Re: Expectations, artifice, and a hell of a can of worms

[Marklar <sine@zerocrossing.net>]

I kind of disagree about not giving the audience a bit of an idea of what
you're doing.  You don't have to pontificate about it, or go into minutia,
but a tad of explanation can be good.  You rarely see a painting or
photograph that doesn't describe the medium a bit.  Why not music?  
Usually,
it's self explanatory, a guy is playing an electric guitar through an amp.
Sax into a PA, Vocal, etc.  But when you're doing something that's not
evident, I think people like a little heads up.  Of course, all this is *in
addition to a good performance of interesting music*, not instead of.  I
think a little explanation before your performance is nice, and can build a
rapport with your audience.  I've only had good experiences while doing it.

Mark Sottilaro

on 12/31/01 1:15 PM, Andre LaFosse at altruist@altruistmusic.com wrote:

> Hallo David,
> 
> Ya said,
> 
> [on the NiN/Madonna "canned music" thing...]
>> nevertheless,
>> the audience doesn't *care* to know how the music is achieved --- 
>however the
>> quality of the music's effect might be judged, *that* seems to be the
>> audience's primary concern.
> 
> Agreed.  I wonder, though, how well a "Nine Inch Nails" show would go
> over if Trent was a complete unknown, singing his tunes to a prerecorded
> tape in a coffee shop on a Tuesday night.  Would the very same music
> have the same impact on people (and would the "canned" aspect come
> across as well) as it does coming from the fishnet-clad, multi-platinum
> cultural icon bathed in lights from atop the stage of a sports arena?  I
> honestly don't know, but it's interesting to mull over, perhaps...  (And
> I personally like Trent's stuff, for the most part.)
> 
>>> I honestly feel that too much importance is placed on the mechanics and
>>> craft of real-time looping by many of the musicians who use those 
>tools.
>> between us, here on LD, that's all fine w/me!
>> but: in practice --- i'm more interested in the intention & content of 
>the
>> music.
> 
> Absolutely -- I think some loopists tend to get hung up on the mechanics
> of what they're doing, and (sometimes) assume that a failure to connect
> with an audience is somehow intrinsic to their
> gear/methodology/what-have-you, rather than looking at what they
> themselves are bringing (or not bringing) to the table, intention and
> content-wise.
> 
>> and: it kinda reminds me of the gtr-player gear/technique syndromes, 
>which
>> can be so very boring & stultifying.....
> 
> Say, David, what kind of strings do you use?
> 
>>> or Jaco's looping solo in the middle of Joni Mitchell gigs.
>> jaco did that?
> 
> Yep!  There's a widely-available Joni Mitchell concert video (I rented
> it from a Blockbuster), I believe from the "Shadows and Light" tour
> (with Pat Metheny and, I think, Don Alias in the band).  It's a great
> little solo bit, extremely musical... albiet a little unnerving, as you
> can see a glimpse of Jaco's more... um, "malevolently unbalanced" side
> peeking out therein.
> 
>> yeah, albeit i'd say that -these days- it has become clearer to me 
>that, as
>> an element of performance & composition,  i *am* interested in the 
>audience
>> hearing/feeling/sensing the technology & methodology of live-looping,
> 
> Me too.  I'm not saying, "Let's hide the mechanics of looping from the
> audience," I'm saying, "Let's make sure that there's something
> substantive being communicated via those mechanics, however overt or
> subtle their implementation may be."
> 
>>> Torn, who uses a much more elaborate approach, both in terms of the
>>> amount of gear
>> huh? i use a 5-space rack, and a buncha pedals!
> 
> In comparison to someone like Mr. Lawson (the bloke by which said
> comparison was brandished), that IS much more elaborate, in my
> reckoning.  (I think his usual setup is a Jamman, DL4, and a Lexicon
> processor into one 1x10 combo amp... correct me here if need be, Steve).
> 
> But it's true, I've seen bigger rigs than that of Torn.  Like, in the
> setup of a certain bespectacled British progressive rock icon...  ;)
> 
>> there's certainly no dearth of 
>musicians-pursuing-and-perfecting-mediocrity,
>> at the 'top' of their fields.....
> 
> Well-spoken.
> 
>>> And it doesn't mean that a good ambient act
>>> can't clean the floor with a bad funk band.
>> currently, my floors are *somewhat* clean, already.....
> 
> That made my day right there...
> 
>> ..... and i just finished my second dbl-espresso of the day.....
> 
> ...and that ruined it!  :-()  (Kidding, of course.)
> 
> Happy New Year y'all,
> 
> --Andre LaFosse
> http://www.altruistmusic.com
>