Rhythmism.comTHE GOOD, THE BAD & THE MESSY - Live-in It Up
by buckbbuck
Thursday, Oct 11th 2007, 12:14 PM
I have a theory. DJ-ing killed the traditional live band experience. However, I have actually seen more "live" shows in the last year or so than I probably did the previous 10 years including The Police, The Beastie Boys, Chemical Brothers and Underworld. In this episode of The Good, The Bad and The Messy we take a look at what is what with Live Music in NYC clubbing life.
THE BAD - IS LIVE DEAD
First I want to look at THE BAD. Now without a doubt there are a few basic attributes of Live Music which will always make it a cool experience:
In the years since I have gotten into clubbing and DJ-centric music I have slowly drifted away from the whole concept of Live Music. Despite its attributes it just lost the thrills and entertainment value for me. I think the main reason was as simple as sound. In live music, nothing is perfect. The baselines, riffs and vocals will never be as crisp, clear and ideal as the ones on the albums. Hell, The Police and The Beastie Boys were two of the greatest musical events I saw this year, but when I went home and listened to all their albums afterwards it still sounded clearer on my headphones. You just cannot ignore the fact that no matter how great a band is at playing, and how top of the line the system is, a DJ spinning a professionally mastered digital recording will almost always sound better than humans playing instruments. And if he knows what he is doing, a great DJ can often provide the same attributes of Live Music for most.
I think for a long while Live Music and bands suffered because of this. DJs rose to be the dominant and most exciting "musicians" around. Technics even outsold Guitars for the first time ever a few years back. The backlash of course came as people began to see DJs as nothing more than a guy playing someone else's recordings. This is certainly a gross over-simplification in the case of many great DJs, but in some instances it was a valid complaint. Soon the pull of Live Music drew more people away from electronic and back to rock, or artists tried to create often misguided rock-electronic hybrids.
The ideas that worked best (at least for me) were the DJs and electronic artists who helped bring a legitimate Live flavor to the traditional DJ experience. At the most basic level this is folks like James Zabiela or Richie Hawtin who manipulate their CD-Js, drum machines, loops, effects units, and turntables like actual instruments themselves. Or how DJs like Sasha use Ableton to dissect any song they choose and add it to any number of other songs or pieces of songs from their collection, effectively using the songs as instruments. Then there are the Live PAs. Often they might not look like much more than a guy on a lap-top but with all of the programs and techniques and tools at their disposal they can and do create some amazing material on the fly. All the while the sound for each of these remains perfectly digitally delivered.
If you want a communal music experience that sounds best, your local DJ, or live PA on a good club system is always going to beat out a whining angst-ridden hipster band with a drunken guitarist, and underfed lead singer with too tight pants. Unfortunately relative to the band on the dumpy stage in Williamsburg, the DJ or PA still does not feel like Live Music to most people. So the BAD is basically that we do have LIVE music in clubland, but nobody seems to believe its anything more than a nerd checking his email while playing a pre-recorded MP3.
THE GOOD - LIVE LIVES
Ok, so Live Club Music doesn't get much respect. Thankfully, this seems to be changing. The most obvious instances of this came this summer with the holy trilogy of electronic music acts that visited New York. Daft Punk, which I missed (damnit!), Chemical Brothers, who rocked inside and outside on two consecutive nights, and the best of all, Underworld who brought their amazing act to Central Park.
The main reservation people still have about Live electronic music is if it is actually live. Daft Punk usually gets the most grief about it, but the Chems and Underworld get some as well. The other aspect of live shows that these bands have overcome is the performance. Each group have amazing stage shows, light extravaganzas, visuals, and other performance aspects that are re-inventing and reinvigorating live electronic music. Now this is a start, but what about those who want to see their music live on a smaller and more consistent scale? Just because seeing the latest hipster bands might not be the live experience it once was and we can't yet squeeze Underworld into an underground venue does not mean there is not still good live electronic music available. Soon, the best place to find it will be the same spot to find the best in all other club music, Cielo. The night is called Intimo, starting next week and continuing on selected dates, Cielo goes live.
The idea is obviously to find those bands or experiences that are not your run of the mill Guitar, Bass, Drums but have the excitement and originality of club music. Of course with Cielo and the digitally savvy electronic based artists they will be sure to bring, you know the sound will be spot on. Now there has been live stuff on at Cielo already but as I stated earlier, it just doesn't get respect. The live acts have always been hidden in the booth, where most folks will assume they are just DJ-ing, or surfing the net while their I-tunes delivers the goods from their lap-top.
