RTP Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 Because of the recent discussions I'm interested which artists are actually still making a real live set? Or at least as live as it can get? Or not even THAT live, but you know, finding the balance between pre-mastering and live performing, delivering a partly mastered, but still fresh and interesting set with at least some playing or improvising done live? Who still delivers LIVE sets that make you smile? I'd say artists like Son Kite (they're doing one track "as live as it can get", one track from CD, one track live and so on ... good approach, fresh sound and enough playing around (one word: violin) - that's what I call nice), Etnoscope (live drums, live synth ... I don't know their liveset politics, but what they delivered was undoubtly pretty live, even having one or two tinywiny errors at one point or two - but those are not bad, they make me smile, because of these little errors I know they are doing this thing live and not from CDs!), S.U.N. Project (the drums were live, some synths, the guitar ... enough elements to keep it interesting I think) are doing pretty much live. Unsure I'm about Tegma, Mittelstandskinder Ohne Strom and Prisoners Of The Sun ... it all looked pretty live what I saw (not just hiding behind laptop) and it were good sets, but I am not fully sure, don't know their liveset politics ... although I definitely gotta say it was good even if it was not much live. Also Quantum State or Grapes Of Wrath didn't just hide behind their lappy ... but still, I know too little to say anything definite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pr0fane Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 Add Ticon to your list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin OOOD Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 which artists are actually still making a real live set? http://triskelemanagement.com/pictures/alb...f/adj.sized.jpg http://triskelemanagement.com/pictures/alb...n/aae.sized.jpg Sun Project live drums are off-beat hihat, snare and crash cymbals, with the occasional fill - not the most timing-critical parts! However they're one of the most 'live' acts I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaft Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 Shulman does, but I haven't seen it so I don't know whether it is actually live or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seraph Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 NONE. Actually, the only REAL live act I've heard were from Son Kite as well... the rest....euhm...no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D3lirious Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 Juno Reactor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Psychiatrist Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 Shulman does, but I haven't seen it so I don't know whether it is actually live or not... 590481[/snapback] Quite live actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xerxes Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 lots of live vs semi-live vs not live at all yet live discussion going around. personally, i dont care too much as long as the music presented is fresh and not just a playback of an album.. as for myself, i just put out a video of how i do live with my elctronica concept. check this thread: http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=40100 cheers, .x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Matta Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 Juno Reactor 590534[/snapback] His dancers/drummers/singers and guitar were live. Anything else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantrix Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 There are many ways to play "LIVE" electronica, some methods being more live than others.... A few years back, my act, Mantrix used to jam every individual sound live, meaning we'd trigger each sound loop individually on the sequencer, and mute each sound individually as well. If you heard a sound it was because we'd told it to play. This method (combined with all the other things we'd do on stage) was as live as I've ever seen, but it also had its disadvantages. You couldn't (very easily) make full on changes in the music unless you placed all your fingers on the appropriate buttons and BAM! triggered the change and hope to God you hadn't forgotten one of the key elements... maybe a little hard to explain in a few words but lets just say it wasnt as powerful on the dancefloor compositionally. We've recently compromised between that method and playing mastered material. Our current method is as follows... We write a track, master it, then chop it up into loops (say 16 bar loops). We place each loop into Ableton on seperate clips. This means we can recompose the mastered signal, like keep this part going for a while longer, skip the next part, jump back to a previous part, jump ahead to the climax of the track etc We also have certain parts of the tracks which aren't the mastered stereo signal... They are separated groups of sounds which can be jammed. Like, kick in to just the kick and bass, filter in the lead sound, drop in the hi hats, do a fill by muting the kick, dropping in the percussion and other sounds, then dopping the kick back in. We also feature live electronic drum kit which is triggering samples from each track, with effects controls over the samples, live guitar, we run certain sounds and loops through an Air FX, we run live mic over acoustic percussion. Also with the sequencing of Ableton, we've nailed it so that we dont have to touch the laptop.... everything is controlled by knobs and buttons on a midi controller, as well as having various filters, and manipulative plugins which can be used to fuck with the signals creatively, and to filter the tracks together while beatmixing... Our method also allows us to mix various parts of other tracks into the current track which really creates spontaneous psychedelic moments... we end up hearing things which we've never heard before, let alone the audience. So at the end of the day, no backing tracks or cds are used at all, we have complete control of where the music is at at any moment, but we don't ALWAYS have control of every sound within each part. I think this compromise has been a good decision to make, as it means