He isn't just running a laptop, there's a live mixing console and it's essentially a DJ set. If you've ever seen a real DJ perform live you'd know what I'm talking about, there's a shitload more to it than just hitting play on a laptop. Whether that's your thing or not, the way it's been described is inaccurate.

*shrugs* That doesn't sound interesting either.

Speaking as someone who also performs with laptops, I can see where people on both sides are coming from. A great deal of the draw for "traditional" live shows is the physicality of the performers - seeing them race on the frets/keys/etc., the face of the singer as they emote, people moving around the stage, etc. You get a lot less of that with live laptop/electronic performances. Sure, the laptop performer might be performing a lot of complex live actions in terms of shaping the sound - adjust FM ratios, sequencing notes, changing the delay feedback, adding harmonics, shaping envelopes, etc. etc., but those actions are performed with considerably less raw movement than, say, a guitarist, and it ultimately is in front of a laptop at the end of the day. At that point, the draw for me in going to a live laptop/electronic performance is listening to how the sound is manipulated in ways a lot more complex than someone with two hands playing live could perform, and all the capabilities for improvisation that freedom allows. But if you're not into that style of music performance, it probably does just seem like someone on a laptop, and I don't really fault anyone for that.

Edit: Hah, Morrigan beat me to it a lot more succinctly. Basically just an apples to oranges/preferences thing.

I've heard carpenter brut is supposed to be the most fun synthwave act live

GosT at least also has stage aesthetics. Having listened to him and Perturbator in the studio, I do think the latter is better.

I see a lot of DJ's but I mostly see them at venues/clubs where you can get pretty damn close to the console, so you can actually see what they are doing. Not sure how the venue Perturbator played at but I could see how one might be bored if it was one of those places where he was elevated high above the crowd.

That being said, I think even most fans of ambient or synthwave would find that sort of music boring in a live setting. Like, Sleep Research Facility and Lustmord have made some of my favorite music but I have a hard time picturing myself enjoying a live show by them.

Count_Venereal aka Heavy_T_Skubbs and I went to a weird festival years ago just to catch Saint Vitus. One of the opening acts was some dude playing like...levers. Just a bunch of fucking levers. It looked like something that Dr. Seuss would have envisioned if he was way into Rammstein. Shit music, shit performance.

(Still better than Mgla)

eh. i regularly play harsh noise or Fuck Buttons style weirdo electronics live off a laptop. if you push out energy, you'll receive energy. just don't stand still, interact, dance. do whatever.

unless you're Vomir.

sounds like author & punisher.

Also generally speaking im not going to see a dj live for seeing him press buttons its generally about dancing or something like that.

Metal:

Just read one of the weirdest news articles in a long time: In a town in Switzerland, a man saw a unicorn inside a closed restaurant last night. He called the police (*you should see me laughing as I'm writing this; the thought of trying to explain to the police on the phone why you want to let them know that*), who showed up at said location at 3 p.m. to find a sleeping unicorn there. Turns out it was a inebriated man in a costume who wanted to go for another drink and managed to enter the facility as it hadn't been properly locked that night. On entering the empty and dark restaurant, he just lied down on the ground and fell asleep.

Hope that gives some of you a short little break from the otherwise tragic and sickeningly bad news from around the world...

I saw Intolitarian last year (or maybe a different act of Kramer's) and it was him flipping switches on the floor and screaming. Strange stuff.

Not a big fan of laptops on stage, and I've been doing harsh noise live for nearly 20 years. But I guess if you don't see a lot of electronic gigs any of it would seem less engaging than a metal lineup....and doing both electronics and metal, yeah metal is much more immediate in that sense.

"If you are a false don't entry" generally gets the nod as the best Engrish Sarcofago lyric, but I think the best one is "Beware I'm alive and licensed to sex drinks and metal!"

Oh, I'm not saying you could've had fun and the show you attended wasn't great, but just giving my two cents based on two shows.





If the shows would've been actual DJ sets with live interactions with the music, it would've been much more interesting, but they were pretty much the songs from the albums with added segues that seemed pre-mixed and he did only have a laptop, no consoles that he interacted with. I'm not an expert, of course, and it's been a while between these Perturbator shows and the previous live electronic music stuff I've heard so technology has probably moved forward quite a bit and at my line of work I've seen consoles that can be controlled via a computer UI so that could've been the case.

From the AP, and presumably local Casper Wyoming news:

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Police say a central Wyoming man they arrested for public intoxication claimed he had traveled back in time to warn of an alien invasion.

Casper police say the man they encountered at 10:30 p.m. Monday claimed he was from the year 2048.

KTWO-AM in Casper reports that the man told police that he wanted to warn the people of Casper that aliens will arrive next year, and that they should leave as soon as possible. He asked to speak to the president of the town, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Cheyenne.

The man told police he was only able to time travel because aliens filled his body with alcohol. He noted that he was supposed to be transported to the year 2018, not this year.

