>what i'm saying is that there is something else that is compelling about their performance.
And that's what I was trying to say. What I certainly wasn't trying to do was dis Surgeon who gave an ace 'performance' despite his lack of tricks with a ball. What I am honestly trying to do is analyse my own occasional problems with laptop performances which are probably due to a fault in my head. There is no doubt that the sounds coming out of the speakers in the Tresor vault on Thursday were great from both Surgeon and DJ Pete, at one point I had to run out of the crowd and try and ask Pete if he thought Surgeon was 'ableton-ing' something homemade or a release I could get my hands on because it was so good. Nevertheless when I did so there was something about the set up he had going on there that deflated me slightly and that's a shame. I know we've had this discussion before but even so I wouldn't want you to bite your tongue but get it out there Martin - I'm glad you did. I think I need to keep hearing opinions on this as I have so many contradictions going on: The best 2 things I heard (and saw!) last year were Scion doing Basic Channel stuff with Ableton on laptops and Kraftwerk standing expressionless (so much for that being the factor at work then) making (or simply replaying?) amazing music with laptops! When I get a PC at home (shortly I hope) I will be running not walking to the store for my copy of Ableton - I can't wait to have a go. I'm sure it's something I'll be pursuing over the coming years. So why the (EVER SO SLIGHT before I get blitzed) let down on Thursday? As I hope I've already made clear I'm no Surgeon hater - and if I haven't I've plenty of his vinyls (not mp3s) at home and have always been into his DJing when I've heard it before (not for a while I admit). Plus I think playing techno off computers is so appropriate it doesn't need explaining - it's machine music right? It's just they should be red computers with laser beams operated by spacesuited aliens.
