- Montreal's Mutek festival once again took over a host of the city's venues in early June. Rather than present a comprehensive overview of the festival—which would require a superhuman effort of time, energy and luck—we've opted for snapshots of various nights.
Wednesday
Nocturne 1
Photo credit: Donte Parks
MUTEK 12's first late night showcase featured live sets from producers Badawi and Gold Panda along with the world premiere of Amon Tobin's ISAM audio-visual performance. Badawi's opening set was, in essence, a single lengthy track anchored by several repeated motifs included menacing and reverberating orchestral samples. His crystal clear production weaved techno, dubstep and IDM percussion patterns driven by thunderous bass drums and snappy snares. Gold Panda took over and provided a nice contrast to the dark and cavernous bass voyage with some more light-hearted material. As the anticipation in the room peaked, the curtain opened to reveal a towering set of white cubes designed like a deconstructed Q*bert pyramid. Dazzling lighting and projections of billowing smoke, fire and ice, working machinery, and shimmering constellations of stars illuminated the faces of each cube while Tobin was revealed inside the largest cube, anchoring the structure in the center. The movement of the complex visual images was so intricately synched with the music that (literally) if you blinked for a second you'd miss something. Tobin essentially played his entire ISAM album followed by an extended encore of some more classic IDM tracks mixed with newer material. But the performance was so visually-arresting that he could have played almost anything. Following the encore, the entire theater erupted in screams and thunderous applause, starting MUTEK 12 off on a high note and setting the bar high for the rest of the week.
Elly Rifkin
Thursday
Nocturne 2
Photo credit: Donte Parks
Nocturne 2 featured an interesting mixture of electronic sounds. Uptempo bass-heavy music dominated the main room at Métropolis with performers finding new ways to meld dubstep and UK funky-inspired tracks with heavy techno. No one seemed to master this hybridized style better than Falty DL, one of the only MUTEK performers booked to play a DJ set. He slowly drew the massive crowd towards the stage as Germany's Anstam took over, filling the room with a mix of deep rhythm-driven techno tracks and more grandiose dubstep-heavy beats. Upstairs in the Savoy, groovy tech house and the more subtle subgenres of techno were on the menu. Standout live sets of the evening came from Arthur Oskan and Billy Dalessandro. Oskan energized the somewhat docile crowd with his warm Detroit-inspired house and techno while Dalessandro's set was a clear nod to Chicago. His squelchy analog-sounding tracks and funky rhythms closed the night as everyone's hips were shaking.
Elly Rifkin
Para Nocturne
Photo credit: Donte Parks
Due to last year's successful run of simultaneous Nocturne shows, Mutek once again had a few events each night in 2011. Para Nocturne served up a great lineup of lo-fi ambient, slow-mo, spook electronic and even psychedelic grooves. Locals Sundrips and American analog fiend ARP set a very somber and synthscape heavy tone for the beginning of the evening while Organ Mood lived up to their name giving an almost fairytale performance, pixie dust and all. One of the only acts to be associated with the loosely defined witch house genre at the festival, UK's Hype Williams brought an ethereal live performance teetering between minimal droney hypnotism and sexy lo-fi pop. Even the long haired "witch voguers" who didn't add much musically, helped create a very sincere ambiance. The Sun Araw Band closed the night with an almost equally magnificent set of modern guitar and synth psychedelia.
Gerald Ortiz
Friday
Experience 3
Photo credit: Caroline Hayeur
Continuing with the evolution of Mutek's use of varied venues and spaces, the Experience series was held this year outside in a small green plaza right beside the SAT, one of the main festival locations. The goal was to integrate the SAT's FoodLab project with music in a space where anyone could walk by and join in. The result was an urban picnic with cheap gourmet snacks, a dance party and some curious local creatures enjoying the atmosphere. The third installment of this series featured local Canadian dub and UK garage-influenced artists. Hissy Fit started off with some funky upbeat broken beats which then gave way to Knowing Looks' more wobbly, dubby and, at times, dark atmospheres. As the late afternoon wore on, more dancers crept onto the floor and greeted Bowly with ready feet. Booming with bass and snares on rapidfire in between, his set was a great snapshot of the sound of one of the most active producers in Montreal.
