Controller Battle Videos from last night in SF!!!

[mike_o]

here they are, I'll be updating this post as more videos get uploaded.

I was only able to get 7 of the battle performances plus Ean Goldens set.

most of the battle videos should be up today/tonight, Ean's will probably be up tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypt3XRTwAAk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv9HtWdDpbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHg2NAx_qnA

I'll post more as they finish uploading

[starving student]

nice ... thanks for uploading these



and for all you suckas notice how Edisons head is bobbing (down) on the 1, not (up) that is the key here
this man would be funky no matter what he was playing.....those that can understand do understand

[aizo]

Damn they brought some boring ass beats to the show. Edison killed it and the only one that came close him was the guy in the black fitted.

[Cowlash]

+1 that was pretty much a yawn-fest =(

[two_masks]

I had the pleasure of competing at the battle on Saturday. There were 16+ contestants total, all with really distinct approaches to performance. Many were more academic than party-oriented, but nonetheless really compelling; others clearly needed some work before they could be considered "battle ready." Overall it was a great chance to see how people are thinking about taking their music into a live context, share ideas, and build public awareness as to why so many of us reject the blanket "DJ" title.

Laura Escude (one of the judges) posted some additional videos on her YouTube page, all from later stages of the battle:

http://www.youtube.com/user/lescude

I also posted a clip of the last 30 seconds of my first-round performance on my YouTube page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZCqVRHIRic

I ended up getting knocked out in the second round by Edison, and couldn't have lost to a nicer or more talented guy.

Looking forward to more coverage from the night!

JB / Nonagon

[Cowlash]

build public awareness as to why so many of us reject the blanket "DJ" title.

People confuse this

http://youtu.be/En-rP63efC4

with this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1WaDr_skz8

Really?

[McQ714]

the entire competition was broadcast on justin.tv/lovetechsf
they still have the full videos up over there.

[Silence]

nice ... thanks for uploading these



and for all you suckas notice how Edisons head is bobbing (down) on the 1, not (up) that is the key here
this man would be funky no matter what he was playing.....those that can understand do understand

does anyone bob up on the 1st?

[starving student]

yeah mon da do

even some beatmakers I like allot would fail the conga test.
give edison a pair of congas and watch'em get down, give flylo a pair of congas and you'd wonder how he made all of those fly records.

[HeadrickProductions]

On one hand I always commend anyone for getting up in front of a crowd and putting themselves out there.

I thought since I hear alot about ean golden being so into the controllerism movement I thought there would be some people that really impressed me. Maybe the video do a terrible job of capturing the music cause it sound really lo fi and I was shocked cause instead of bass that rattles that rattles the building I hear none at all. It sounded like the sound that ableton gets sterotyped as.

It just so hard to have a "battle" when all of the stuff is pre-made. You can go back and forth like you can with dj's which makes it fun to watch and keeps the crowd going

Hopefully this evolves because I'm seen great mpc battles.

The rules should be no pre done tracks. just triggering samples or playing vst's. Then stuff would get more interesting.

Either way this could be cool in the years to come

[two_masks]

build public awareness as to why so many of us reject the blanket "DJ" title.

People confuse this
http://youtu.be/En-rP63efC4

with this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1WaDr_skz8

Really?

Sorry, I should have been more clear in what I was trying to express: while I doubt anyone would confuse Tim Thompson's totally original performances with a DMC routine, in my experience the vast majority of the general population have no conception of what "live electronic music performance" means apart from the "DJ" touchstone. I'm sure many of the artists on these boards have experienced the same thing. I think events like this battle (and even more so the monthly LoveTech parties here in SF) have the potential to get music-loving but not tech-nerdy crowds interested and more aware of non-conventional music controllers, improvisation in digital music, etc. which is good for all of us.

That said, one pet peeve I had about the evening was the lack of distinction between people playing original material and those playing other people's tracks DJ-style. I'd like to see some boundaries established next time along those lines, though I have to admit that I wouldn't quite know where to draw the line given the numerous ways that people can interpret musical material (even stuff they didn't write) live.

[two_masks]

I thought since I hear alot about ean golden being so into the controllerism movement I thought there would be some people that really impressed me. Maybe the video do a terrible job of capturing the music cause it sound really lo fi and I was shocked cause instead of bass that rattles that rattles the building I hear none at all. It sounded like the sound that ableton gets sterotyped as.

Don't believe the audio in these videos (particularly the streams): they all seem to be significantly high-passed. There was serious low-end at the venue Public Works (Funktion One), and it's a real shame it didn't translate to the stream / cell videos.

It just so hard to have a "battle" when all of the stuff is pre-made. You can go back and forth like you can with dj's which makes it fun to watch and keeps the crowd going

Hopefully this evolves because I'm seen great mpc battles.

The rules should be no pre done tracks. just triggering samples or playing vst's. Then stuff would get more interesting.

Either way this could be cool in the years to come

I agree that the phrase "live electronic music" is so broad that almost anything can be shoehorned in. I'd also like to see some better separation of pre-produced track manipulators vs. live clip improvisers vs. no pre-recorded audio mashers vs. whatever else people choose to do. The lines for many of these aren't necessarily obvious, though, which is why it's cool to discuss as we're doing here.

[beats me]

Haven’t seen the videos yet but nebulae did several laptop battles awhile back and his set got frowned upon because it was musical as opposed to circuit bent type tweaking wankery.

[starving student]

I totally agree, even though as a society we abuse the use of labels the use of distinction would be really good for everybody. One good way would be instead of labeling the artist themselves cause we're so freakin touchy about stuff like this is to just label the battles.

routines
no loops
freestyle
etc...
anything goes

then peeps could enter what fit their style and it wouldn't matter what they were using, laptops, mpcs, whatever as long as they played by the rules. The promoters really need to address these issues if they want shit to take off and if they want people to know wtf they're doing.

[starving student]

Haven’t seen the videos yet but nebulae did several laptop battles awhile back and his set got frowned upon because it was musical as opposed to circuit bent type tweaking wankery.

no offense to neb but it's really the electronic community in masse fault cause we let ourselves off the hook when it comes to this shit, whether it be performance or any other aspect. I don't know why we feel like we're so privileged that we're above scrutiny or classification, it doesn't diminish artist in any way to say hey you circuit bender battle other circuit benders and you pastoral water ambients battle aquaman, it's like nobody wants to see a guitarist battle a drummer. it's only electro heads that get off so easy