Opinion On Live Laptops??
 

What do you think about live laptops in noise/experimental stuff?

From what I've seen its mostly really cold and boring....
The only things i've found interesting involving laptops is when its only part of the performers setup.

For example this solo guy Heil Spirits used a laptop but also played bass, a little keyboard, heaps of pedals and vocals. It was really cool but still I expect the worst when i see a laptop on stage.

The only laptop artist I've seen is Pan Sonic, and with them the music was so good, and the sinewaves projection thing behind them so hypnotic, that I really didn't notice that they were just sitting at a table doing something with a computer. To have someone leaping about on stage would have been a distraction.

However, I saw The Young Gods a few years back, which was men standing behind samplers, and that was so incredibly boring that the quality of the music just couldn't save it.

it's depend. I'm seeing many laptops on stage but everything with the same uses.
most of times I didnt like that. it's a machine not an instrument and it should be used as an automatic machine to capture and elaborate signals.

I have NEVER seen a "live" laptop "performance" that didn't make me want to heckle and yell. You know, something along the lines of "Hey, could you send me en email," or "So, whatcha got there, Windows?"

I have no problem with people using whatever they want to make music, but if you are a laptop person, you should realize that live performance is not really in the cards.
To pay admission to see someone sit in front of a computer is not my idea of a good time. I have seen people utilize laptops as part of their gear, and then it doesn't bother me, but loners with laptops in a live setting just annoy the shit out of me.

I'm agree with Erik. anyway I think computer on stage could takes new utilization forms.

I hate laptops so much, I have one in my band. I like the way Luc Ferrari (deceased) would deal with the perfomance side of laptops by performing in pitch black. Smart move. Merzbow can get away with not having a stage show because he makes something that is physically quite difficult to listen to in the first place. Alvo Noto with Ryuchi Sugimoto (sp?) last year was quite interesting - wonderful visuals.

So yes. I say laptops + visuals = can be good; laptops alone + probably bad; laptops + instrument = good.

i went to a show the other day and one of the people playing was a laptop guy who just hit play and then left the stage. astounding. i would have liked to have snapped his neck. to make it even more insulting his music was composed by using the answers from su doku as patterns to make beats in garageband!


l

laptops can be alright in quiet london improv type music, it only seems appropriate and fitting that people like kaffe matthews and the other ones sit stock still, there's usually an actual instrument player aswell to make it less annoying

exactly... i was going to mention merzbow too as being not boring... not so much because of the visuals of dead chickens or whatever, but because it's a challenge to endure physically.

however, last week i saw phil niblock/thomas ankersmit in a individual and duo setting and while ankersmit was still somewhat ok to watch, niblock was most of the time staring at the floor, one hand on his lap while he used the other to rest his head on. pretty boring... the plain visuals couldn't save the performance for me.

live laptop = bad

Yeah I wouldn't want to go see that crap.

to tell you the truth i've never seen a live laptop performance

but from what you've telling, it sounds crappy and boring...i've been thinking for awhile about live laptop-ish performances since i do my project I/C/O/C mostly on my computer and a guitar, and thought how i could translate that stuff live; i thought of these:

-improvisation is the best thing to do with a laptop, since "playing" already written/recorded material would result in a boombox performance, kinda like what Toilet & Bowels described. at least you get the slight sensation of playing from actually doing something other than pushing play.

-this also reminds me of electronica, you can either go (to use broad terms) the chemical brothers way and push play and leave the playback intact, go the prodigy way and incorporate a live band element to the performance or go the fatboy slim way and make a set of original noise material and mix n' match a bunch into a giant collage of harsh sound

-if you are playing noise by yourself with a computer, you should play loud so it seems like a live performance and not like some geeky kid listening to black eyed peas with busted speakers on a park bench.

-make it seem like you are excited by the sounds you are coming up with, not just stare like doing your homework.

-some visuals like lights (or lack of them, as someone said here) or some sort of different instrument going on or projections, etc. help a lot.

-a laptop is not a musical instrument, just think of it "you like my ax? macs are my weapon of choice" "well, i'm more of vintage guy myself, i don't play anything newer than ibms; i swear by my amiga"

when i saw Dat Politics live (I seem to mention them a lot here, I don't know why), although they spent most of their time behind their laptops, it was absolutely not boring and perhaps it was simply because they really looked excited by the sounds they were making, the three of them banging their heads like mad in synch to the beats or noises, and getting all sweaty...
they were also singing from time to time, and using some other electronic instruments if i remember well, so that helped...
and the music was great...

Great Laptop acts I've seen:

Jim O'rourke
Carlos Giffoni
Ikue Mori
Whitehouse
Massimo

and Merzbow was pretty okay too

They exist, and they rock.

It would be cool if after every song the guy got up and threw the laptop down, stepped on it, threw it at the speakers, etc. only to bring out a new one.

the first show i played i used a computer, but it wasnt all i used and i moved around and such

ive seen performances where they just stare at the screen, really shitty. although once there was some crazy videosonic projection team doing all this crazy psych stuff and that made it alot better.

my favorite laptop performace
cryptic weevil - contact mic'd laptop + axe

laptops are good tools for live performance, i just finished a show where we has three of them on stage, however we also had drums, two guitars, two basses, three keyboards and four vocal mics. they are just another music creation tool and i don't see a problem with them, but i don't disagree that it would be boring to see someone just sitting or standing behind one on stage and that was the breadth of their performance aesthetic.

