basic_sounds: November 2009

MUTEK_10 / Montréal, Canada / May 27-31, 2009

Over the past ten years, MUTEK has become an internationally-recognized electronic music festival and the largest of its kind in Canada. This year, MUTEK_10 exceeded my expectations from previous years, offering unprecedented richness, quality and depth, making it a milestone year on many levels.

For me, this year’s festival was defined in its earliest moments, where audiences were treated to the finest audio-visual A/Visions showcase experiences in recent memory.

A/Visions has always been one of my favourite parts of the festival; the natural silence of the theatre provides an engaging listening experience, free of distraction from the bar. It was in this setting that Wolfgang Voigt premiered GAS, a stunning audio-visual presentation of his critically acclaimed experimental ambient works. For 90 minutes, Voigt stood in darkness to the left of the giant screen, where he worked invisibly to create a haunting dreamscape of ambient drones, delicate washes, and pulsating rhythms. The rich textures of the music were mirrored on the giant screen next to him, where tangled, fibrous images of Germany's Black Forest morphed through colour and space in perfect harmony with the soundtrack. The combination made for an unforgettably visceral experience, and proved to be one of the standout shows of this year's festival.

Next at A/Visions was Herman Kolgan’s world premiere of IN/JECT, a conceptual exploration of a nude human figure submerged in water. The dispassionate, macroscopic images of the figure losing air created a sense of tension and eerie suffocation while suggesting the specimen is being examined scientifically. The imagery juxtaposed with the jarring and unsettling soundtrack of clicks and cuts left a strong emotional impression of displacement, informed by the artist's recent loss of his mother. This work belongs in a gallery space as an installation exhibit, and I will be paying attention to his next work, which he told me will involve tracking devices on snails under water.

The quality and beauty of GAS and IN/JECT not only topped my experiences of A/Visions in previous years, it set the tone and standard for the rest of the festival. It was unbelievable to witness such consistency in quality of the acts that followed.

The Fun Years delivered an effortless fusion of beautiful reverberating acoustic warmth balanced with fuzzy crackling nostalgic ambience, paired with the gorgeously distorted live visuals of Justin Manor, a member of Sosolimited. Legendary Jaki Liebezeit’s trance-inducing rhythms melded with Burnt Friedman’s jazzy-dub to deliver an exciting, spiritually primitive, gleeful set that blew my mind. Sheffield's SND performed a stripped-down minimal techno set full of tight percussive pulses, static clicks and fluid organic tones. Non-Standard Institute's highly-crafted, minimal and dark atmospheric set accompanied videographer Jimmy Lakatos’ abstract shooting-star visuals to create an otherworldly experience.

Raster Noton, one of my favourite labels for their futuristic and disciplined aesthetic, capped off A/Visions with their label showcase:

Minimalist masters Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai kicked it off with Cyclo: an erratic set full of glitchy loops and buzzy pops layered in with subtle rhythmic frequencies. Eccentric legend Uwe Schmidt (aka Atom Heart, among other monikers) performed as Atom™. Schmidt stood completely erect and still while his tracks played themselves, becoming more of a self-conscious performance-art piece than a concert. His quirky delivery made me lose focus on the music as I become more fascinated with his unpredictability and cheeky visuals. Internationally-renowned sound artist Carsten Nicolai returned to the stage under his Alva Noto moniker, delivering an intricate minimal set transcended with fuzzy white noise. Olaf Bender (aka Byetone) stole the show with his rock-driven minimal techno set. Byetone’s tightly-pronounced percussive patterns weaved and climaxed to the point of feverish insanity. If you’ve heard his track 'Plastic Star', then imagine a complete set at that level of intensity.

Notable Robert Henke and Christopher Bauder’s prestigious ATOM installation took place at Place des arts. The crowd was slowly escorted through a large dark hall into an exhibit room, illuminated only with the glow of 64 red balloons centered in the middle of the floor. Suppressing the desire to start singing “99 Red Balloons”, to my surprise once the installation started the helium balloons changed from red to white and began moving around like dancing cloud formations, tightly synchronized with the atmospheric ambient techno compositions. Each balloon was attached to a motorized cable that would individually fluctuate in space. The effect was mesmerizing and unique, making the exhibit another creative highlight of this year’s MUTEK.

The better-known artists played the Nocturne showcases, which were mostly held in Metropolis, the largest performance space of the festival. Off to the side the Savoy Room featured experimental or label-focused performances.

One of the highlights for me in the Savoy Room was New York-based, Anticipate label-owner, Ezekiel Honig. I first discovered his music on Percussion Lab in 2006. His unique voice brings a new level of richness to minimal ambient techno. His taste for weaving layers and space combined with household field recordings and deep washes is absolute bliss. After all the eclectic experimental showcases, it was time to dance, and the Cynorsure anniversary showcase delivered some of the finest grooving Latin-infused minimal techno, making the Savoy Room the place to be to hit the floor and celebrate MUTEK’s dynamic range.

The festival was buzzing about the Canadian premiere of Moderat, the newly-formed trio of Modeselektor and Apparat. The Berlin-based techno superstars ripped up a packed Metropolis theatre with an über-hip electro dubstep set, superbly produced with Apparat’s pop expertise and vocals.

Detroit-based techno pioneer Carl Craig took the stage at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning, delivering a legendary and masterful set. His stoic godfather type persona rocked the floor with creeping, subtle mixes that swung gently back and forth between soulful house and trance-inducing techno. His level of control and craftsmanship created an epic set full of prolific Detroit classics.

Piknic Electronik’s are always held on the weekends of festival at Parc Jean Drapeau under Alexander Calder's, Expo ‘67 statue "Man." The first hands-down performance was Thomas Fehlmann’s schaffel infused dubby techno set that had dancers gleefully shaking it to his solid 4/4 structures and fluid capabilities under the glorious warm sun. The second day the weather was a bit more up and down. Protecting themselves from the rain, people danced under blankets to esteemed Ricardo Villalobos and Perlon cofounder Zip’s tag team 7 hour marathon set delivering some of the finest minimal dancefloor rhythms, making MUTEK history.

Given MUTEK's stated purpose of developing a space where contemporary experimental electronic music and art meet, MUTEK_10 proved to be its most successful accomplishment to date. Although for many festival goers the boisterous Nocturne and Piknic events will remain the highlight of MUTEK, this year's A/Visions were for me the strongest and most memorable exhibits. Wherever one’s personal tastes might fall, the sampling of so many multi-faceted, spectacular, and talented performers is the richest treasure MUTEK has to offer, and I hope it continues to pay homage to the diversity and depth of the genre in years to come.

This article was originally published in Musicworks Magazine issue 105.
Decibel festival review will be coming out in issue 106.

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