we can rock the dancefloor harder than we could in the past due to compositional ease. We're always developing our live method so I'm sure soon enough we'll sort out ways to get even more control over each individual sound without losing the ability to easily slam into a fat change... The other limitation is CPU power. while computers are pretty stable these days we dont like to risk the chance of having a crash or glitch while playing so we go easy on how hard we push the cpu. So i think you can add Mantrix to your live list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTP Posted August 20, 2006 Author Share Posted August 20, 2006 So i think you can add Mantrix to your live list 590654[/snapback] indeed, what you said above sounds quite interesting never heard of Mantrix before ... but I checked it out And in the past you did really trigger the playing of every sound live on stage - no pre-mastered layers? Respect ... I think there are very few artists who have ever done that. I understand though that it greatly reduces the possibilities and limits creativity when you have to trigger everything manually and thus you switched to the pre-mastered layers which can be controlled one by one. Leaves you with more possibilities and better sound quality ... and that's a good thing. It's exactly the way I would want it ... the artist still performing the tracks live by arranging the layers on stage and modifying them here and there or adding melodies or whatever ... I wouldn't ask for anything more. And you still got the live drums and guitar ... that sounds like it's gonna be a splendid live experience when I come to see you performing one day! You know, in many cases when there's a live set announced here and the project is just one person then you just got a personal appearance from the artist, most sounds coming from a pre-mastered CD or laptop set and one or two layers played live on a synth, a few knobs twisted and that is it. Or they screw the playing of the two layers and focus on arranging (which is mostly just pretentiousness, because it's pre-arranged ... but whatever). But that is it. When you're just one person you are pretty limited in this way anyway. When it's two persons it's mostly that one arranges and the other one plays the layers. And when it's three or more persons then you can do even more - one does percussion layer, one does guitar layer and so on... I wonder how people like Atmos do their live sets? Do they like I stated it with one person acts? Or are they just DJing? Anybody has seen Atmos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
long ripps Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 lani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapinho Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 NONE. Actually, the only REAL live act I've heard were from Son Kite as well... the rest....euhm...no. 590523[/snapback] me thinks Hilight Tribe is about as live as it gets. Plus I think that Eat Static do a fair amount of live stuff as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 His dancers/drummers/singers and guitar were live. Anything else? 590652[/snapback] 7 men on stage ..I suppose Shpongle live is pretty live too.. it has happened what, twice? Both times in Japan I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FungalGrowth Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 You know, in many cases when there's a live set announced here and the project is just one person then you just got a personal appearance from the artist, most sounds coming from a pre-mastered CD or laptop set and one or two layers played live on a synth, a few knobs twisted and that is it. Or they screw the playing of the two layers and focus on arranging (which is mostly just pretentiousness, because it's pre-arranged ... but whatever). But that is it. When you're just one person you are pretty limited in this way anyway. Out of curiosity, what other stuff would you like to see a single person perform live? Just curious in case I ever get to that point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantrix Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Out of curiosity, what other stuff would you like to see a single person perform live? Just curious in case I ever get to that point 590834[/snapback] I think it all comes down to being able to read the crowd and adjust the music accordingly. So that's really acheived by being able to jump to certain parts of certain tracks whenever the performer chooses, as opposed to having it all presequenced. Thats what i enjoy the most anyhow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Elysium Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 It all depend on how you understand the word "live". To me real live is a band that goes on stage and actually play their instruments. Alá U2 to name just one band. Combining talent, technique and a lot of energy and most important of it all. A very good "on stage" commmunication between the band members. I know that's almost impossible to most artists/bands in this scene for many reasons. Some have never touched a keyboard in their life and do all music with their mouse. Some are not talented enough to play even a simple melody on the keyboard. Then there's those who can play a little or at least know where the "C" on the keyboard is. But due to the lack of experience and/or technique in playing an instrument and the complexity of electronic music + the fact it's loop based and sample based (yes even psy and old goa) its only natural that there are certain limits in order to play everything live. So most end up holding down single keys triggering various loops and samples. And tweeking effects and Eq's on a mixer. Hardly anything to do with live really (if you look at it as I do of course). Then you got the very few artists/bands that actually play instruments live on stage. It can be playing on keyboards (synthesizers), drummers, percussionists, bass players (like in Juno Reactor) etc. That is as close it get's to a real live band but in my opinion it do qualify to be called "playing live". There is also the aspect of lack of visionary artists and indeed organisers when it come to live performances, poor budgets (it's not cheap to have more than 1 or 2 people on stage) and an audience that in my opinion really do not care if the artist click start