So the club is building a full sized, removable stage to bring these acts out of hiding and provide an opportunity for an electronic band to hone a performance and provide a show. The first event is Tuesday October 16th. It starts around 8-ish, so those of us who have to get to work in the morning can still find time to catch the set and not be too hung over in the AM. The first night sees Loose Cannons with Home Video. More live parties will follow with the emphasis on electronic based live acts as opposed to the electro-rock hybrids. Now it might not be Underworld yet, but it certainly could be a group of blokes who might someday join that league.
THE MESSY - SUMMER'S END
Is Summer really over? It may be October and still in the 80s, so at least we got that going for us. But we should all probably come to terms with the fact that it will soon be time to head inside for good. But before we do I want to reminisce a little more about the end of summer... The baddest bash to be had was the Blk-Market Boat Party with Taimur & Fahad welcoming Three & Terry Francis for a wickedly wiggling good time on the waters. The outdoor fun continued with Underworld and Chemical Brothers at Central Park and McCarren Pool in Brooklyn respectively. With "Two Months Off", "Jumbo" and the highlight, "Rez/Cowgirl", Underworld gets the nod for the best music. But the Chems rocked it too and had some fantastic visuals, except for maybe the scary clown who I don't really want to think about any more. I finally got a dose of the Deepness with Marques Wyatt at Cielo over the course of a busy night that also included some good times with Digweed's return to Pacha. And of course the re-opening of The Porch was the hot Sunday ticket a few weeks back with loads of dope locals and it is sure to be the location of much more trouble in the future.
On the horizon, besides a chance to bust out my new super-dope jacket, is Alan Braxe & DJ Faclon bringing more Daft sounds to Studio B on October 13th, Sander Kleinenberg at Cielo on October 9th, Lee Burridge's Halloween party at Studio B on October 27th, Josh Wink at Sullivan Room on October 20th, and on October 12th Bar 13 understands House Music with Eddie Amador and Reda Briki while RadioSlave & Adultnapper hit Cielo the same evening. For a little something different, LTJ Bukem brings my favorite flavor of Drum and Bass to Sullivan Room on October 11th.
Keeping it on the Live tip, in addition to Cielo, I cannot wait to see Spooky do their thing at Webster Hall with Sasha and Three on Oct 16th. Matthew Dear's Big Hands plays Studio B for the Ghostly Halloween party on the 31st and Trentemoller does his live thing at Rebel on October 13th.
Oh yeah, and if you don't know... There is really only one party that matters any time in the next few months. That is on November 10th when Laurent Garnier finally returns to NYC at Cielo. Holla!
THE BAD - IS LIVE DEAD
First I want to look at THE BAD. Now without a doubt there are a few basic attributes of Live Music which will always make it a cool experience:
- Familiarity: A song you know and love played by artists who you enjoy will always whip up the excitement.
- Intensity: If a band can jam or extend a track or do something extra special with a song that cannot be done on a recorded version that always gives it additional power.
- Communal Experience: Hearing music you love surrounded by likeminded people who are also excited about it can certainly bring on the goose-bumps as well.
In the years since I have gotten into clubbing and DJ-centric music I have slowly drifted away from the whole concept of Live Music. Despite its attributes it just lost the thrills and entertainment value for me. I think the main reason was as simple as sound. In live music, nothing is perfect. The baselines, riffs and vocals will never be as crisp, clear and ideal as the ones on the albums. Hell, The Police and The Beastie Boys were two of the greatest musical events I saw this year, but when I went home and listened to all their albums afterwards it still sounded clearer on my headphones. You just cannot ignore the fact that no matter how great a band is at playing, and how top of the line the system is, a DJ spinning a professionally mastered digital recording will almost always sound better than humans playing instruments. And if he knows what he is doing, a great DJ can often provide the same attributes of Live Music for most.
I think for a long while Live Music and bands suffered because of this. DJs rose to be the dominant and most exciting "musicians" around. Technics even outsold Guitars for the first time ever a few years back. The backlash of course came as people began to see DJs as nothing more than a guy playing someone else's recordings. This is certainly a gross over-simplification in the case of many great DJs, but in some instances it was a valid complaint. Soon the pull of Live Music drew more people away from electronic and back to rock, or artists tried to create often misguided rock-electronic hybrids.
The ideas that worked best (at least for me) were the DJs and electronic artists who helped bring a legitimate Live flavor to the traditional DJ experience. At the most basic level this is folks like James Zabiela or Richie Hawtin who manipulate their CD-Js, drum machines, loops, effects units, and turntables like actual instruments themselves. Or how DJs like Sasha use Ableton to dissect any song they choose and add it to any number of other songs or pieces of songs from their collection, effectively using the songs as instruments. Then there are the Live PAs. Often they might not look like much more than a guy on a lap-top but with all of the programs and techniques and tools at their disposal they can and do create some amazing material on the fly. All the while the sound for each of these remains perfectly digitally delivered.
