Electronic vs Rock music (live)

[Emmet]

well, being in a live electronic band (albeit a verrrrry small one) I thought I'd throw in my two penneth.

For me its about exactly what an electronic band can pull off live (i.e. what they're actually doing) and then what sort of a performance they do. In terms of structure our live stuff is pretty much as our studio stuff, I'd say 85% of our synths are generated live on stage which leaves is free to tweak synth parameters live or play the synths live. For me its soooooo easy to see when a person's miming.

What I dont want to see on stage is a bloke hunched over a laptop pressing a mouse with about as much passion as though he's checking his emails

The exception of course if when I went to see Kraftwerk..

This is us in Liverpool last month...hey yup its a plug but its a good illustration of what we do
http://media.putfile.com/Emmet-at-Di...-11-11-05/wide

[Renze]

Originally Posted by Emmet

This is us in Liverpool last month...hey yup its a plug but its a good illustration of what we do
http://media.putfile.com/Emmet-at-Di...-11-11-05/wide

That's awesome. Now THAT's what I want to see when I go to an electronic music gig. Live tweaking on synths, and not just some nerd clicking on Ableton Live or pushing some buttons on an electribe

[//\/\/]

Originally Posted by Rog

See faithless live and you get musicians playing Drums/bass/guitar/keyboards and you also get 'electronic music'..........and the crowd sings along

at the end of the day, however, there's still no getting away from the idea that it's faithless up there and that, as sure as eggs is eggs, maxi jazz is going to ruin it

[holden]

i think there's gotta be some distinction between electronic "bands" that simply sequence and button-push, and those that make an effort to tweak and improv. i mean, if you go to see an electronic band live, then its understood that you'll be hearing live renditions (read: different from LP) of tracks. It shouldn't be a DJ set, imho.

As good examples of doing it right, i'm thinking of course of Underworld, but also Moby, Hybrid, and Depeche Mode, all of whom include live musicians in large part to their shows.

[Liam]

I agree with the distinction between live acts and DJs. I think of going to a DJ set as a totally different thing than going to a gig. I go to a set to hear music that I've never heard before, I go to a concert to hear music I know and love. However, I think that there's a further distinction to be made within live electronic bands. Underworld and Orbital were completely revolutionary in their performance as they were, as far as I am aware, the first people to basically put their studio on stage and then work with the freedom that this gives them. As has been documented here, most live acts either seem to rely on the pre-programming of their music or on live musicians. Both of these can be a lot of fun, but the levels that Underworld reach in their performances are something else entirely, the most complex and creative music I have ever heard.

Underworld (and I am mostly talking of the Underworld from 1994 - 1999) and Orbital are the only two bands that I have ever seen do this, and Underworld to far greater heights than Orbital (not to do discredit to one of my very favourite bands). Every other live act I've seen has either been pre-programmed or has used instruments.

[Dirty0900]

I went to see Coldplay on sunday and most of the people were so rude! My brother tried to get forward to a space and soem bloke stopped him, saying something like it was his space and he weren't moving........

[Renze]

One of my mates went to Bloc Party in Paradiso, Amsterdam and his glasses got kicked from his face by some crowdsurfer

[Rog]

Originally Posted by //\/\/

at the end of the day, however, there's still no getting away from the idea that it's faithless up there and that, as sure as eggs is eggs, maxi jazz is going to ruin it

*choke*

[monkeyboy]

Originally Posted by Renze

One of my mates went to Bloc Party in Paradiso, Amsterdam and his glasses got kicked from his face by some crowdsurfer

Hahaha I was there!
There were only like 5 crowdsurfers but still great. I didn't get hurt