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Visuals: The Evolution of the Electronic Music Live Performance

djnth — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:22:27 +0000

Seems everyone is rushing to get their live shows announced with some creative way of doing a video show to hide the fact that a one-man band just physically cannot be playing all of the instruments in a song live. With a few exceptions there haven’t really been many Electronic Musicians that have put on good live shows, and the word “live” is generally used to indicate that the artist may be triggering patterns or muting and unmuting tracks on the fly but generally not actually playing any instruments live. Personally I have nothing against this, what else can really be expected of one person? One man standing in front a few pieces of equipment, generally with a laptop in tow, doing a “live” show seems to generate less excitement than a DJ behind a pair of decks playing other people’s music.

The Solution
Stand in front of some mysterious piece of gear with lots of really cool looking synchronized 3D graphics and flashing lights to distract and hypnotize the crowd while bobbing your head to the music and moving your hands around like a conductor pushing buttons and occasionally pointing to the space above the crowd.

Underworld has always been one of the top Electronic Dance Music acts to put on a great live show. They always had the visuals provided by Tomato and an energetic vocalist jumping around the stage with a guitar.

Daft Punk pretty much set the stage for the current formula being used by many artists in the Electronic Music world with their Pyramid of lights and visuals. They also didn’t really play an instruments live it was more like they were tour guides through a mash-up of their entire discography. Entertaining, no doubt.

Etienne de Crecy did in next with his Visual Cube, taking the same formula as Daft Punk and the anonymous equipment in front of him. Etienne recently released a compilation available on Dim Mak Records called Beats n’ Cubes which contains some of the music from his show.

Then came Amon Tobin with Isam and the bar was raised. Incorporating perfectly synced 3D visuals projected onto a stack of boxes, Amon and his team created a show that has left people with their jaws on the floor. He’s still touring if you can catch this show do it!

Then there is Daedelus with his wall of moving mirrors and lights “Archimedes” which is not quite as visually engaging but still cool looking nonetheless. It’s obviously very hot having all of those lights right behind you sending heat rays right into your body.

A few others whose shows I have yet to see any video of is M.A.N.D.Y. from Get Phisical who are doing a premiere of their new visual show on October 15, 2011 at Electric Brixton in London, and Mark Knight from Toolroom Records debuting his Live performance “set to a Ground Breaking Visual Show” on October 1, 2011 at Toolroom Knights 5th Birthday at 02 Academy Brixton.

If you get video for either of these events or know of any other Electronic Music artists that are doing amazing things visually please post links in the comments.

Get Your Deadmau5 USB Drive

djnth — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:44:41 +0000

You read it right, Deadmau5 now has his own USB drives that you can order starting Feb 7th here.

He recently made history becoming the first ever artist of this genre to headline London’s legendary Earls Court, following in the footsteps of Oasis, Pink Floyd and Madonna.

This special edition deadmau5 USB has eyes that light up when being used. It features
exclusive footage from this recent Live show at Earls Court, recorded on December 18th
2010. Contents include…

• Exclusive film – Live From Earls Court shot in HD
• Behind the scenes footage
• Exclusive photo gallery
• Wallpapers

NOTE: This product is NOT available to territories in the American continent for some weird reason.

Can the iPad Do This?

djnth — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:18:19 +0000

I’ve really grown tired of Apple telling me what I can and can’t do with my devices, what kind of software I’m allowed to run, what kind of hardware I’m allowed to use, and which computers I’m allowed to upload music to my phone from. The iPad is just more of the same crap in a pretty case. While I will admit the iPad has it’s uses and I love my I really do enjoy my [jailbroken] iPhone, I find it very hard to tolerate the hardcore limitations Apple places on the users of its mobile devices. I would love to see someone get OSX or even Linux running on the iPad and then we will truly see what something like the iPad could have been capable of.

Enter the HP Slate. This little baby not only looks to be packing some processing power but it is an “open” device. There are USB slots, video output, memory card slots, and it is running a proper full operating system so users can install whatever software they want. Which means we could see users running Ableton Live, FL Studio, Soundforge, ProTools, Serato, Traktor, and so much more. I can just imagine a DJ set using one of these or playing live with 2 of these machines and actually tweaking knobs on a virtual TB-303 with your fingers instead of a mouse. The possibilities are wide open and I can’t wait to see the Slate in action someday soon.

DMb Podcast 017 : Utah Saints Live UK (feat: Foamo, Wolfgang Gartner, A-Trak)

djnth — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 09:08:53 +0000

You may know the Utah Saints from their breakout single “Something Good” which took over the dancefloors of many raves and clubs in the early 90′s and again in 2008 when the single was re-released with new mixes from High Contrast and Van She. The track took a catchy vocal snippet from Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting” and looped it until it became permanently embedded in your brain. Tim Utah and Jez Willis, which make up the group, have been doing some serious dancefloor destruction with their DJ sets as I’m sure you can tell by taking one look at the tracklisting below.

Utah Saints this week providing a live mix of Dirty Electro and Fidget House from a UK gig earlier this year.

Enjoy!

