We'll see...sleepless in London
Geeeeez you guys want to try living in the hills of snowdonia in northwales. NOBODY at all lives here, never mind music geek friends. Just me my laptop and miles and miles of mountains and lakes. Great for creativity , SHIIITE for actually playing live anywhere. I usually just end up playing a live set to some sheep, a badger called Beans. (not even kidding)
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onyxashanti
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damn, dude...that's fucked up. i grew up in mississippi, so i know about the whole "go out the the feild to practice" thing.Emissary wrote:Geeeeez you guys want to try living in the hills of snowdonia in northwales. NOBODY at all lives here, never mind music geek friends. Just me my laptop and miles and miles of mountains and lakes. Great for creativity , SHIIITE for actually playing live anywhere. I usually just end up playing a live set to some sheep, a badger called Beans. (not even kidding)
I haven't been in the US since sept 19th, 2001. i left as soon as the the shit hit the fan, because i knew Bush was itchin to fuck shit up. i hear that the club/music scene is screwed from all angles right now; like some kinda nationwide "Footloose". i do miss some things about the scene there, but not enough to come back yet.
the internet is a great resource. i was seriously stressed about this yesterday, but just knowing that there are others out there on the same tip, is nice to know. well, i'm off to bug some pub owners to allow me to invite strange people to their venue. i will definitely be posting here if i find anything.
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onyxashanti
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i think that the reason that i am so frustrated is because the scenario "seems" so easy to remedy.
I play midi wind controller in and around the London scene. my first year here, i squatted in east london [lived in an abandoned house for free], and got a master class is "playing" acid techno by playing squat parties. later, i was sooo bored of not going out [ecept for the odd squat party], i just went to DJs in clubs and said i'd play along with them for beer [no joke AND i plan to do that today...]. from that, i became a fixture on the scene here.
what throws me, is that now, people get it, somewhat. they can handle seeing laptops on pubs without snide comments and such, so what throws me is the fact that now should be the time for little laptop crews to do little get togethers at the local pub for them and their friends, and and grow it from there, because it is so cheap and easy to do now. i used to carry things like a mackie 1202 mixer [much bigger than my beringher ub502]and other heavy shit when i used to play out, now i can [as i will be doing in about and hour] skate to gigs because it's all inside the laptop now. with 2 or more computers, you can, for instance, have a request playlist that people vote on wirelessly, and transmit the result to the DJ every 15 minutes or so...kinda like forum surveys. or, you require people that want to make a request to bring an ipod type device with the song they want to hear [traktor can see files on ipods] but, you can't just pop that up at a big show. the peeps wont get it. if you do little local thing for you and 5-10 of your friends for free, talk about and test all this geeky shit, you can sorta open source that shit into reality.
I play midi wind controller in and around the London scene. my first year here, i squatted in east london [lived in an abandoned house for free], and got a master class is "playing" acid techno by playing squat parties. later, i was sooo bored of not going out [ecept for the odd squat party], i just went to DJs in clubs and said i'd play along with them for beer [no joke AND i plan to do that today...]. from that, i became a fixture on the scene here.
what throws me, is that now, people get it, somewhat. they can handle seeing laptops on pubs without snide comments and such, so what throws me is the fact that now should be the time for little laptop crews to do little get togethers at the local pub for them and their friends, and and grow it from there, because it is so cheap and easy to do now. i used to carry things like a mackie 1202 mixer [much bigger than my beringher ub502]and other heavy shit when i used to play out, now i can [as i will be doing in about and hour] skate to gigs because it's all inside the laptop now. with 2 or more computers, you can, for instance, have a request playlist that people vote on wirelessly, and transmit the result to the DJ every 15 minutes or so...kinda like forum surveys. or, you require people that want to make a request to bring an ipod type device with the song they want to hear [traktor can see files on ipods] but, you can't just pop that up at a big show. the peeps wont get it. if you do little local thing for you and 5-10 of your friends for free, talk about and test all this geeky shit, you can sorta open source that shit into reality.
Hey Onyx ..
how do?
I'm still up for doing stuff, always. just waiting for a new laptop (should b next week), then I'll really start preparing some live sets - been held back by my current overheating laptop last few months.
Let me know if u find any laptop jams or anything like that, I've been looking out for stuff too but not found much... personally I'm getting on dubstep / breaks / broken beat at the moment, hoping to do some live sets in that vein in the near future.
Good luck in your quest!
how do?
I'm still up for doing stuff, always. just waiting for a new laptop (should b next week), then I'll really start preparing some live sets - been held back by my current overheating laptop last few months.
Let me know if u find any laptop jams or anything like that, I've been looking out for stuff too but not found much... personally I'm getting on dubstep / breaks / broken beat at the moment, hoping to do some live sets in that vein in the near future.
Good luck in your quest!
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onyxashanti
- Posts: 158
- Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2004 7:11 pm
- Location: san francisco, ca
- Contact:
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onyxashanti
- Posts: 158
- Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2004 7:11 pm
- Location: san francisco, ca
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I've been heavy on the broken beat thing myself, lately. in fact , i'm gonna try and play at Co-op a bit, later on tonight. there is a little place over in shoreditch that i'm gonna ask to let me have as a music geek hangout. they have plenty of outlets, and i think they would love it.elemental wrote: Let me know if u find any laptop jams or anything like that, I've been looking out for stuff too but not found much... personally I'm getting on dubstep / breaks / broken beat at the moment, hoping to do some live sets in that vein in the near future.
Dear Onyx,
How about a visit to a cool record shop, you’ll find some music geeks at ifmusic Soho, some broken beats and lots more.
I usually end up at ifmusic most Saturday afternoons, never really had a geeky conversation about VSTs or delay compensation in the shop, but theirs always a first time!
