Poor old Justice are having a hard week. Last Thursday the duo admitted in an interview that their album [†] contained at least 400 uncleared samples, and now comes this photo which shows the pair faking it during a live set.
The MIDI controller on the left ain’t plugged in, but the tall fuzzy-haired one is pretending that it is - he’s got an intense concentrated look on his face whilst moving the faders and knobs. Busted!
A close up reveals the MIDI controller to be unplugged The thing is - this may not be the best place to discuss this topic - live electronic music is a hard thing to do.
Anyone with a shred of understanding of how the music is made knows that it’s near impossible to play electronic music 100% live, unless you have the talent of somebody like The Bays, who can play improvised dance music using only instruments.
Daft Punk might just be the best live dance act of the last few years, but their set is pre-programmed down to every last beat.
When you’ve got a superbly powerful light show and a giant pyramid light thingy in sync with the music, there’s no way the show could be pulled off without pre-programming it.
So what are dance bands like Justice supposed to do? At least make an effort, and control some of the filters and FX to give the impression of a live performance.
Or remember to plug the damn MIDI controllers in and smile.
Nice find. These cheeky bastards have their live setup so that you never see the machines nor their hands, it's quite possible that never actually performed live...
I remember an equally appalling concert by the Chemical Brothers where they barely pretended to touch any button. One was just raising his fist every now and then, standing a good distance from the machines. I wish I could have shoved the overpriced ticket down their throat.
I agree that performing live electronic music is tricky, but these guys are rich enough to rehearse full-time, they could at least put in a little effort.
Justice never claim to be performing "live" per se. They are producers who DJ many tracks from many different artists as well as their own. They're keeping in step with dance music's long tradition of promoting a brand or a scene. Rock bands get tons of respect for doing essentially the same thing -- ripping people off; sometimes blatantly.
The Akai Mpd24 can be plugged in through usb, and in the picture it's unclear whether there's something coming out of the usb slot. Here's the product page: http://www.maketunes.com/articles/akai-mpd24-midi-pad-controller-review I'm not defending them either way.
Whether or not whatever you hear live is pre-recorded, someone did it in their spare time and made sure it was good enough to utilize in a live setting. Dance music doesn't just appear out of thin air. And sampling is an artform just as important as guitar or whatever else is considered legitimate. Kudos to them for sampling the shit out of everything and making it their own.
So many bands are using backing tracks etc. to make their sound fuller, but for some reason when some dude is playing guitar, it's percieved as "difficult." It's not. At all.
Justice never claim to be performing "live" per se. They are producers who DJ many tracks from many different artists as well as their own. They're keeping in step with dance music's long tradition of promoting a brand or a scene. Rock bands get tons of respect for doing essentially the same thing -- ripping people off; sometimes blatantly.
The Akai Mpd24 can be plugged in through usb, and in the picture it's unclear whether there's something coming out of the usb slot. Here's the product page: http://www.maketunes.com/articles/akai-mpd24-midi-pad-controller-review I'm not defending them either way.
Whether or not whatever you hear live is pre-recorded, someone did it in their spare time and made sure it was good enough to utilize in a live setting. Dance music doesn't just appear out of thin air. And sampling is an artform just as important as guitar or whatever else is considered legitimate. Kudos to them for sampling the shit out of everything and making it their own.
So many bands are using backing tracks etc. to make their sound fuller, but for some reason when some dude is playing guitar, it's percieved as "difficult." It's not. At all.
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Nice find. These cheeky bastards have their live setup so that you never see the machines nor their hands, it's quite possible that never actually performed live...
I remember an equally appalling concert by the Chemical Brothers where they barely pretended to touch any button. One was just raising his fist every now and then, standing a good distance from the machines. I wish I could have shoved the overpriced ticket down their throat.
I agree that performing live electronic music is tricky, but these guys are rich enough to rehearse full-time, they could at least put in a little effort.