Mix Info & Tracklisting
Utah Saints – Live UK

01. Utah Intro
02. Untitled – Untitled
03. Wolfgang Gartner – Ultimate Flashback (Will Bailey and Mikey Hook Edit)
04. Loops of Fury – Soap (Peo De Pitte Mix)
05. Killaflaw – Set Me on Fire (Utah Saints Mix)
06. Ou est Le Swimming Pool – Dance the Way I Feel (Armand Van Helden Mix)
07. Nadastrom – Save Us
08. We Have Band – Divisive (Tom Staar Mix)
09. Nom De Strip – Skweeke
10. Lee Mortimer & Foamo – Superman
11. Tom Staar – Two Tone Simms
12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)
13. Afrojack – Zeggie
14. Partysquad – Murderer
15. Kill Light – The Sound
16. Noisia – Machine Gun (Utah Re-edit)

Get Utah Saints Tracks and Remixes at Beatport

For more info on Utah Saints check out:
MySpace
Soundcloud
Official Website

Lucent L’amour 2010 – A Visionary Love Festival

DJ Cookie Jar — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:52:14 +0000

Photo courtesy of SinningInLA.com

The Do-Lab crew know how to set a mood: trademark organic structures, well lit environment, indoor and outdoor stages, happy people doing things to help good causes, top-notch artwork in every direction you look… oh ya, and big name dance music acts pushing some serious sound. This year’s annual Lucent L’amour event in honor of Valentines Day, was a perfect example of this. If you weren’t outside taking in the live avante garde dance performances or live art, you were treated to this years headliners: N.A.S.A., Bassnectar and Stanton Warriors (in order of appearance) on the multi screened main stage inside.

The big three started off with N.A.S.A. who’s set was like an electro retrospective of dance music mash-up spectacular from Micheal Jackson to Rolling Stones, who’s “Satisfaction” was mixed with Benny Benassi’s classic track of the same name. The crowd was loving it. Add to that the scantily clad girls on stage dancing with big goofy aliens, and a swarm of gold body-suited dancers.. and you’ve got the fixin’s for a proper party.

Next up was Bassnectar. You never know what to expect when this guy is on the decks… which I like… when I catch him rocking a set I like… like this one. Minimal mic time and rewinds means more music… and when the music is this good, you don’t want it to stop. Mind bending sounds, thick beats and tasteful tempo changes kept the crowd hyped for the whole set. While I’m usually not a big fan of DJs getting on the mic, there’s no denying the genuine love and gratitude Lorin espouses to his adoring crowd. It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.

The veterans of the bunch closed the party out… Stanton Warriors started their set off with one of the more annoying sounds i can think off… played at a very LOUD volume, followed by a danceable but not awe inspiring performance. That said.. a mediocre set from Stanton Warriors is still gonna make you wanna dance your ass off. It may be a bit formulaic at this point, but it’s an effective formula, and the energy of the crowd proves it.

Overall, this party kicked ass and I can’t wait for this year’s return of Do-Lab’s 4-day mega outdoor event, Lightning in a Bottle. What more can I say? Check out what our friends over at SinningInLA.com had to say about it.

DMb Podcast 010 : Droog – Culprit 15 Live in Hollywood

djnth — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:25:42 +0000

DROOG is the DJ collective of Andrei Osyka, Brett Griffin and Justin Sloe. From their start 4 years ago, DROOG has steadily built a reputation as one the one of the leading purveyors of forward-thinking dance, in Los Angeles and beyond. For the past 3 years, Droog has held down a residency at Avalon Hollywood, one of the biggest clubs in the US. At Avalon, they have had the chance to play alongside influences such as Richie Hawtin, Lee Burridge, Steve Lawler, Damian Lazarus, Tiefschwarz, Mr. C, Booka Shade, MANDY, Matthew Dear and Steve Bug. Droog has began the exploration of a new frontier in launching an LA-based record label, Culprit, which has spawned successful releases from Matt Tolfrey, Inxec, Hot Natured, Lee Foss and Kenneth James Gibson aka [a]pendics.shuffle. As we begin 2010, Droog is about to embark on their first release, slated to hit the shops before the trio makes waves at WMC.

Culprit 15 Hollywood mix finds Droog dropping a Deeper Tech House set recorded live in 2010. Check out their MySpace page for more free mixes and Beatport for tracks from their label Culprit.

Enjoy!

