make money. Touring is supposed to >do two things for an artist - 1) Sell records (by introducing the artist to >a new audience or by reinforcing an existing fan base) and 2) Make the >artist some money from the gigs themselves. You forgot 3) Give the artist some satisfaction in having reached & entertained an audience. I take it you've never played a live show. > But what about those of use who are 1) experienced/jaded enough to know >what beatmatching is and what d-n-b music sounds like, but 2) don't get much >aroused by just being in the presence of an artist we like? What can you >provide for us? You could provide a slamming dance party I suppose, but $15 >is a lot for a dance party at a bar, especially if no one is actually >dancing because they're all staring at the rock-concert stage setup. >Apparently the dancing did really hit a good clip late in the night, but the >vibe could have been kicking a lot earlier if you simply did all you can to >subvert the stage-centric club architecture. As someone who is experienced/jaded enough (I've seen everyone from David Bowie to Caberet Voltaire to The Butthole Surfers to Autechre, live) to be thoroughly sick of the concert paradigm, and having performed electronic music live for over 12 years, I have to say that Amon Tobin's set is the freshest thing I've seen & heard since the last time I caught Orbital. What stopped you from dancing, anyway? > No, he was great. It's just that it's not the kind of thing you want to >*look* at, it's the kind of thing you want to *dance* to. Again, what stopped you from dancing? I've never been in a venue I wasn't able to dance in, even in auditoriums with a seated audience I've been able to find a discrete spot to "commune" with the music. Did they put chains on your feet or what? >>as far as I understand Jonah's set he is >>actually travelling with effects and dat and remix equiopment > > Didn't notice this. I think that this is potentially an interesting >thing for an artist like this to do on tour. But I rarely see anything like >it. Jonah used mostly sampling w/ a little delay, MMM used mostly delay w/ a little sampling. It was easy to hear if you know what to listen for, even if unfamiliar w/ the records they're playing. >>Sorry dude, just had to repond cause ya seemed so mad...but it will be an >>eternal argument I guess...does dj-ing count as performance.. > > IDM has had it up to here with the "is DJing an art" question, an >argument which I will argue fervently in the affirmative. However, is >beatmatching/party DJing fun to *watch*? Nah. Does being "live" make it any >better than if it were just done for a mix tape in a studio? Sometimes, but >usually not. The whole paradigm of what our "scene" can be on a tour needs >to be defined a little more independently from the rock scene it has been >emulating recently. One thing that's obvious from the tour reviews posted is that the artists have played different records from show to show. No artist1 I saw was ignoring the audience, meaning that their record choice was based on audience feedback. That makes it better than a mix tape done in a studio, and lends an element of improvisation and "flying without a net" that is lacking when an artist plays a DAT. Of course 99% of the audience can't tell when a show is mimed to a DAT anyway. At 12:49 PM 9/29/98 -0400, you wrote: > I've got nothing against paying a hefty nightclub admission charge to >listen to DJs spin dance music, get high/drunk/laid, watch cute people, and >just have fun. But these celebrity alterna-electronica DJ gigs fucking >*suck* - no dancing, no drugs, *some* cute boys and girls but not enough to >be worth $18. For $18 I'd honestly rather see crystal method with their >stupid fucking laser show and wanking guitars than just watch a DJ spin >records to a bunch of people nodding their heads. I'm beginning to get the idea that you're into music for something besides the music. > I look at a band like Laika as an example: they had a ten peice band >when I saw them and it was one of the best live shows I'd ever heard. Amon >Tobin could hire a real fucking band to reproduce his electronic >compositions and my bet is that it would sound fucking amazing. If he's just >going to spin records, then for god's sake charge five bucks and drop the >hype. My bet is that it would betray the music. Tobin's music is for me the pinnacle of postmodernist expression - to play it with a live band would be a grotesque expression of nostalgia (and don't think for a minute that recycling old music & recontextualizing is based on nostalgia). > I feel like a sucker. I honestly want to support artists I like, but not >if they're going to go on tour and just spin the same fucking records I can >hear in about twenty other NYC bars on any night of the week for free. We >fans of this music should really stop letting ourselves be suckered by these >fake concerts/fake parties. Please, tell me which bars in NYC I can hear nothing but Amon Tobin & Funki Porcini at, loud and for hours on end, on a Monday night and better yet for free. Next time I visit I'd like to visit one of these mythical places. Che rock - rok (v.) - having a conventional and/or boring nature. ex: "Khakis rock". "That Rolling Stones show rocked". syn: suck.