This made me think of the bad English on Bethlehem's Dark Metal album. It's not as ridiculous as some of the South American or Japanese lyrics, but "The christs are in never ending endless pain" from "3rd Nocturnal Prayer" is pretty goofy in particular.

I've seen him play and he had the whole set up going. It's very possible/very likely he might have had trouble getting gear to your venue, I've seen him make facebook posts in the past on several occasions about that. One time his stuff was straight up stolen. Oh well, that's too bad your experience wasn't that great but I know that James is the real deal; he even had live keys at in addition to his improvisational mixing when I went.

Couldn't have been Intolitarian. They have 2 bassists and a drummer. I don't recall him flipping switches at all at Hells Headbash either. Probably some other project of his

I'm gonna see Pertubator tonight. I enjoyed his show earlier this year, plus my friend sold me a discounted ticket and my other friend is giving my girlfriend a ticket for free.

I just got upgraded to metalhead status! MA kicks so much fucking ass!

It feels really good to finish a review that I'm reasonably happy with again. I probably started about half a dozen of them over the past week, but I couldn't seem to finish any of them.

Story time, gather around.

So back in June I came across a pretty damn rare Austrian record I had been looking for quite a while on the local equivalent of Craigslist, with an extremely low price tag too (I guess the guy either didn't care or didn't know what he had). There was much rejoicing and I immediately ordered it. Almost a week passes and there is still no package (intranational deliveries don't normally take longer than 2 or maybe 3 days here), so I ask the seller what's up and if there's a tracking number for me to check (he should've provided me with it from the start, but whatever). He obliges and tells me that according to the tracking service the package has already been picked up. Since I'm not aware of any recent gaps in my memory, ethanol-related or otherwise, that piece of information leaves me a bit bemused, to say the least. So off to the post office I race and yes indeed it was picked up a few days earlier, this is your signature, Mr. Azmodes, is it not? Well no, naturally.

What happened was that the mailman had dropped the notification letter in the wrong mailbox and this erroneous recipient then decided to just pick up my package for themselves.* I'll skip over the infuriating back-and-forth with the postal service, which basically involved misinformation and misunderstandings about who had to report what to the cops and the slow turning of bureaucratic gears. Eventually law enforcement was made aware (by me, albeit with some delightful delay) and I was told that I'd be phoned if there were any developments, but that it would take some time since they essentially had to get a court order to get the postal service to hand over the surveillance cam footage and other assorted info. Luckily for me at least, the thief had also picked up another package, presumably/hopefully actually addressed to them, which offered something tangible to pursue. So far so good, but even so, I didn't have any high hopes and was sort of planning to go to the police again next week to ask about the status of things, but prepared myself for being told that it's a dead end, that the record had been sold/destroyed/lost/etc. or whatever. I had also looked around aforementioned Craigslist equivalent and eBay in case the thief tried to sell the LP (and also inquired at local record stores). But yeah, nothing came up and pessimism established itself as the default state of mind. Since it was their fuck-up, the postal service did refund me the price + postage, but that was scant consolation as opposed to the record itself.

Buuuuuut sometimes life does provide happy ends after all. A few days ago I got a phone call from the police station. They had my record. Wow. Awesome. Naturally, I was also pretty curious about the perp and what exactly had gone down here. What I was told was quite interesting.

You see, right next to my apartment building there's another with the same address except for an "a" added to the street number and there just so happens to be a dude living there sharing my surname. Now, that wasn't news to me; unsurprisingly I sometimes get his mail and -super nice human being that I am- drop it in his mailbox whenever that happens. In fact, this person immediately occured to me when I was told that the notification letter had been delivered to someone else. And I did go over there and ask him about any mysterious parcels he might have received. Was told nope, which I had no real reason to doubt at the time. But here's the zinger: According to the police, it was in fact him they secured the record from. He did admit to them that yes, I had asked him about it, but that at that point he hadn't yet received anything (which is either a fucking lie or he's an idiot, since I only dropped by his place after being told by the post office that the package had been picked up and signed for. I saw what must have been his signature with my own eyes). And even if it had somehow slipped his mind back then, it apparently never occured to this, hm, asshole and/or dumbass -over the course of four months, no less- to return the package to the post office (or me) like any person with half a brain and some vestigial sense of decency would have (since my first name and address and all that was on it; we do not share the former at least and I'm pretty sure he knows about me as well, if only because of the fact that I fucking asked him about it). Douche doesn't even have a record player, according to the police officer I spoke to.

I intend to confront him, if only to see what excuses he tries to offer or if there is actually some valid explanation behind all this crap (I stopped by his place on the way home from the police, but apparently no one was there, I'll persist though). In the end, however, the important thing and source of my endless joy right now is to finally have my mittens on this insanely obscure piece of music. Yay.

*Normally you can't just pick up something with the notification alone, you need some kind of ID. But in this case it was deposited in one of those completely automatic pick-up thingies, where you just have to scan the letter and give your signature and that's it.

