Tom Cosm on Live Electronic Music
Article | January 11, 2007 | Updated: August 10, 2008 | Posted by Basilisk
Have you ever wondered what those big name acts are actually doing up on stage at a party? Usually the answer is “not much.” Very few psytrance acts are genuinely live in any sense of the word; most simply play their material straight from a laptop without making any kind of effort to bring a live element into their show. Is it really fair to advertise a headliner as “live” if they do little more than hit play on their computer? This has become the subject of an ongoing scene-wide debate frequently carried out on message forums and email lists.
Enter Tom Cosm, an independent producer and live performer from New Zealand on a mission to show people how it’s done. With sly promotional acumen, he has posted a rant on his web site (as well as Isratrance) throwing down his two cents on the matter. As interesting as that is, his comments are merely a pretext to posting up an instructive video in which Tom demonstrates his own personal method of playing live. More on that:
The video is about half an hour long and covers quite a range of methods used for performing live using a laptop, midi controllers and a synthesizer. The intro goes on a little about me and my music, then it gets into the depths of how I perform live, and finishes with a short montage of clips I have gathered from various gigs I have done in the past.
The video is not deeply technical; any electronic music fan should be able to follow what Tom is talking about. This is an entry-level exposition of live performance techniques that is at once informative and accessible. Tom Cosm has performed a noble deed in having this video made, for an informed audience is exactly what is needed to address the issue of falsely advertised “live” sets in the psychedelic underground. Watch it here:
This video is also available on Youtube in five parts: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
One more word from the artist:
As always, I encourage you to pass this information on if you are into it or think you know of anyone who might be interested in watching. I always have and continue to give all my music away for free, so the whole word of mouth is how I promote myself and get gigs.
If this is new to you and your interested in checking out my music, there are some completely free live sets on my website as well as photos/news/upcoming gigs etc.
Nicely done!
January 26th, 2007
Very interesting link, I’m considering putting the article on psygarden as well, let me know if you mind!
Ofcourse i’ll credit and backlink here!
February 21st, 2007
This is a great video; very well done, informative, and also inspiring! Thanks for posting it!
May 6th, 2007
Very nice, thanks!