Mix Info & Tracklisting
Droog – Culprit 15 Live in Hollywood

01. Vandermeer – Positive Light (Mateo Murphy remix)
02. Pollyester – The Indian (Mock & Toof remix)
03. Alex Jones – Latin Dragon
04. Siopis – Really Love Ya
05. Guti – Halo
06. Sebastian Davidson – Andy Who Roll (Aki Berg remix)
07. Jaffa Surfa – 106 Miles
08. Alain Ho – Don Marvin
09. Coyu & Ronald Christoph – Worship the Sun (DJ Yellow remix)
10. Audiofly – Formula Juan (Ali Nasser’s remix)
11. CJ Jeff & Thodoris Triantafillou – Got To Be
12. Audiofly – Formula Juan
13. Polder – Sweatshop
14. Yakine – Iona

For more on Droog Check out:
Droog on MySpace

NAMM: Akai debuts APC40 an Ableton Live Controller

djnth — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:48:48 +0000

At the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) expo, Akai showed the APC40 MIDI control surface it has developed in conjunction with Ableton, making it the first such device to be ready to run out of the box with the Ableton Live music editing software. As there is no need to load drivers, users simply plug in their notebooks via a USB port and can begin mixing or otherwise modifying their music using Ableton Live. The APC40 is being touted as the simplest, most direct hardware interface with the popular software, yet still allows advanced users to assign the board’s 40 buttons, knobs and fader controls to any virtual controls in the software.

Each control on the APC40 lights up in a different color to give users an instant indication of clip state. Likewise, the 16 knobs are lined by a ring of LED rings that perform the same functions. Akai points out the APC40 makes controlling music at live events much quicker and easier, taking the connected source, most often a notebook or desktop PC or Mac, out of the equation.

First iPhone Musical Instrument – the Ocarina

djnth — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:01:57 +0000

I’m not sure how well this instrument would work with a DJ or Live set, but it would be interesting to see someone do it!

The iPhone Ocarina from Smule is the first instrumental application that turns the iPhone into a unique musical instrument. The traditional ocarina is a member of a very old family of musical instruments, dating back at least 12,000 years, in China and Mesoamerica. The Smule iPhone Ocarina brings this millenia-old musical tradition into the 21st century.

Here’s how it works. Once you’ve installed the application, hold the iPhone in such a way that you can conveniently press the four buttons while blowing into the microphone. That’s right; it’s a wind instrument.

The Smule ocarina website has lots of musical scores and instructional materials to get you started, as well as a forum to share what you’ve learned.

The instrument itself can be configured with any of eight different pitch modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian and Zeldarian).

Okay, maybe you’re thinking that you can’t do anything really significant with an iPhone music app. Well, think again; watch this Smule Ocarina video.

Smule Ocarina Playing Stairway to Heaven

And, if all that weren’t great enough, the Smule Ocarina for the iPhone is the only web-enabled instrument in existence. Yes, that’s right. The Smule Ocarina lets you, the creative artist, bypass not only the RIAA, but also iTunes, Napster and every other aggregator of music.

Here’s how it works. If you enable sharing, the Smule will automatically broadcast your music, via the Internet, to any one else’s Smule Ocarina.

You’ve got to try the Smule iPhone Ocarina. It’s the closest you youngsters can get to feeling the groovy vibes emanating from the Star Trek episode The Way To Eden when it was first broadcast. This episode featured futuristic musical instruments (even Spock played!) that, while retrofuturistic, can’t hold a candle to the Smule iPhone Ocarina.

Also check out their Vocal Pitch App and make yourself sound like Darth Vader in real-time!

via: Smule Ocarina

Serato and Ableton Announce a Creative Partnership

djnth — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:11:01 +0000

This is an exciting announcement for users of Serato and Ableton software. It can only lead to more creative and interesting DJ sets in the future.

Here is the announcement from the Serato website:
Serato and Ableton are happy to announce a partnership, which will pave the way for the future of Digital DJing.

With shared artist rosters from hip-hop (DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Nu-Mark, A-Trak) to electronica
(Paul Van Dyk, DJ Sasha), both Ableton Live and Serato Scratch Live are renowned as the premier
performance platforms in clubs around the globe.

While Serato’s Scratch Live excels in vinyl emulation, music library control and lightning quick hands-on scratching, Ableton Live provides the tools for production, on-the-?y remixing and beat creation.

“Ableton and Serato take different approaches to modern musical performance,” says Ableton CEO
Gerhard Behles, “But both companies live by the philosophy that software should be straightforward,
easy to use, and most importantly, reliable and stable onstage and in the studio. Ableton has never had an answer for the DJ who wants vinyl control, and rather than try to emulate what Serato do so well, we simply make sure that our products work well together.”

Serato Audio Research CEO Steve West agrees. “After years of talking together, we’re thrilled to be
working with Ableton. It’s exciting to think about what we can offer to DJs and producers: the ability to go beyond just spinning records and add a personal stamp to the music they play.”

Just where this Serato and Ableton collaboration will take us has yet to be seen but one thing is clear: the worlds of DJing, remixing and production for artists worldwide have changes ahead.

Akufen Live in Dublin – Free Download

djnth — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:13:40 +0000

Here’s a recent mix from French DJ and producer Marc Leclair, a.k.a. Akufen. The set was recorded live at Soundstream @ Club Rogue in Dublin, Ireland a little over a week ago.

Download: DivShare [192kbps MP3, ~190 MB]

Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode Talks About His New Recoil CD

djnth — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 03:21:32 +0000

Alan Wilder talks about life on the road and playing live with Depeche Mode, his new CD recorded with a Blues vocalist he discovered by doing a Google search, and about his personal life.

Check out this great interview by the Skrufff crew: HERE