If you want a communal music experience that sounds best, your local DJ, or live PA on a good club system is always going to beat out a whining angst-ridden hipster band with a drunken guitarist, and underfed lead singer with too tight pants. Unfortunately relative to the band on the dumpy stage in Williamsburg, the DJ or PA still does not feel like Live Music to most people. So the BAD is basically that we do have LIVE music in clubland, but nobody seems to believe its anything more than a nerd checking his email while playing a pre-recorded MP3.
THE GOOD - LIVE LIVES
Ok, so Live Club Music doesn't get much respect. Thankfully, this seems to be changing. The most obvious instances of this came this summer with the holy trilogy of electronic music acts that visited New York. Daft Punk, which I missed (damnit!), Chemical Brothers, who rocked inside and outside on two consecutive nights, and the best of all, Underworld who brought their amazing act to Central Park.
The main reservation people still have about Live electronic music is if it is actually live. Daft Punk usually gets the most grief about it, but the Chems and Underworld get some as well. The other aspect of live shows that these bands have overcome is the performance. Each group have amazing stage shows, light extravaganzas, visuals, and other performance aspects that are re-inventing and reinvigorating live electronic music. Now this is a start, but what about those who want to see their music live on a smaller and more consistent scale? Just because seeing the latest hipster bands might not be the live experience it once was and we can't yet squeeze Underworld into an underground venue does not mean there is not still good live electronic music available. Soon, the best place to find it will be the same spot to find the best in all other club music, Cielo. The night is called Intimo, starting next week and continuing on selected dates, Cielo goes live.
The idea is obviously to find those bands or experiences that are not your run of the mill Guitar, Bass, Drums but have the excitement and originality of club music. Of course with Cielo and the digitally savvy electronic based artists they will be sure to bring, you know the sound will be spot on. Now there has been live stuff on at Cielo already but as I stated earlier, it just doesn't get respect. The live acts have always been hidden in the booth, where most folks will assume they are just DJ-ing, or surfing the net while their I-tunes delivers the goods from their lap-top.
So the club is building a full sized, removable stage to bring these acts out of hiding and provide an opportunity for an electronic band to hone a performance and provide a show. The first event is Tuesday October 16th. It starts around 8-ish, so those of us who have to get to work in the morning can still find time to catch the set and not be too hung over in the AM. The first night sees Loose Cannons with Home Video. More live parties will follow with the emphasis on electronic based live acts as opposed to the electro-rock hybrids. Now it might not be Underworld yet, but it certainly could be a group of blokes who might someday join that league.
THE MESSY - SUMMER'S END
Is Summer really over? It may be October and still in the 80s, so at least we got that going for us. But we should all probably come to terms with the fact that it will soon be time to head inside for good. But before we do I want to reminisce a little more about the end of summer... The baddest bash to be had was the Blk-Market Boat Party with Taimur & Fahad welcoming Three & Terry Francis for a wickedly wiggling good time on the waters. The outdoor fun continued with Underworld and Chemical Brothers at Central Park and McCarren Pool in Brooklyn respectively. With "Two Months Off", "Jumbo" and the highlight, "Rez/Cowgirl", Underworld gets the nod for the best music. But the Chems rocked it too and had some fantastic visuals, except for maybe the scary clown who I don't really want to think about any more. I finally got a dose of the Deepness with Marques Wyatt at Cielo over the course of a busy night that also included some good times with Digweed's return to Pacha. And of course the re-opening of The Porch was the hot Sunday ticket a few weeks back with loads of dope locals and it is sure to be the location of much more trouble in the future.
On the horizon, besides a chance to bust out my new super-dope jacket, is Alan Braxe & DJ Faclon bringing more Daft sounds to Studio B on October 13th, Sander Kleinenberg at Cielo on October 9th, Lee Burridge's Halloween party at Studio B on October 27th, Josh Wink at Sullivan Room on October 20th, and on October 12th Bar 13 understands House Music with Eddie Amador and Reda Briki while RadioSlave & Adultnapper hit Cielo the same evening. For a little something different, LTJ Bukem brings my favorite flavor of Drum and Bass to Sullivan Room on October 11th.
Keeping it on the Live tip, in addition to Cielo, I cannot wait to see Spooky do their thing at Webster Hall with Sasha and Three on Oct 16th. Matthew Dear's Big Hands plays Studio B for the Ghostly Halloween party on the 31st and Trentemoller does his live thing at Rebel on October 13th.
Oh yeah, and if you don't know... There is really only one party that matters any time in the next few months. That is on November 10th when Laurent Garnier finally returns to NYC at Cielo. Holla!
