- MUTEK may be synonymous with Montreal, which has been its main home for 15 years now, but the festival has traveled far and wide, setting up events in cities around the world. One of its long-running offshoots is MUTEK.MX, which this year held its 11th edition in Mexico City. Having traveled south of the border for the occasion, I found a smooth-running festival with well-chosen venues and exquisitely programmed events.
As to be expected, MUTEK.MX was a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. Most of the venues were located in the quaint Colonia Roma and Condesa neighborhoods, which had plenty of things to see, do and eat (a plate of chicken and cheese tacos became my go-to). By day, a collection of free presentations and workshops known as MUTEK_LAB took place in the Centro De Cultura Digital, an underground space beneath the Estela De Luz light sculpture and near the sprawling Chapultepec Park. Deadbeat and Maotik hosted workshops, while Kangding Ray and M. Geddes Gengras gave free talks and demonstrations that offered inspiring insight into their live setups. Curious audiences lingered afterward for closer looks.
There were also daytime sets to enjoy. Lvis Mejía delivered glitchy, intensifying beats and provocative visuals. I also caught Heatsick halfway through a three-hour set unspooling long strands of atmospheric techno.
The nighttime highlights were numerous. The Teatro De La Ciudad, in the city center, hosted a three-part show that started with the stuttered-sample ambient and vivid visuals of Oneohtrix Point Never and Nate Boyce, but the next two performances proved much more satisfying. NONOTAK pounded out relentless, glitch-heavy techno while controlling minimalist light projections on the triangular mesh screen that surrounded them. A final jaw-dropping performance led by experimental composers Daito Manabe, Motoi Ishibashi, Satoshi Horii, Satoru Higa and choreographer Mikoko featured dancers, cubes, robot arms with lasers and mini-helicopter drones, together with a soundtrack of lush, driving electronica and incredibly precise video mapping. It had the audience gasping with each new twist and turn.
At the gritty Foro Indie Rocks!, Mexican artists were heavily featured, including acid enthusiast Pepe Mogt and Zombies In Miami, whose sound fell somewhat flat as their vocals got lost in the tall room. (I missed another local, AAAA, whom a handful of people told me was a highlight.) Laurel Halo also played, triggering shrill pulses and asymmetric melodies that kept the floor just off balance. And for those who found it, "secret" late-night events happened at a tiny club called MN Roy. I stopped by and caught Lawrence working over a playful crowd with STL's "Silent State" and Larry Heard's "The Sun Can't Compare."
The main events on Friday and Saturday night happened at Foto Museo Cuatro Caminos, a nearly finished museum for photography on the city's northwest edge, whose clean, mellow vibe fit the proceedings perfectly. Live sets from Christian Löffler and Lawrence opened the expansive first room. I was especially happy to hear Lawrence's gently thumping, fluttery beats on a big system. Jon Hopkins played some of the most upbeat music of the weekend, and Daniel Avery carried his closing set from easy tech house into tougher sounds by dropping Voiski's "Ad Infinitum." I also swung by for Rebolledo and Superpitcher's set as the Pachanga Boys, but found it a bit dull.
More intense shows happened at the two smaller stages, starting with the cozy third room upstairs. Deru and Effixx's audio/visual show, based on Deru's album 1979, began the program on Friday. It was saturated with nostalgic emotions and cosmic spirituality, the album's brittle, sepia-tinted tones combining with old video footage of children at play, geometrical figures and other images. After that, Jonas Reinhardt's Ganymede show was its own cerebral, subtly triumphant trip, with propulsive waves of noise and psychedelic graphics. On Saturday, M. Geddes Gengras summoned alternately bubbly and boulder-like sounds with his modular synth, and the audience took to its feet for Andy Stott and Miles Whittaker's wonderfully danceable set as Millie & Andrea, then stayed standing (sans dancing) for the salvoes of guitar-laden noise Ben Frost delivered next. Though its schedule ran a little late, this stage turned out to be so well-liked that Objekt switched over from the second room for his closing set, an unpredictable workout of high-BPM techno and electro.
All that said, the mid-sized second room certainly wasn't lacking. Solid sets came from Boundary, Born In Flamez, Deadbeat and Heatsick, who this time offered droll, off-kilter house that fit the late hour perfectly. The Bug and Flowdan drew the rowdiest reception of the weekend, with older cuts like "Skeng" and "Poison Dart" appearing among newer Angels & Devils stuff.
Unsurprisingly, live sets from Andy Stott and Kangding Ray were highlights not just for that room, but for the entire festival. Stott has a new album out soon, which I haven't heard yet, but apparently he's already working with the fresh material, which includes a potent dose of uptempo, sharp-edged techno. Kangding Ray, showing off his own distinctly futuristic take on the genre, wove tracks from his latest LP, Solens Arc, into an electrifying set that finished with his fast-paced remix of Violetshaped's "The Oven."
MUTEK.MX's Sunday finale with Pantha Du Prince And The Bell Laboratory, a seated show at the sleek, modern Auditorio Blackberry, felt like a breath of fresh air after Friday and Saturday's exhaustive all-night sessions. Dramatically backlit so their shadows loomed across the room, Hendrik Weber and his collaborators shared solemn communal moments at the front of the stage—each member ringing a bell or two in sequence—before returning to their individual stations, united for a joyous, warmly resonating clamor. With an appreciative crowd that often couldn't resist standing and dancing, it was an uplifting conclusion to a week of impressive music and visual art.
Photo credits: Diego Figueroa (cover image, NONOTAK), Elizabeth Cacho (Ben Frost, The Bug, Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory)