#146

I highly doubt that Francisco Lopez thinks that he is smart and high ar

Art doesn’t have to be limited to museums and galleries. Making a clear distinction between art and musical performances makes less sense in this day and age.

I also highly doubt that Francisco Lopez plays his music in the dark because he thinks he’s smart and high art. Looking at what people like Autechre and Francisco Lopez achieved one might safely assume that they are smart and that they have no need to prove it to anyone with theatrical tricks. Performing in the dark might be viewed by some as a theatrical trick but in certain contexts, like with the above mentioned artists, it is definitely way more than that.

An ER-301 might not have a big screen and a lid but it is most definitely a computer with a screen and more format appropriate input methods. I don’t really see the difference between that and a PD patch on a computer. None of those allow for particularly interesting ways of interaction without some extra gear, be it a number of other modules for the ER-310 or a controller for PD.

Also, see Holly Herndon for some interesting perspectives on the laptop as an instrument. She is asking the same questions as all of us but comes up with her own personal solution to the problem.

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#147


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#148

I saw Lopez play a few months ago and he said before he played “I think sounds are physical entities, so I don’t want any distractions for the audience”. Doesn’t sound patronising to me.

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#149

Shhhh…don’t point that out. People want to pretend they’re not using a computer :slight_smile:

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#150

Exactly, like I’ve mentioned before, music is something that is experienced with the body and not just they ears and eyes. Thinking beyond what we see a performer doing and what he or she is doing it on is important because the musical experience goes far beyond those two things.

Also, for anyone not familiar with Lopez’s work, it is worth reading up on it a little bit and reading what he wrote about the topic before making assumptions about how patronizing his methods are. I am not trying to defend someone I don’t personally know, I just think that it is really short sighted to make them without really understanding anything about the practice.

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#151

20 chars of agreement :slight_smile:

#152

I think the above opinion re: people checking their email is based on the same logic of “people are just staring at their phones doing nothing”, when in reality it’s just as likely that they’re doing a nmber of important things (texting a loved one, checking the news, etc)

the distinction between performance laziness and giving the people what they want (which makes the tiny john cage on my shoulder scream) isn’t based on the instrument the performer uses, it’s how they use it.

there was a local musician around here, very popular and hip, who once did a show with their laptop that consisted of them going to youtube, pulling up their own music video, and letting it play. that’s a lazy performance.

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#153

exactly, are we really going to pretend that an Er-301 / teletype isn’t a computer?

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#154

Mine fell off and broke. Do you perhaps know where I can find a new one?

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#155

just mention glenn branca!

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#156

Playing/listening in the dark is central to the acousmatic tradition. The idea isn’t that you don’t know how to listen and they need to show you, it’s simply that listening happens differently when other senses are denied. Sure there are all kinds of philosophical problems with this (the assumption of an ideal listener, problematic notions of purity, etc…), but it’s a historically crucial idea to the development of almost the entire field of electronic music (and links the development of electronic music to important 20th c. philosophical movements like phenomenology).

What Autechre do is import the acousmatic tradition into the context of all night raves and electro dance parties. In a sense, it’s the opposite of patronizing. It’s a flattening of “high” and “low” cultures, neither prioritized over the other. A lot of what’s interesting about their work comes from the tensions in that gesture. Whether or not they are really “performing” or not is beside the point.

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#157

a lot of times analog modulars are already computers, especially if you have clocks, s+h, logic, etc…

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#158

I like that fella. I only have one album but it sounds like it was recorded just like this, a mic in a room with music playing over the speakers. Makes me curious about what kind of unconventional recording processes I might be able to fiddle with.

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#159

Wow this got y’all riled up! :slight_smile: Good topic!

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#160

let me just add, as someone who regularly uses a laptop onstage and plays back prerecorded stems during performances, that i assure you i am still capable of royally fucking up during a show.

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#161

also, a 301 or similar modules are voltage controlled computers that live inside a modular environment. that’s something pretty different from a daw on a laptop.
and i’m absolutely not implying that there’s something wrong in daw, laptops or computers in general. only that it isn’t the same thing.

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#162

Nah. Lots of “wires” in laptop music. Just more abstract.

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#163

RJD2 is pretty on point with a certain approach to this whole thing. Certainly entertaining.

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#164

omg yes this is so, so on point. Much < 3 Braxton

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#165

Thanks for the historical info, and like I said before, playing in the dark is nothing new or original or different. I do have the option of closing my eyes.

In my opinion live performance should be about trying out new, interesting, original ideas, both visibly and sonically, not old ones. Times have moved on, I like to look forwards not backwards and challenge outdated ideas. I believe a live performance should stimulate all your senses, not just one.

Live music and live performance does not move forward if we continue to copy what was done in the past.

Looks like what Autechre have done here is followed tradition visually, whilst continue to move forward sonically.