Matmos is fantastic, and I would love to see one of their shows. I don't fully agree that what they are doing is playing music live in the same sense that a rock band plays their music live - i.e. they essentially replicate the process of what happens in a studio take. In the rock band, they pluck strings and bang drums so that there is a physical motion associated with each note.
The sequencer really does fundamentally change the game. People are not playing individual notes, although they may be manipulating the music improvisationally in a very interesting and skilled way, there is still an element of automated playback. Some non-human device is "playing" the sequence of notes for you. If you are used to the expectations of a rock concert, then you might feel cheated.
I also don't think that you need to be able to perform live to be a great composer/producer. What Matmos has to say for their own live show is interesting:
Martin- When we first started doing this, when we first started making music, and then someone liked our songs…well if you make music in your bedroom, and you talk to someone at a bar and you say “Oh yea I make music.” Among their first questions is always going to be “Well when and where are you going to play?” Because this business of playing music live is part of making music, in people’s minds. If you’re going to sell CDs you have to play music live, or generally that’s considered a good thing to do. We were faced with the question of what would we do live, because so much of what we do is about hunching in front of a computer, and editing stuff. Or at the most exciting playing a keyboard…not the most fascinating thing to watch live.
Drew- Because we don’t really have musical chops, we don’t have performance chops in the way that real musicians do. We’re self-taught.
Martin- We can’t juggle. Watching someone play guitar really well is like watching a great trick. It’s like “Wow. That person can do all those things,” and you see it live. Neither of us are musicians at all. Fortunately we had this built in shtick of we make the music out of the objects. So, it seemed fairly obvious to us that what we should do is make the sound of the object live.
Drew- Play the processes that generated the composition. So that it is like a cooking show where you’ve got the cooked thing as a sort of structural spine to play against, but you’re also re-enacted the whole process that made the piece in the first place.
Martin- And so it becomes performance art, which is to say there is someone doing something on stage besides playing a musical instrument.
I think that this is great.
As far as just getting on stage and pressing go, further along the interview is interesting:
Martin- It’s a good shtick. It beats the fuck out of someone checking their email live, on stage. Which is what so much electronic music…I was always shocked that people actually, even some of my friends, musicians I really enjoy, actually had the fucking balls to go out there and stand on stage with a lab top and do nothing.
Drew- But some people you sense from the way they seem to be listening and changing what they’re doing, a lab top performance can be responsive live…
Martin- There’s some conceptual art right there. “I believe your doing something…”
Drew- But I’ve seen good and I’ve seen bad. I mean I’ve seen lab top shows were I was quit satisfied, and lab top shows were I was quit frustrated. It all comes down to how was the sound system, how responsive and flowing did the performance seem to be? But yea, you are taking it a little bit on faith that their process is real, and they aren’t just pressing play. With us that is less of an issue, because we are showing people gesturally what we do. But we are going to have to face it again when we start to play the all-electronic material. But for us…
Martin- It’s also why I show videos.
Drew- Yea, to shut people up.
http://auralstates.com/2008/02/matmos-i ... artin.html
I think that the real problem with Skrillex has nothing to do with his ability as a composer/producer, and arguably little to do with his ability to add improvisational elements to his work and respond to a crowd.
The real issue is one of showmanship and expectation. The nature of the music is not being communicated to the audience, and people still expect the musician to "play" instruments in terms of pressing keys or plucking strings to make each note. They need to let go of this notion as in many cases no one ever hit keys to make the notes in real time. If what is coming out of the speakers is unique, and everyone is having a good time, then is there really a problem?
At the same time, if the producer wants to advertise a "live show", then they need to be a bit careful about what exactly constitutes the show. Standing in front of a laptop is boring. If the music is very much dance music, then the need for there to be anything going on visually interesting on stage is somewhat mitigated - the people may be more interested in dancing than watching. If the people are staring at the stage, then they expect something interesting to happen on stage. If the performer stands in front of a laptop smoking a cigarette, then some people may feel cheated.
