laptopbattle uk/about

The phenomenon of Laptop Battling emanated in the US and was established with FourthCity's (producer/record label) first battle in Seattle back in 2003. From Seattle the LTB scene spread to Portland and by 2004 interstate battling had begun with the Seattle Vs Portland LT music battle. With the organisation of these battles came the birth of Laptopbattle.org and with these successful foundations, battles were orchestrated throughout the US (Already in LA, San Francisco , Vancouver , Philadelphia , Salt Lake City , Pittsburgh and Austin with plans to spread panAm). In 2005 Zeroplate started their campaign to create Laptop Battle Atlanta recognising local talent to with the aim to later compete nationally. The US Laptop Battle scene transpired to be a stomping success and revealed a plethora of talented artists from an array of different musical genres (from breakcore to brum&bass)

It has not only been America capitalising on the potential talent buried in the bedrooms of their local cities and delivering fresh digital compositions to the hungry ears of music lovers. Munich (Germany) have hosted a number of auspicious Laptop Battle events with support from Fourthcity.

In January 2006, Laptopbattleuk.com went online*. The fundamental aim of LTB Bristol is to advocate, assist and promote, experimental electronic music. LTBuk.com was born in Bristol and is primarily targeting local musicians with the short term goal of setting up a Laptop Battle here in Bristol. The website provides a forum for producers of electronic music to collaborate their ideas, network with other producers, DJ's, VJ'sand artists while allowing all to get involved with the creation of battle nights across the UK . “We want to build a community for the electronic musicians of the Southwest to get their music from the computer to the dance floor exposing the underlying talent of our healthy local music scene” explains Owen (Silverback) Smith (co-founder). “From these foundations we want to connect with other crews across the UK to build a movement for nation-wide competitions as seen in the US ”.

* Laptopbattleuk.com founded by Owen Smith, Jason Paine & Simon Prentice


Contestants must supply their own equipment and are restricted to the following:
• One laptop • One pointing device • One external MIDI Controller.. • One external audio soundcard.	NB: Any other external devices such as FX boxes, sound-banks etc are prohibited to emphasise the compositional capabilities of a standalone laptop. All hardware should fit in a space 75cm 2. Type and quantity of software is unlimited.

• A simple elimination style comp with head to head bouts........... ................................................ • Battlers will be paired up at random.
• Judges will ultimately decide the winner of each round
• Contestants may choose to be faded out after 2-3min or will receive a call issued bythe MC 30 sec's before time is up.

• 1st Round - 2 x 2 minute bouts
• 2nd Round - 2 x 3 minute bouts
• Final - 2 x 5 minute bouts

Composition / Technical Ability / Live Performance / Crowd response

The idea behind the event is to push the envelope of live manipulation of self-composed electronic music. Therefore the "judges will be looking for originality, composition, improvisation, live manipulation and performance".Technical craftsmanship needs to be partnered with the ability to generate a positive crowd response.


Elektro / hiphop / speedcore / dubstep / breakbeat / techno / drum'n'bass, / brokenbeats or lullaby music.	The Battles open up its gates to any kind of music the producers want to play. So long as it's a freestyle session there is no limit on what genres may be played....all are invited!

Welcome to Laptop Battle uk. Inspired by our US fellow music lovers at laptopbattle.org we have created a site to promote the talant of live electronic musicians and artists in the UK.

We want to provide an arena for the underground music/art scene to exhibit its abilities to a wider audience and unleash the potential within.

Lets gather all heads together & build a movement expanding the possibilities of electronic music in Bristol, the UK and beyond.

Calling all producers/VJs to join forces. The battles have commenced. (Check out the battles link for a review of round I)

Read more on the birth and rise of the laptop battle movement.

Click here to enter

LAPTOP BATTLE UK at currently organising a series of Laptop Battle events through out the UK.

Check out the 'BATTLES' section SOON for review and profiles on the competing Producers. ...............................................

All Artists, Promotors, Music Industry Reps, Sponsors that would like to be involved in the oncomming tour please contact us.