"Live-coding" parties are the latest phenomenon in underground electronic music culture.

Joanne Armitage (left) and Shelly Knotts of Algobabez perform on the first night of Algorithmic Art Assembly. While the musicians played, the audience watched a live projection of the code the duo was typing to generate the sounds.Mariah Tiffany
Renick Bell is standing in front of his computer at a small table in the middle of the dance floor. The stoic, bespectacled musician types quickly and efficiently, his eyes locked to his computer screen. Around him in a wide circle, the crowd bobs to his music. Sputtering tom rolls, blobby techno synths, and crystalline cymbal taps blossom and spill out of the theater's massive surround-sound system. All the lights are off, and the only illumination in the big room is the glow of Bell's monitor, the soft red LED backlight on his mechanical gaming keyboard, and a live view of his PC monitor projected on a wall-sized screen.
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