The mystical underpinnings of digital culture can be traced in laptop music by examining the metaphors of dwelling, vessel and loom. The laptop composer/performer appropriates the metaphorical avatars these forms suggest – shaman, alchemist and weaver – as inspiration and strategy. The shaman travels deep into the microscopic world of granular sound objects, and crosses and inhabits the borders between the laptop’s hard drive and its sound card. The alchemist uses various programming languages and data-bending freeware to distill, rarify, and revive sound. The weaver spins webs of sound from the laptop loom, weaving new myths for those willing to listen, a new paradigm of intimate and authentic performance.
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Glenn Bach (2003) studied this question.
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