Aww, it's so sweet! Whatever next? DJ's learning to play an instrument?
A lot of EDM artist do play instruments. A lot of them grew up with classical training in the piano and to a fairly high level.
Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
31–40 of 60 posts
Re: Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
#32Wait, this is saying that a genre that was created through instrumachines — people playing a bunch of old roland x0xes, then later the sp-12s/1200s, then later MPCs, live — will somehow be revolutionized by the newer forms of the same instrumachines? I think essentially the argument is that "laptops are not any fun to play live with" and really, that was just a short phase of electronic music. We all did that for a f…
I'm not saying the earlier gen synths, controllers and laptops are any less legit than newer gen stuff. I'm thinking strictly from the fan's perspective, the non-musician's perspective, the concert-goer's perspective. That is, how visually obvious is your live performance gifts from the floor? To a digital musician, it might sound reductive. But live performance is it's own beast.
Re: Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
#33Hey guys, I wrote this thing. And I know there must be disagreements with the arguments here. Bring it on!
Sure. Its actually going backwards. Back to a focus on the performer as a simple human who does feats, macho virtuosity and does crowd conscious manipulations. What electronic music opened up is much larger. Music is internal, electric (like our central nervous systems) and cosmic. The focus is in the body and mind of the people experiencing it. Its in the speakers and on the dance floor. The composer disappears, the…
> Jungle at its peak twisted the mind with intricate rhythms that really blew minds.
You can't just throw something like that out there and not make recommendations ;)
I gotta admit, I can't stand about 98% of EDM, but some small amount of it actually is really good.
Re: Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
#34Hey guys, I wrote this thing. And I know there must be disagreements with the arguments here. Bring it on!
The issue is not that controllerism & live manipulation of machines is a new phase of musical performance, it is that the technology available to electronic musicians has matured to where the advantages of CPUs, GBs of sample storage, live DSP, etc. now have physical controller counterparts. This is nothing new, it is a cycle we have seen repeat through instrument design (actually all production, e.g., printing presses required fixed type, whereas freehand allowed expression) for centuries. With each technological advancement, improvisation and flexibility narrows to meet the constraints of the technology, then expands to meet the needs of those using it. Repeat.
Re: Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
#35Wait, this is saying that a genre that was created through instrumachines — people playing a bunch of old roland x0xes, then later the sp-12s/1200s, then later MPCs, live — will somehow be revolutionized by the newer forms of the same instrumachines? I think essentially the argument is that "laptops are not any fun to play live with" and really, that was just a short phase of electronic music. We all did that for a f…
I'm not saying the earlier gen synths, controllers and laptops are any less legit than newer gen stuff. I'm thinking strictly from the fan's perspective, the non-musician's perspective, the concert-goer's perspective. That is, how visually obvious is your live performance gifts from the floor? To a digital musician, it might sound reductive. But live performance is it's own beast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqXayqIrAYE
=D
this goes back way before "the earlier gen synths, controllers, and laptops"
see my other comment. it's awesome you have come to this realization, but what i am trying to help you understand is that this is cyclical. it is not a revolution, it is how instruments evolve and has been for ages.
Re: Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
#36Hey guys, I wrote this thing. And I know there must be disagreements with the arguments here. Bring it on!
Sure. Its actually going backwards. Back to a focus on the performer as a simple human who does feats, macho virtuosity and does crowd conscious manipulations. What electronic music opened up is much larger. Music is internal, electric (like our central nervous systems) and cosmic. The focus is in the body and mind of the people experiencing it. Its in the speakers and on the dance floor. The composer disappears, the…
yes yes yes yes yes and also yes.
Re: Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
#37[deleted]
Re: Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure. Its actually going backwards. Back to a focus on the performer as a simple human who does feats, macho virtuosity and does crowd conscious manipulations. What electronic music opened up is much larger. Music is internal, electric (like our central nervous systems) and cosmic. The focus is in the body and mind of the people experiencing it. Its in the speakers and on the dance floor. The composer disappears, the…
> Jungle at its peak twisted the mind with intricate rhythms that really blew minds. You can't just throw something like that out there and not make recommendations ;) I gotta admit, I can't stand about 98% of EDM, but some small amount of it actually is really good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT9wUifJ-hQ
> You can't just throw something like that out there and not make recommendations ;)
here's a podcast full of hive, tech itch, etc.
http://www.mixcloud.com/lars-mion/unashamedly-nostalgic/
This stuff was all done with intricate editing before izotope, audio damage, etc. had one-button tricks to stutter and mangle.
Noisia, Phace, Rockwell, etc. are leading the new charge on d&b. Amazing shit.
Re: Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
#39Although I can appreciate everything said in this article I think that virtuosity is something that is unnecessary. Electronic music and its technologies are there to simplify the process of creating and performing music. Yes, this eliminates the aesthetic of physical, dexterous skill and talent but it opens things up for creativity to be unleashed without the hurdle that is virtuosity.
Now this means that a lot of cliche garbage would inevitably be created and shared which is expected. I see a lot of similarities between the modern day electronic music scene and the punk era of long ago. There was a ton of punk music produced between the 70s and 80s and it is still being pumped out today like nobodies business. The majority of which is cliche and quite awful. But every once and a while you get a gem. And I think those gems are worth the effort of weeding out the trite for the great.
The idea of skipping out on virtuosity and just letting creativity shine is an amazing concept. There have been a lot of fantastic punk bands without a shred of skill that have made break through productions. Beautiful music does not require dexterous fingers - though it is definitely something to be in awe of.
I am rambling. Essentially what I am trying to say is that virtuosity is good and all but I think there is the flip side which is a lack of virtuosity and modern technology gives every single person the ability to make incredible music regardless of that sort of talent. With enough time grinding on a modern DAW anyone can make music to rival the heavy weights of electronic music. That in itself is a huge revelation.
Re: Instrumachines and the Evolution of Electronic Music Performance
#40There are big EDM artists that have really been pushing the envelop on what you can do in live performance for a while now. Deadmau5 specifically has a real obsession about trying to do everything live and it's obvious that this requires a large amount of musical and technical knowledge and talent. Here is a video with him talking about his live set set up from 2010 and is a really interesting watch: http://www.youtu…
I saw him play at Sasquatch in 2010 while walking back from the main stage not even intending to see his set (totally respect his talent and really enjoy the pieces he writes musically, but his genre just makes it unlistenable to me), and it was probably one of the most brilliant/memorable performances I've ever seen. I'm generally not impressed by random lighting setups because they're impersonal to the performance. Just set them up, have them go off at certain points of the music and you're done.
Everything on his stage was choreographed down to a T including his own movements, and when the crowd coos and freaks over every single detail (some of us not believing what we were seeing), it just makes it all the more immersive. Even knowing that he puts such detail into his shows doesn't prepare you for what you see. None of the videos I've found online even begin to do it justice.
I didn't get to see ISAM when it came through, but I'd be interested in seeing how they compare in fidelity.