Gerald Ortiz
Nocturne 3
Photo credit: Caroline Hayeur
It was clear much of the attendance for Nocturne 3 was due to one name: Plastikman. Nevertheless, a motivated crowd instantly fell in love with the live set of Deepchord's Echospace project. The energy and excitement behind their reverb and echo-laden tracks seamlessly morphed from one to the next and even turned a mistake into a spontaneous build and breakdown. Plastikman's set was more than a crowd pleaser as the already rabid crowd ate up his well-crafted classics set to a varying array of '90s-esque rave imagery that worked meticulously in tandem with the music. Though Richie Hawtin is a master of nuance and quality, as he came out from behind the screen to close the set with "Spastik," it was obvious this was as much nostalgia trip as anything else. Those who still had energy for Adam X's Traversable Wormhole set were pleasantly beaten into a pulp. Though slow to get into the zone, Adam's raw industrial hypnosis instigated a vibe that invoked a spirit not unlike that of the infamous Berghain club. The only drawback? The rude awakening when the music stopped and the lights came on.
Gerald Ortiz
Saturday
Piknic 1
Photo credit: Donte Parks
The weather was uncharacteristically perfect for MUTEK 12's first Piknic. We arrived at Parc Jean-Drapeau just as Luke Abbot was well into the second half of his North American premiere live set that was full of the organs, pads and warm synths characteristic of his Border Community home. Things really went off, though, once Floating Points stepped up with a vinyl-only set of classic house, disco, funk and soul. At the same time, Piknic-goers were soaking up the afternoon sun near the waterfront second stage listening to Footprintz play some hypnotizing vocal-heavy '80s-inspired slow-burners. Taking a cue from Floating Points, Terry Lee Brown Jr. started with some deeper house-heavy cuts before delivering one of the most pleasing sets of the festival.
Elly Rifkin
Sunday
Piknic 2
Photo credit: Zach Dilgard
The second Piknic started on a high note, being one of the first weekends in recent memory completely free of rain (as some of the locals happily informed me). The lineup was billed as "The Curator's Choice," with the festival announcing the acts to play the night before it all went down. An early highlight was Circus Company artist Le K's dizzying live techno set, but many found James Holden's DJing of dubby techno gems, lowly pitched progressive techno and the occasional aged Krautrock track to be even better. Back on the main stage hometown heroes Guillaume Coutu-Dumont and Vincent Lemieux took control of the music. Lemieux's vinyl collection and Coutu-Dumont's very live set up married impressively and quickly turned into one of the highlights of the festival. The last set of the day belonged to Circus Company boss Sety, playing back-to-back with Montreal local/Mutek alum: Mossa. The two filled their slot with a mixture of tech house transitioning into deep house. The most memorable moment: Seeing the dance floor moving in unison to Mike Dunn's "God Made Me Phunky" as the day was coming to an end.
Kon Glikos
Nocturne 5
Photo credit: Zach Dilgard
The final Nocturne kicked off with Akufen performing under the Horror Inc. He provided an ideal soundtrack for those transitioning from Piknic directly to SAT, playing a darkly tinged micro-house live set for a little under an hour. Next up was Radiq, an obscure name out of the Japanese underground techno scene. He delivered a welcomed high-energy jazz infused tech house live set. The build of sounds kept on coming as Danuel Tate of Cobblestone Jazz took to the stage and performed using everything but the kitchen sink in his very live performance. His use of live keys, vocoded vocals and a variety of controllers gave his performance a layered unpredictability that was akin to a live jazz performance. The closing performance of the festival belonged to Perlon label artists Wareika. They successfully reproduced their productions and found a comfortable middle ground between conventional song structure and tribal musical elements. The coupling of far off eastern rhythms and steady pulsating percussion created an all-encompassing sound. With its uplifting vibes it was a perfect fit to bring the festival to its close.
Kon Glikos