an essay on what consitutes “live music” these days by Shelby of The Cassettes fame
(triobelisk photo by Dakota Fine)
From Mstrkrft:
Someone wrote to me last night on myspace, saying we should play live and wear the masks etc. instead of DJing.
it got me thinking about what is passiing for live now. as you all know, i spent about 12 years playing 100% live for people around the world. thats how ALP and i met.. playing drums in diff bands that played together. i know what playing live really is. i know what it feels like and what it looks like… and i know that other than some of the techno artists, no one in this genre is playing live. sequenced ableton performances arent live. midi secuences arent live.
i actually find it insulting to hear people speak about thier faux live performances with me. anyone who saw DFA79 or femme fatale play knows how real a live performance can be. no hiding behind props or lights. not a fake moment or unnecessary item on the stage. no matter how hard i tried, it would never be the same every time. impossible. in true live music, there are just so many variables… every day is a new experience. calling these pre-arranged performances LIVE is like calling a DVD movie ‘theatre’. know what im saying?
what gets me is that it seems like kids are actually buyin this fake shit. what punk rock still lives in me wouldnt let me look in the mirror if all i was doing was playing with filters behind a lightshow. if youve seen us DJ a few times, you know its always different. some nights we are off and some are incredible… thats cause its real. i dont feel right being anything but honest with the audience. maybe thats why i dont have that ashlee simpson money. even though we DJ, al and i have too much respect for live performance to ever call anything we could do as mstrkrft ‘live’. the most live act in this genre is just working with midi sequences… so no one is actually PLAYING anything. theyre just turning knobs. fuck that.
so, lets not call that shit live anymore. call it A SHOW. cause thats what it is. call it A PERFORMANCE…. but please, dont refer to that as a live show. its not. the reason al and i havnt devised any live setup is because it would never really be truly live. im not sure if anyone even cares about honesty anymore, but i do and thats why youll never see that bullshit from me.
I thought about this today after seeing Justice last night in Baltimore. I have to say despite some things I wished Justice would do in their live set such as actually use all those guitar cabinets in their mix by cutting out the mains, etc… Overall I thought they did produce something that only 2 graphic designers could do- a great visual representation of their music and an interesting to listen to mash-up of their songs with new sounds/distortion. It was really like seeing French Disco+Ministry+Merzbow. And to what Mstrkrft says above… I too have played an instrument in bands for 12+ years and Justice’s show is no more less valid than DJing or playing an instrument (which also has repetition in live shows- believe you me I became a robot during 10 weeks in Europe on tour with Frodus). Justice is a travelling art-installation and of course it’s worth it because like going to a movie in a great theatre. I simply don’t get to experience Justice remixes at home with a HUGE SOUNDSYSTEM and new nuances. And yes, they do change things up by adding new loops and mashups to their set based on youtube videos I have seen. So to the people that can’t get over Ableton Live miming… get over it.. its still Art and Expression. Justice is a great musical entity, truly made out of the love of music by record-collector nerd types. They’re upturning the electronic/dance world and creating a stir much like Fugazi did to the punk/hardcore world of DC past. Change is good! So to the haters – get to your bedrooms and make something better instead of filling the internet with more bathroom-wall scrawls of “this and that sucks”. Ableton Live Lite comes with M-Audio Axion 25. Shut up and get creative people!
Ed – I’m not trying to recreate justice… I’m trying to recreate Klaus Schulze and Didier Mourani’s music with more repetition. Now Mr. Ed, lets get positive in 2008 – did you watch that lets paint clip? I know you have a lot of negativity in you and you want to let it out… now think how much better it would be if you took your energy and created something of your own.. it could be a mixed drink or a painting.. or even some music building off of your favorite Rites Of Spring records. if you listened to Justice rejected Fabric live mix is it is a wonderful array of dustbin finds.. they may not know about the rare pressing of a particular release as the owner of a vinyl-filled shop does but they do know about composition and their choices on that mix in particular say to me that they love music and the nuances therein. So c’mon… post a myspace page, make some music.. and heck, if it is mediocre it can only get better, right? Just stick with it and don’t be discouraged!
March 11, 2008 at 12:50 pmAplause! Well said. Who fucking cares what “live” means as long as it rocks so hard and is uber-fun? What counts is the interaction with the audience if it comes to live sets of electronic music.
March 11, 2008 at 12:58 pmKudos!
Well articulated. I have been searching for the words to express my excitment about the upcoming Justice show. It seems cool these days to hate on djs. There was the same reaction after the Daft Punk Alive tour came through in 2007. Its true, i cant get the same effect as a “live” show in my living room. Their music is BEST enjoyed LOUD with a phenom BASS and lots and lots of lights.
:-) i like this article.
March 11, 2008 at 1:32 pmWhat people often forget is that guys like Justice aren’t Dj’s. They are not spinning records. They have created, sampled and mashed the music. There is no other way to present electronic music differently. So the entire question on whether or not acts like Justice is real “live” music is pointless.
March 11, 2008 at 3:03 pmJust to correct myself: of course, there is another way, think Kraftwerk. But it’s impossibly at this level of complexity.
March 11, 2008 at 3:05 pmI saw Justice in Baltimore and agree. My ears are still ringing nearly 2 days later. It sounded original to me…I know that record in and out and they definitely were layering in new sounds, flooding different levels and grinding out something original. It was fun with powerful energy and a cool crowd. What’s not to love? It’s always a fluid debate about what’s “real music” or live. If you turn that knob a little farther, cut out a level and cue a sample a little later, it’s original in my book. I love Ableton! All those same critics said Rap wasn’t original because they used samples. Just create and enjoy…..
March 11, 2008 at 3:06 pmComparing Justice to Kraftwerk?
Beat your face.
March 12, 2008 at 10:08 amI am not comparing Justice to Kraftwerk. I was pointing out that some electronic music – like the one by Kraftwerk – can be recreated with a synth, vocoder and moog on stage while others – like the one by Justice – cannot. There was no judgement on quality, value or originality in my post.
Punch yourself.
March 12, 2008 at 10:27 amAs a knob-twiddlin’ Ableton jockey myself — (Cough PLUG ALERT go to Mass Appeal at the R&R hotel Cough last saturday of every month cough) — I deal with the “what is live” question a lot.
I’m not crazy about the “dude hunched over a laptop” styled shows, but these “traveling art installations” are a hell of a lot of fun. I personally think its an exciting time for music when the best live shows on earth are being put on by french people with sequencers.
Thanks for posting this. Great read.
March 12, 2008 at 1:46 pmHi friend!
I liked your site!
Good work! ;)
On second thought, please don’t flood the Internet with your mediocre attempts at recreating Justice either.
“Justice is a great musical entity, truly made out of the love of music by record-collector nerd types.”
This isn’t true. Justice openly admits they don’t know that much about music.
March 11, 2008 at 11:26 am