You’ll find lots of producers, DJ’s and artists from the London scene and from around the world frequent the shop.
If you call in just be prepared some attitude from the shops owner, if you’ve ever visitited the shop you’ll know the score!
http://www.ifmusic.co.uk/
You could try the London CDR session nights, according to the website “The CDR sessions features a section of the night where tracks submitted by fellow music producers are played”.
Afraid I don’t know a great deal about it myself, not into clubbing these days, but it could be interesting, try the website you’ll find the link at the bottom of the ifmusic web store page.
Ashley_K
How about a visit to a cool record shop, you’ll find some music geeks at ifmusic Soho, some broken beats and lots more.
I usually end up at ifmusic most Saturday afternoons, never really had a geeky conversation about VSTs or delay compensation in the shop, but theirs always a first time!
You’ll find lots of producers, DJ’s and artists from the London scene and from around the world frequent the shop.
If you call in just be prepared some attitude from the shops owner, if you’ve ever visitited the shop you’ll know the score!
http://www.ifmusic.co.uk/
You could try the London CDR session nights, according to the website “The CDR sessions features a section of the night where tracks submitted by fellow music producers are played”.
Afraid I don’t know a great deal about it myself, not into clubbing these days, but it could be interesting, try the website you’ll find the link at the bottom of the ifmusic web store page.
Ashley_K
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spiderprod
- Posts: 1120
- Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:11 pm
yeah london is a bit crap for that but apparently there is lots going on around the universities like laptopjam where you come with your laptop sync with the main clock & plug on the main mixer,there is a regular laptop night in a pub on wandswoth road .
there is way too much drugged wanabe seb fontaine for geeks to get together & there are always those extasied gays to spoil the fun .
i work in clubs & bars , so i can manage to get something going but the last time i tryed to do something very technical in a bar ,peoples turned up with their laptops early sat at tables then there was no space for other peoples to come and have a look , basicly that night the pub lost money .
i think the best thing to do is to do something sponsorised by the government in a private venue .i know the princes trust sponsorise things like this .
there is way too much drugged wanabe seb fontaine for geeks to get together & there are always those extasied gays to spoil the fun .
i work in clubs & bars , so i can manage to get something going but the last time i tryed to do something very technical in a bar ,peoples turned up with their laptops early sat at tables then there was no space for other peoples to come and have a look , basicly that night the pub lost money .
i think the best thing to do is to do something sponsorised by the government in a private venue .i know the princes trust sponsorise things like this .
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Hypomixolydian
- Posts: 812
- Joined: Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:54 pm
You lucky bastard!!! All that wonderful scenery and clean country air!!!!Emissary wrote:Geeeeez you guys want to try living in the hills of snowdonia in northwales. NOBODY at all lives here, never mind music geek friends. Just me my laptop and miles and miles of mountains and lakes. Great for creativity , SHIIITE for actually playing live anywhere. I usually just end up playing a live set to some sheep, a badger called Beans. (not even kidding)
i was just thinking the same thing...
Funny I saw your post because I was just thinking the same thing.
I'm a musician/sound artist (best description i guess) and I've just moved to London 3 months ago with my wife. We were living in NYC for about five years and even in NYC I was having trouble finding a lot of musicians with similar interests and I swore I didn't want to do that all over again when I moved to London. I grew up listening to everything including old acid house and lots of club music but have since been focusing my own work on more "experimental" areas and doing field recordings beatless music but I think a lot of the processes overlap and I listen to a wide range of music. Your idea of this meet up thing is a great idea and I there has to be more of us in London. I'm not a total gear geek but close enough. I'm in the process of having my gear shipped over from the states but right now I'm not working from a laptop. no big deal i guess.
We could always start up a meeting a pub somewhere and see who starts showing up. Anyway you can find out more about me at thelandof.org or drop me a line at myfun@thelandof.org.
-j
I'm a musician/sound artist (best description i guess) and I've just moved to London 3 months ago with my wife. We were living in NYC for about five years and even in NYC I was having trouble finding a lot of musicians with similar interests and I swore I didn't want to do that all over again when I moved to London. I grew up listening to everything including old acid house and lots of club music but have since been focusing my own work on more "experimental" areas and doing field recordings beatless music but I think a lot of the processes overlap and I listen to a wide range of music. Your idea of this meet up thing is a great idea and I there has to be more of us in London. I'm not a total gear geek but close enough. I'm in the process of having my gear shipped over from the states but right now I'm not working from a laptop. no big deal i guess.
We could always start up a meeting a pub somewhere and see who starts showing up. Anyway you can find out more about me at thelandof.org or drop me a line at myfun@thelandof.org.
-j
justin
http://thelandof.org
http://thelandof.org
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m-laboratories.net
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huh?
Smutek, you have to get out more in baltimore my friend. I'm not there anymore, but the place to go for electronics-friendly live improv is (or was)
http://www.redroom.org/ 425 E. 31st Street, Baltimore.
i see you know about once:twice but they have a store now: 500 block of N. Charles St.
nothing like the days when PJ had a second modern music store though. Anyway, you should try to look up this guy named "kilowatts" from artificial music machine records. he's based in baltimore and is very good from what I've heard.
http://www.redroom.org/ 425 E. 31st Street, Baltimore.
i see you know about once:twice but they have a store now: 500 block of N. Charles St.
nothing like the days when PJ had a second modern music store though. Anyway, you should try to look up this guy named "kilowatts" from artificial music machine records. he's based in baltimore and is very good from what I've heard.
smutek wrote: The electronic music scene here is all about breaks and jungle and spinning records, no live pa stuff and certainly no experimental or improv type stuff. It's all pretty clean, cookie cut and safe.