I find alot of hard techno fans are overly concerned with the
mechanics of a performance. Sure they're important, but those are
quanitative things like the number of unprecise mixes or what the
bitrate of the files were. When people focus on the aspects of a
performance that are immediately measurable they often miss out on
it's qualitative aspects. Things that separate an artist from an
engineer. The engineer is concerned only with The small concrete part
of the world he can put into a box and measure, ignoring the rest. The
artist attempts to transcend the mechanical in the hopes of
channelling a bit of that beautifully unmeasurable vastness that
surrounds the immediate and concrete. To me that's what it means to be
'soulful' and play with emotion.
I definetely did enjoy hawtin's set and the l'il louis I Called U
acapella over spastik was a nice finish. Still I found myself bored
and uninspired especially when compared to Mills. It just wasn't very
funky and had little variation or risk. In my experience, Hawtin's
pounder sets (though this one was less pounder-more minimal than when
he came to SF two years ago) tend to inspire the sorts of people who
would rather head bang than jack your body. I know Hawtin is a diverse
performer but his formula the last three times I've seen him just
doesn't do it for me.
Quoting Greg Earle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
"kent williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Well even if you like Rich's sets these days, by their very nature,
there's not much to say about them -- minimal innit? And if you don't
like Rich's sets these days, the less said the better.
On 12/1/06, Greg Earle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
- Greg (Who - along with several list lurkers - is amused that
nothing was said about Rich's set)
I'll just quote Someone Else From Here's review, posted elsewhere:
"Rich was perfect. Even when he screwed up once. Played a lot of
whoknowswhat that sounds like sh!t when other ppl play it, then at the
end played "Pullover," "Spastik," bits of "I Called U" and "Transition,"
some crazy new Carl Craig track. Killed it.
Mills' first record was so dirty it wouldn't track. Then he
trainwrecked some. Then he played The Bells. Transitions awful,
EQ'ing painful, records you've heard 8,000 times.
And I hate to say it but after 2.5 hrs of digital perfection from
Richie, Jeff's records sounded terrible. He may have been pushing the
mixer cuz I heard some clipping but overall the sound quality
difference between he and Hawtin was remarkable. I couldn't be on the
main floor when he was playing.
But he was still pretty good. ;]"
Like I said - funny how different people can have different reactions
to hearing exactly the same music ;)
- Greg
