how is the livelooping style

[Matthias Grob <matilists@gmail.com>]

Ty started the subject once again. I am amazed that no one said "oh  
no, not the style-or-instrument-question again!"
I agree that this list is good as is and should not be split. but the  
amateurs will have to at least tolerate the nasty talk about business  
strategies. Its not possible to sell music without choosing a genre,  
and if ours is not in the lists, it might be worth doing something  
about it.:
>> First just what is live looping. It would seem that it defines the  
>> gear we use and that we use it live like an instrument.
>
and Andy:
> ahhh,

yes, this defines the livelooping technique. it can be used for many  
different purposes, but one typical seems to grow out of the tool, so  
the ones who play the tool extensively eventually get somewhere close  
to what we might end up calling the livelooping style:
it has to do with the steady repetition. a kind of trance which leads  
to a kind of source...
just as Blues can be very slow and sad or quick and happy, Livelooping  
can be near dead drones or overwhelming complex patterns or driving  
funk, but most is in the rather relaxed and flowing range, we hardly  
change keys and throw complex fill ins, but we may end completely  
different from where we started, and although we sometimes reach  
similar trance effects and structures as the electronic music, we  
usually use organic instruments and play them with human feel...
...and a lot more characteristics we may gather.
...and for each one there will be some member saying: "no, I hate  
that, my music is not such!"

ok, so you prefer to not define it. I agree. we define the technique  
by the tool and then just feel the major wave coming out of it and  
each one decides whether he wants to swim along and call his stuff  
LiveLooping, instead of Pop or World or Electronic or whatever drawer  
(which usually does not quite fit either)
...and once there is a list of livelooping music, the academics and  
journalist will analyze the new phenomenon and define it anyway... its  
happening already, I saw several academic works and Frederike is  
writing a dissertation about it all...

>> I get the impression that its not live looping that Matthias is  
>> trying to promote its also the ambient side of the continuum.
>
> Matthias was a pioneer in using rhythm with live looping.

... otherwise I would not have built the machine! for drones, the  
PCM42 was just perfect and sync is not desired. but I wanted it to  
groove... my move to Brazil was important... but my first rhythmic  
loop happened before the move...
... and there are many on this list who do patterns or rhythms.
>
> If you care to check out some of the music made by list
> members you'll find that your description of the "continuum"

... yes, Andy?
you are one of the early if not the first adopter of the livelooping  
genre... what do you think?