with their Mouse or not. And last you can start to debate if a party (not a Festival) really need all those "stars" on stage turning the parties into fake live concerts instead of what it's surposed to be. Parties where the music and to get into the music via dancing is the most important factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTP Posted August 21, 2006 Author Share Posted August 21, 2006 Out of curiosity, what other stuff would you like to see a single person perform live? Just curious in case I ever get to that point 590834[/snapback] I'd like to have the basic arranging of the layers done live (not just button on the lappy and then playing a layer on the synth and doing even this crappy) ... and maybe - where it's possible - a bit of tweaking/improvising or playing some melody on the synth. That would be what I want. I don't want the one-man-projects to perform wonders, I know they're limited ... so a smooth basic arranging so that there at least a few possibilities to alter the tracks and a bit of playing around and I'm content. And last you can start to debate if a party (not a Festival) really need all those "stars" on stage turning the parties into fake live concerts instead of what it's surposed to be. Parties where the music and to get into the music via dancing is the most important factor. 591159[/snapback] Well, the reason for me to go out on a party is because I want to see an artist performing a set, presenting new tracks, new ideas, whatever. I don't go anymore because of music/atmosphere and not caring who and what is played ... I did that in the beginning where I just liked to be there at a psy festy, but I stopped that. Nowadays I only go on a psy festy because I wanna see a certain artist perform, there's no other reason ... haven't been to local DJ only shows since 2 years ... I just don't find that attractive anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Elysium Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Well, the reason for me to go out on a party is because I want to see an artist performing a set, presenting new tracks, new ideas, whatever. I don't go anymore because of music/atmosphere and not caring who and what is played ... I did that in the beginning where I just liked to be there at a psy festy, but I stopped that. Nowadays I only go on a psy festy because I wanna see a certain artist perform, there's no other reason ... haven't been to local DJ only shows since 2 years ... I just don't find that attractive anymor Then maybe its time to try something new? I mean if the only reason you go to a party is to look at a liveact and not because you also want to be a part of the party then if i was you i would seek other interest that would give more in the long run. Of course i say this without knowing your reasons to going at parties. But as I said if the joy of dancing,being a part of a group of likeminded people (musicwise) has gone then what is the point? The main reason why i stopped with psy and finally put Elysium in the trash can is because i no longer can releate to the psytrance scene and most of the music there (not to forget the way many organisers has turned out). For me it would be utopia to keep trying reinvent something I lost. So as hard as it was for me to go away it made sense and I found new music that put me 14 years back in time feeling exactly the same was as when i discovered psytrance the first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTP Posted August 21, 2006 Author Share Posted August 21, 2006 Then maybe its time to try something new? I mean if the only reason you go to a party is to look at a liveact and not because you also want to be a part of the party then if i was you i would seek other interest that would give more in the long run. Of course i say this without knowing your reasons to going at parties. But as I said if the joy of dancing,being a part of a group of likeminded people (musicwise) has gone then what is the point? 591234[/snapback] The point is, I still love the music the artists make. And that's why I go there, to see them perform their music and to dance to it and catch good vibes. There is nothing that "gives me more in the long run" at the moment ... what should it be? Other music styles? Well, yes, there are some other that I like, but their concerts/venues are even harder to come by. So what shall I do? Other than going on like I do now and going where I like to go I can't do much. I believe my musical preferences will switch a bit away from psy (meaning also other electronica) in the future anyway ... but it will still forever play a role in my life. In 5 years I see me still listening to psy and stuff, but only going to a party once or twice a year, when some artist that I really wanna see comes here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapinho Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Hey, how much more live can it get than Hilight Tribe? Trance-wise I mean. That's LIVE! That's guys playing instruments all the way. Although I admit that Colin's pics of SUN Project also looked pretty live. Anyone seen EatStatic perform live? They sure rock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Anyone seen EatStatic perform live? They sure rock! 591359[/snapback] Yep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Elysium Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Anyone seen EatStatic perform live? They sure rock! Not lately and I doubt I would like their new style of music. But the old music was damn good and their liveact was some of the best I ever saw in this scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 I just hope they release lots of stuff like ...And The Day Turned To Fright (Eat Static Remix) soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin OOOD Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Hey, how much more live can it get than Hilight Tribe? Trance-wise I mean. That's LIVE! That's guys playing instruments all the way. Although I admit that Colin's pics of SUN Project also looked pretty live. 591359[/snapback] Actually both pics were of my projects - the one with 4 people was OOOD live, and the one with the didge was Voice of Cod. And yes, there are live instruments all the way with both Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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