Oh, I forgot to mention - Guitar groups are fucking boring live. Lets not forget that. I guarantee, the next guitar band you'll see will be dull as piss, as they'll probably be an opening act, and will probably have no ideas or any idea how to play live - what laptop does, for me, is make me realise how much I appreciate good live shows, regardless of the instruments, and draws into sharp focus how utterly shit the majority of guitar bands are.

*To be edited in sobriety.

i just got back from seeing Afrirampo, i've never seen a band win a skeptical crowd over more quickly, they did it in about 20 seconds.


Anyway, that's true what someone said about DAT Politics, they were actually better live than on record, probably a first as far as laptop music goes.

It's not about type of instrument, it's about the way you play it. A shitty player is a shitty player, no matter if he plays guitar or laptop.

As for myself, I have seen many great laptop performances:
Fennesz (2003...wall of noise), Rehberg+Bauer, Tujiko Noriko (just laptop and her angel voice...beautiful!!), Christoph Kurzmann, Oren Ambarchi

as well as many shitty ones:
Fennesz (2005...boring. compared to the first show, he was using guitar/laptop combination), Koji Asano (oh hell, I almost fell asleep), Florian Hecker and, surprisingly, also Vladislav Delay (an endless set with minimum variations) and Jan Jelinek.

I have attended a few so called ''laptop jams'' and to be honest i just thought that a jukebox could have done the job with the minimum requirement of human physical presence.That is not to say that computer music can't have a heart(and i hope that's the way cause i compose my stuff exclusively without real instruments).This thread is a tricky one and one that merits large discussion

jim o'rourke does a good laptop and i saw dat polotics a while ago and they did some good stuff. probably the best was merzbow and prefuse 73 (not together) as i was completely transfixed.

its true that its how you play it, as with most things.

Fennesz is a case in point.His stuff is emotionally enriched pretty much because it's for the most part played on a laptop.Or a good example in terms of not even being a laptop musician but still managing to be a genius is Philip Jeck.2 old Dansette record players and a minidisc player on constant repeat.Now, there's a talented artst!

I second that!!!
Saw Philip Jeck live 2 yrs ago and it was a complete blast!!!
Got most of his records, he's definitely one of my all time favourite artist.

and what's more, he's a Scouse. Liverpool area is my favourite place in England.

A few years ago he had an installation at the Hayward Gallery in London as part of the Sonic Boom exhibition.It had to be seen to be believed.On a huge scaffolding he sat about a hundred broken record players all going on at the same time.ACE!!!!!!!!

afrirampo was one of the best shows i've seen in a long time.

i just started playing with my buddy and we both use laptops in addition to him playing drums/vocals and me playing saxophone/vocals. all saxophone and vocals are played through his laptop/midi keyboard and i use my laptop to create harsh textures. the last time we performed, i ended up wailing at the top of a ladder. i don't think anyone thought of it as a boring performance.

live laptops can be very interesting if the performcer is genuine enough to have some sort of connection with the crowd and not just be pretending to check his/her email behind the screen.

If you have any descernable talent,it will normally come across wether you play a guitar or a laptop.There is certainly an element of office work by sitting in front of a laptop/desk top .They should create a laptop that you could play like it was a guitar but then,what would the difference be?If you have no talent you simply have no talent.

As anyone ever heard of Tu_Um by the way?

ohhh you mean like when they made a keyboard you could play like it was a guitar?



the discussion is not about whether doing music on a laptop is worthy or able to go on great heights of creativity and expression or not; but how live laptop music is bad and when it's not, and how it can be cool.

and resume, while it is a great tool for music making/recording the laptop is NOT a musical instrument, never was never will period. it's like when people perform with found objects, same thing

long live the keytar!

I think it really just depends on whether or not you dress in a hand made cardboard horse costume...


Blevin Blectum (of Blectum from Blechdom)

as far as that is concerned, don't bother going to see steve beresford or david toop play live

Everyneurotic:
the discussion is not about whether doing music on a laptop is worthy or able to go on great heights of creativity and expression or not; but how live laptop music is bad and when it's not, and how it can be cool.

and resume, while it is a great tool for music making/recording the laptop is NOT a musical instrument, never was never will period. it's like when people perform with found objects, same thing


That's a matter of opinions.

I have yet to see a cool laptop performance, beyond Cock ESP taking a pizza box, setting it up and writing "laptop" on the front of it during a show.

david toop......YES!!!

Is cock esp still putting out records on the vvm test recording label? I first heard of him(them?) on the 'it's fun-da-bi dozi' comp on the same label.Insane!

one fucking word MATMOS

Right,this post is in complete and utter defence to the laptop live experience.It's been bugging me for a while and i thought i had to tell you:
laptop live music does work wonders when the audience have the heart and the mind well adjusted to such event.It came out once more last night when i was attendeding a gig by some french guys who played at the ever stimulating Foundry in old street.What made it click for me this time was the perfect combination of visuals to the music that was being played.For the first time i felt like i really didnt have to look at the musician anymore but i had to completely immerse myself into the visual part of it and gel it with the sound aspect in the background.It worked!It worked!It worked!No drugs.It worked!

Whitehouse
Jim O'Rouke in SY circa 2000
CK Dexter Haven

as far as i'm concerned anything goes in music