Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Why I Love Analogue, Pt. 1



One thing that has always been a fixture of music performance since the dawn of time has been the physical movements of performers that incite an emotional response in audience members, from the subtle embouchre of the mouth that a flutist produces, or the huge motions of someone playing tympani or other orchestral production. In the twentieth century, guitarists and drummers accentuated their movements in their playing, giving larger than life performances that gained them accolades and fans for their "Rockness." One of the things I have always loved about electronic music is the fact that so many performers do nothing interesting onstage, in fact, many of them twiddle knobs repeatedly to change sound events to be something musically interesting. Take this video from New Order, the "Perfect Kiss."

In the video above, you see the band members doing almost absolutely nothing, just performing their parts and adjusting the machines. Which is all anybody does in the studio anyway. All the promo clips you see of Fucking Rascall Flats in the studio rocking out and crooning are pure showmanship. Studios are boring, flat places. What's funny is that bands like Poison put so much showmanship in their performances that it just looks forced and ridiculous, as seen in this video below.

Then, of course, New Order took the piss and did this style video themselves, with tongue firmly in cheek. Why doesn't Poison get that the joke is on them? I guess they're more famous...but New Order are legends...
I'd rather be a legend than famous.

Note to Bill Paxton, sorry I missed you in Dallas last week! I would've have told you how much I like you in this video!

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