Could someone explain the appeal of 'Laptop' musical performances for me?

[KickTheBobo]

Ok, this has been bugging me ever since a pal of mine went to see Tortoise around ten years ago, and told me that the opening act was a guy alone on stage with just a laptop.

So, I have always assumed that these folks are at least doing a bit of on-the-fly mixing and manipulation of samples and whatnot. Hey, that's cool: improvising with a 21st century 'instrument' and all. that apparently is not the case. i was watching this documentary on copyright which featured flavor-of-the-week Girl Talk, where he talks about his process and whatnot. Well, apparently a 'live' show of his consists of him just muting and un-muting the different tracks of the song. I mean come on! why aren't you just sitting up there with a boombox with your cd in it and "playing" the play and stop buttons?

I tells ya: I made the mistake once of going to see a couple of friends of mines band(?)/ ensemble(?)  a few years ago and it was seriously just 3 dudes sitting at a table all staring into their macbooks (of course) and fiddling around. They even had a soundman! For all I know, they could have just been searching for plane tickets or reading the ny times.

Don't get me wrong: making music on the computer is all fine and dandy (hell, I do it), but in order for something to be a 'performance', there's got to be an element of action involved. It just seems a bit sad to think that today's version a Townsend windmill is ctrl-c > ctrl-v.

any thoughts? anyone been really blown away at a laptop show?

[jbissell]

I've really only seen two different laptop performances and I had very different experiences with each. The first was Four Tet at an outdoor festival, pretty much the worst possible place for a laptop performance because you can't even see what he's doing.  The second was Tim Hecker in a small club and it was a much better show because I could actually see what he was doing.  Either way, I'd much rather see a more traditional band setup if I'm going to pay money for something I could just as easily listen to at home.

[John Junk 2.0]

I don't have a problem with it if they do something else interesting.  A friend of mine is pretty serious about his laptop music, but he does performances with his wife, who makes animations that she edits in real time as well, and you can see that stuff because it's projected.  It's not really my cup of tea, but at least you get a visual and audio phenomena.  It can't really even be compared to a live band, and I don't think they should be held to the same standard or even really featured at the same venues.  In an ideal world, there'd be appropriate separate venues for that sort of thing, but I feel like the majority of laptop musicians have the same economic draw as poets for a bar/club so it's not likely to happen any time soon.

[A.M. Thomas]

Different strokes, I say.

I am in an experimental band.  We played a few shows that consisted of me and my friend talking over our music as it played on a boombox.  I enjoyed it.

Most laptop musicians fulfill your definition of performance (action), as they tend to move around on stage or sing or do something else.  But even if there is no action, I think there could still be performance.  E.g. 4'33'':

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HypmW4Yd7SY

To me, performance is more about the presentation of some behavior or idea than about a particular action.

[dania]

anyone been really blown away at a laptop show?

nope.

[dania]

p.s. There is a brand new "rough" track as of today on the PURRICANE MUSIC PAGE called "Seclusion Stacian".  No laptops were used in the making of this track; just a keyboard, some pedals, and a shaker. 

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

My next play consists of three actors at laptops searching for plane tickets and reading the NY Times.  I'm hoping to get it in under three hours.

[dania]

I will go see that play.  I'll bring one bag of roses and one bag of tomatoes.  Then I'll just leave them at the foot of the stage so that they can sell them on ebay

[Martin]

any thoughts? anyone been really blown away at a laptop show?

Yes. The aforementioned Four Tet, at a club. Alone on stage with his laptop. He tweaked the shit out of his music, at times it essentially felt like the mouse was his guitar. He really worked it, and it was great.

[<<<<<]

I first witnessed it amongst noise/experimental acts.  Seemed fairly permissible given the "anything goes" nature of those sorts of showcases, along with the fact you usually had 6 or so acts doing 15-20 minute sets.

As a "performance", it certainly lacks, and probably has little place on a big stage without the same tricks techno acts used (expensive lights, visuals, etc.) to give people something to see.

Probably been blown away a time or two, mostly due to the music itself, not the performance. 

[yesno]

I saw aphex twin live, and while I'm pretty sure he wasn't doing that much to his music, there was a pretty great stage show with dancing bears, a fire eater, and a naked-ish girl.

[Laurie]

Miami Laptop Battle 2008 is coming up soon.

This guy WON the 2007 Battle:

[<<<<<]

I saw aphex twin live, and while I'm pretty sure he wasn't doing that much to his music, there was a pretty great stage show with dancing bears, a fire eater, and a naked-ish girl.

When I saw him, he had his stuff set up on the floor of the stage and he laid down on his stomach.  The stage was high enough that the effect was that from the dancefloor the stage appeared to be completely empty of anything at all.

Struck me as probably the most postmodern performance I'd seen, and in keeping with the sort of identity dilemmas he'd been toying with thematically.

Later as the show progressed there were dancing bears, etc.

[buffcoat]

Plus, put on some clothes and shoes, get a haircut and a shower, and shave before you do your dumb little laptop show.  No one wants to see your hairy, regular-dude body.

[Bryan]

Annie Clark of St. Vincent commented on this in the NY Times a few weeks ago, in an article about solo performers:

When I mentioned the ever-more-frequent use of laptop-based samples onstage, however, Clark narrowed her eyes. “That’s tricky,” she said. “I did a show once, and the guy who was on before me played a D.J. set using his laptop. To the crowd, it had the appearance that he was deeply engaged in thought — you know, really working those buttons — but I took a peek from backstage, and I saw that he was actually playing solitaire.” She laughed. “So you definitely have to be careful.”