Do i need to fly back to Austria and lay some American Justice on your neighbor? Cause i will. And then I'll stop off in Finland cause there's a kitty who needs me.

Thanks for the offer, o god annihilator, but I got this. I really do want to ask him to his face and see what happens. But if I don't like the answer, I'll be sure to call you up to do the necessaries.

EDIT: err, of course you're welcome to drop by again for any other, non-beating-up-strangers-related reasons.

Horna is medically OK, but the fracture healed in a funny position, and he has a kidney bean sized lump on his tiny-weeny pawsie. He now thinks the malformed footsie means he's hideous, and tries to hide from the eyes of the world. He definitely needs consolation. When will your flight land?

Hey look another hurricane coming my way. Let's hope my *trailer* that's 500 feet from the *ocean* doesn't get fucked up by Nate!

i wouldnt get any americans involved with it, i mean when was the last time they won a fight?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41537193

Somebody got the perfect start to Pandemic II, and will beat the game this time.

Phuu, I read that with baited breath and am feeling lucky that this hasn't happened to me yet despite being a collector since '94. But, Azmodes, have you also checked the condition of sleeves and disc? I might have done that right at the police station in front of an officer to fail a complaint in case of fingerprints or smudge... Anyway, I'm happy for you to now be in possession of that coveted album!

Yes, I did check it right at the station, while the police officer was watching. It's fine. I don't think the guy really handled it much, apart from taking it out of the package it was delivered in. The vinyl itself is near mint, the outer sleeve is coming apart on the sides where it's glued together, but that's not really uncommon with older records and is probably from before it was shipped. It can be easily fixed anyway. The record itself plays like a charm.

About the thief, I went over to his place earlier today and asked him what exactly had been going on here. And JFC, I really had to control myself to keep my temper. I got served a lot of bullshit, the most egregious thing being that he maintains that he only got the package AFTER I had asked him about any strange parcels he might have received. This is simply and 100% untrue, because I have hard proof that he picked it up on June 16 and I only found out about it missing on June 22 (and I think I asked him on the day after that). But that's cool, so he wants to stick with this lie, gross unintentional mix-up of dates, whatever you wanna call it, let's roll with it. So I asked him why, over the course of four months, he wouldn't just return something that obviously wasn't meant for him to the post office. He said he had other stuff going on and "forgot". Why would he even open something with the wrong name in the address on it? He "didn't notice". Why didn't he ask around in the apartment complex, since he knew about me? There were "too many apartments" and he gave up after knocking on a few doors, allegedly. There's maybe 15 units in the building where I live and some of the neighbours know me, not to mention, well, NAME TAGS. The building plan is a bit convoluted, I admit, but it's not a fucking labyrinth and after all I was able to find him just fine. He also claimed that he didn't even know how to get to the particular floor my place is on (the door to it is right there in the inner courtyard next to his building and it's only locked during the night). Just seemed like he was fumbling for a lot of half-assed excuses. And damn, he was like, basically, I got the thing after all and saint that he is he didn't sell it on eBay or anything, so what do I want from him now? Well, I said, maybe I want to know why I should bother with forwarding his mail that I sometimes find in my box if my stuff just ends up rotting in his apartment. He didn't really have a coherent answer to that.

The police told me that this is pretty much the end of that, since he did get the package notification in his mailbox and there's no evidence for any purposeful malice, some intent to profit, only idiocy. So me pretty much going all wtf dude on him as civilly as possible is as good as it's gonna get. And that's fine. The issue is settled for me anyway, I have the record and I stuck a note to my (and his) mailbox about who lives where exactly. I might be less than inclined to bring him his wrongly delivered mail from now on, though.

1865

When's the last time anyone has won a fight?

Verbal or physical? I win verbal altercations quite frequently, as for physical.... it's been roughly 15 years since i had to throw a punch.

Azmodes and Nappy:i wish i could come back right now!!! I doubt I'll make it next year.... my vacation time is pretty much booked and i kinda need to actually start saving money... hopefully 2019.

Napero: give Horna my love. And hug him for me, the big furr ball

You guys ever heard that some folks put cheese in their chili?! I just experienced it when trying out the new tavern in my area, and as a traditionalist, I was surprised. Still had to order it though, since they call it "Rough Rider Chili", which brings back fond memories of eating cheeseless chili with my dad and uncle watching a tape of the 1976 Grey Cup. And it's actually quite good!

Cheese in chili is normal tho...

Man, once you put cheese in it, you've got a casserole. That's how I was brought up.

Man. I spent a long time avoiding funeral doom for whatever reason. Over the last couple days I've given a spin to The Pernicious Enigma, Stream from the Heavens, Stormcrowfleet, The Monad of Creation and Atra Mors... Really good shit in all of this.

That'd do it, going through the best albums by albums by the best bands (except maybe Atra Mors, kind of an odd choice out of the Evoken discography).

Asunder's A Clarion Call is easily my favorite album in that style.