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Re: [microsound] laptops kim's article



Hi Caleb,

As a Sydney "crusty" I'd like to make some comments.  You seem to be
commenting on two seperate objections to laptops: the oblection that
laptops represent a business tool/ luxury commodity, and the objection to
use of computers (per se) as musical instruments in live performace.

Firstly. I would love to own a laptop but I can't afford a decent one at
the moment.  The laptop IS a luxury commodity. As we all know, if you are
looking for the best possible computer at the lowest price you would not
buy a laptop. Laptops, because of their well designed and robust
engineering represent a superior product. Mac laptops (and computers in
general) are even more of a luxury item.
It is for this reason, I believe, that some of these objections originate.
(note: this is not my objection - I really want to get a laptop soon).

The second objection has more to do with computers in live performance. The
laptop performer (or computer performer) does not offer the audience much,
apart from the raw sound of their music. In a dance music environment this
does not matter much because the audience immerse themselves in the music
in a physical way (even though they all stand "sheep like" facing the DJ).
But at an experimental performance, the pure sonic experience can be a
difficult thing to sit through. Even if the performer is doing something
extremely interesting with  her computer, it matters little to the audience
because they have no way of perceiving that process. The performer might be
grabbing sounds at random and processing them through DSP effects, making
music which they themselves have never heard before, but if the audience
don't know this (and often they have no way of knowing) the performer might
just as well be playing a CD.

But this problem is not just confined to computer performance. Any
electronic performance suffers from this alienation effect. But the laptop
performance seems to be the most extreme. With analogue electronics at
least the audience see a collection of wierd boxes connected with
spaggetti, which enables them to get some clues as to what might be
happening, they might even get eye contact from the performer, instead of
30 minutes of staring into a screen. All of this helps.

But the laptop aint gonna go away. It is clearly one of the best ways for
experimental artists to perform their works. So what can be done?

When I first started performing in the early eighties many experimental
acts would hand out photocopied notes to the audience. These notes (which
were very often artworks in themselves) usually explained the processes
involved in the work (both technical and conceptual). I think this should
happen now because it really helps the audience connect to the performance.
The problem is that post-techno ("post-digital") experimental music has
been bound up in an aesthetics of minimalism in which its seen as really
cool to provide no information whatsoever. I'm really getting tired of that
aesthetic. Give me something to read on the album covers. Perhaps even
sometimes this minimalist chic translates to an aloofness which becomes
unbearable to some people.


>the article of kim's seemed to slip by without much in the way of
>comment....so
>
>"The other aspect is the notion of the computer as 'business
>machine', or as a device which
>represents depersonalised non-expressive automation. For those of us who
>work with the things, this is clearly not the case, but for a general
>audience, there may still be lingering associations with this old and
>crusty view of computers."
>
>i am unconvinced by the idea that the laptop objection stems from it
>being a business tool. i think mac have shifted our perceptions since
>the iMAC and subsequent titanium etc laptops...desirable - one dreams
>of these things  >>  when i got my grey pillow iBOOK my gf was a
>little envious of how i handled it.
>    i don't think MAC lappies are seen as business tools etc  maybe
>for the hip and slightly left of field business types  >> the
>computer is now firmly part of the entertainment business, for young,
>energetic music loving (iTUNES) artistic (digital camera carrying)
>types
>
>who is this frustrated spectical loving audience and what are they
>doing at a post-digital gig?  >  a tiny percentage of people who
>listen to this sort of music seem to object in sydney.  they are so
>small in number it is hardly worth bothering  >>  exceptions seem to
>come from the performing arts and they want entertainment rather than
>a listening experience
>
>does anyone have any interesting laptop objection stories...tales of
>mad audiences screaming
>  for blood and threatening physical violnece etc?
>
>it is good  that someone is printing stuff .   it is a good thing
>
>caleb~
>--
>            >impermanent.audio
>    http://laudible.net/impaud
>
>
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Ian Andrews:  The Horse He's Sick, Disco Stu, Hypnoblob, Kurt Volentine,
Cut with the Kitchen Knife, Sanity Clause, Battleship Potato, Operation
Bodyshirt, Zeroville, Target Audience, NBP, Organarchy,
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