- It may only be in its second year, but the Micro Mutek satellite of the Montreal electronic music festival now seems well at home in Barcelona. Although the draw card may have been its nightly soirées of big international acts, there was plenty more to offer with three days of daytime work shops, interviews and more experimental performances, including opportunities for local talent to vent their spleen and work up a din.
Unfortunately, work commitments prevented me attending some of the earlier shows, in particular, The Suicide of Western Culture gig on Wednesday which was widely and reverently talked about. Additionally, some health issues cut into the roster on Thursday, but nonetheless Argentina's Microfeel and the Venezuelan collective Gramofóno offered some impressive live soundtracks to silent movies. Microfeel blended a range of live instruments with samples and electronics to Charlie Chaplin's The Circus. The blend of classical and post rock influences worked well sonically, but at times it felt as if you were watching the movie or listening, but not both together. After a few technical issues, Gramofóno began their set with a run of IDM-styled beats and ambient nosie, at first incongruous to the action in Buster Keaton's Seven Chances, but slowly merging with the visuals. Once locked in, the unlikely pairing of old and new produced a seamless run to the climax where jazzy squalls of electronic noise accompanied Keaton's happy engagement.
Photo credit: Xarlene.com
Mutek's night time events last year were surprising for taking off early and staying there the whole night, and this year was no exception. Thursday was busy and dancing from the off. Not surprising, since the selection of Argentinean DJ Sebastian Bruno was impeccable and all the more interesting for taking a backwards trajectory. Starting with brooding, but forceful deep techno, he eased down via a run of deep house until weaving all over the place from UK funky and dubstep like a deliriously drunken driver. After peaking with Joy Orbison's "Hyph Mngo" he handed the reins to Montreal's Bowly. Hunched over his laptop, pale and sweating beneath a baseball cup, Olivier Borzeix cut a concentrated figure and accordingly delivered a focused set of upcoming material. While rarely straying from a narrow path, Bowly's music nonetheless dominated easily by its sustained pressure, warping and flicking dubstep and 2 step's roughly hewn force into a more cerebral techno mindset. Unrelenting, driven and percussively rich, his set only lacked some sort of climax to take it to the next level.
Like opener Bruno, Ikonika mapped an unusual course for her set. Blasting off with some outstanding UK funky, or "weird house" as she labelled it earlier in the day at a workshop, she then playfully traversed a menacing and exhilarating melange of genres before finally touching down in more broken beat territory. Not only did Ikonika plot an interesting course, but her technique, verve and ability to translate herself in her set are almost unsurpassed. You could see on every face the thrill and amazement of being completely lost and totally in the thrall of an intelligent and expressive stranger until the frustrating arrival of the end of the night.
Photo credit: Lucia Vassallo
Friday night opened just as Thursday finished. A big, early crowd had already found their feet to Kompakt man and Nitsa resident DJ Fra by the time Actress took to the stage for what was to be one of the most outstanding and controversial club shows I have ever seen. For thirty minutes, Darren Cunningham mesmerised and moved everyone with some brilliantly bewildering house, both liberated from repetition and ambitiously sculpted from sharp angles and melodic twists. Yet with the last 30 minutes he strayed far from the well-beaten path, sending out clusters of gradually slowing tones and semi-rhythms that never quite formed patterns or joined together. Despite the jeers, cheers and whistles he refused to fade in a bassline or drop a kick drum for what seemed forever. Hooded and resilient, he left the stage triumphant, having completely polarized the audience.
The contrast of Actress with Isolee and then Dixon was genius and served to magnify the impact of all sets. First up, the crowd lapped up Rajko Müller's clever, bustling house and positive body language. Organic, light and most importantly allegre after the confrontational music of Actress, Isolee wowed and wooed a needy and exhilarated crowd back into a reckless party mood. The arrival of Dixon was then the icing on the cake, adding some dizzying, slow psychedelia to a night of extremes. The first half was based around Âme's "Junggesellenmaschine" and the second half ploughed deeper and deeper troughs of tingling space through slowly climaxing waves of warm, fuzzy haze until another long, slow motion climax. Once again the sense of resentment that the dawn had come too soon was endemic, but I'm guessing the crowds are sure to be back early again in 2012.