Technophiles and avant-digital wizards converged on Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space last Saturday to witness NYC’s first-ever Laptop Battle. The geek-tastic event pitted electronic musicians against one another in a synthesized duel of bleeps, blips and bass. And yes, lives were lost.Conducted elimination-style, the battle consisted of three-minute rounds in which each contestant demonstrated their digital prowess to a panel of judges. The digi-warriors feverishly improvised over a pre-recorded beat with a keyboard and digital mixer, supplementing their sets with energetic interpretive dancing and head-banging, and sporting ad hoc costumes made from bathrobes and rags.

Galapagos was crammed like a can of well-dressed sardines as folks milled about spilling their free drinks (thanks to the open vodka bar) on each
other and letting loose on the dance floor. Battlers with stage names like Meatsock (ew!) and Shakeyface brought the fury, poised in front of a large, trippy screen displaying colorful, pixilated images. After over five hours of brawling, the man who called himself Velapene Screen — a scruffy, jeans clad dude whose demeanor throughout his set was that of a spastic child without his Ritalin– was named the winner. With an ethereal yet explosive sound that reminded us of the soundtrack to “The Matrix,” Velapene raged onstage, his appendages flailing to his music.

The Laptop Battle, created by a few laptop musicians looking to mix competition and performance with digital composition, has been hitting major cities nationwide. The victors from twelve battles across the U.S. will gather to throw down mano a mano December 7th  in Seattle, Washington to declare a world champion.