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Looper's Delight
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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 >