LAPTOP BATTLE 5 REVIEW

Great night!!! The battle was sick!

The standard seems to get better and better everytime.
Massive respect to all the producers in Laptop Battle 5!!! Everyone was really really good. It must have been a bitch to judge.

Here are the results:

1st Round:

Defazed bt The Fez
The Sherif bt Autyren
Spaghetti Machete bt Gyu
General Disarray bt Parasite

Semi-Final:

Defazed bt The Sherif
General Disarray bt Spaghetti Machete

Final:

Defazed bt General Disarray

Champion: Defazed

Congratulations to Defazed! Again, a worthy champion.
I think many people were surprised to hear him playing his new dubstep styles for most of his battle sets.
While everyone seemed to be going full-throttle with their breakcore, jungle, mashup styles, Defazed slowed it down and nailed the dubstep/breakstep sound. His dubstep remix of Prodigy's 'Break and Enter' was especially good and his excellent control and manipulation of audio gave him the edge against defending champion The Fez in the first round.

The Sherif was good fun with his crazy MIDI guitar (which was a first for Laptop Battle). A real showman! I thought his stage presence and showmanship was somewhat undermined by his basic production values and cheesy compositions. A top bloke though and he definitely added value to the night. Autyren started strong but his music seemed to lose momentum towards the end of his sets. Quality beats, intricately programmed, but his rather meek stage presence and limited manipulation of audio perhaps gifted the win to The Sherif. This was Autyren's first ever live set so big respect to Tom (hopefully we will get to hear more of his tunes in 2008 - one to watch out for).

Battle 3 saw Spaghetti Machete from Plummet take on Gyu from Dissident. I thought Gyu's sets were some of the best all night with some wickedly produced breakbeat tracks and he was unlucky not to progress to the next round. I think that again, the crowd response for Spaghetti Machete and his visceral attitude and sound gave him the edge over Gyu (who seemed to be lacking his usual support in the crowd). Maybe the Dissident posse were over the road at the Renegade Hardware night?

General Disarray played a blinder! Massive sound, killer beats and clever manipulation of audio. He was up against it in the first round when he got drawn with the legendary Parasite (who I honestly thought would end up winning the event). This was one of the best battles on the night and neither of them deserved to go out. Maybe the more positive crowd response that General Disarray received gave him the edge in the judge's eyes? Who can tell? Parasite put in a much more solid display than in Laptop Battle 3 and his classic ragga/jungle/breakcore tracks were spot on for the night but I'm sure the veteran Parasite won't begrudge the rookie General Disarray the win.

Defazed wiped the floor with The Sherif in the semi-final. General Disarray played another blinder in the semi-final against Spaghetti Machete. This set-up the exciting prospect of a final between Defazed from 1 Man Army against General Disarray from Blunderphonics.

The final was one of the best battles I have heard in any of the Laptop Battle UK events so far. Both producers were technically sound and some stunning productions were unleashed. Defazed gained the advantage in the judge's eyes with his superior live manipulation of sound with some clever control over effects and filters combined with his tight keyboard drumming and triggering of sounds. Again, he went for his new dubstep/breaks style but this time at a faster tempo and with more intensity. General Disarray hit back with breakneck beats and a tidy display of knob-twiddling. General Disarray proved (in this being just his 2nd ever live set) that he is certainly one of the most promising up-and-coming producers in Bristol and was a worthy opponent to Defazed. The crowd were deafening as they cheered for both producers but Defazed received the crucial extra dB of support in the packed out battle arena of The Croft.

The judges made up their minds and as they one-by-one held up their voting cards General Disarray took the lead with the first decision, followed by a decision in favour of Defazed, leaving a split decision from the judges which intensified the suspense, before the final decision went Defazed's way to crown him the new Laptop Battle champion.


Again, massive respect and thanks to all the producers involved in the battle, they were all stars!
This type of event really puts the producers under the spot light and places greater emphasis on manipulating as much of their music as possible rather than adopting the 'press play' attitude that seems to be too prevalent at many so-called 'live' electronic music nights. It takes more than throwing a few shapes behind the laptop to impress the judges at Laptop Battle.

After the battle we had the 4 times UK DMC DJ champions The Disablists who performed an exemplary display of musicianship and technical turntablism combined with a heightened sense of musicality that is often missing in more typical 'scratch' DJ sets. It was great to have them involved in the night, highlighting the influence that the DMC DJ battles have had on the development of the Laptop Battle scene.

Slick sets from the DJs in the front bar and the typically entertaining banter from Gusto Fresh MC during the battle made this a really enjoyable night. Thanks to everyone involved!

Thanks to everyone who came along to the night. I hope you all had fun and enjoyed the music.

Laptop Battle 6 will be a return to the 'Team Battles' format.
If anyone wants to be involved in LB#6 get in touch! It really is an open forum for all who wish to be involved.