Electro Dynamics
MUTEK 2004
For its fifth edition, the electronic music festival MUTEK, growing with a mathematical progression that matches the music's rigorous logic, offers an impressive array of sonic and visual stimuli for the discerning hipster and fashionable faux-hipster alike.Having sprung from the music component of the Festival of New Cinema & New Media back in 2000, MUTEK quickly established itself as a significant presence in the world of electronic-based music. Relentless explorers of the margins of Electronica, MUTEK is as much about imagining the possibilities of digital music as it is a snapshot of its current state of affairs.
Artists from Canada, France, Chile, the UK, and elsewhere will fill the three main venues, with performers intelligently grouped into thematic lineups. There are nights of retro-fusion, minimalism, samples and loops, techno-rock, deconstructed beats, and whole evenings dedicated to a particular label or artist-collective.
So many genres and sub-genres are represented, in fact, that devising phrases to describe the music is as elusive a task as nailing jelly to a wall.
Collaborations with visual artists throughout the busy five days of the fest shore up the visual dynamics that once were often lacking in live electronic performances.
Among the many promising shows at MUTEK this year, several stand out:
The Nocturne series includes Schneider TM - Wednesday, June 2, 10:30 pm (SAT). Schneider TM, aka Dirk Dresselhaus and co., are wonderful fusers of pop and electonica. Perhaps the most melodic show on offer at MUTEK 2004.
Ex-Centris has David Kristian sharing a bill with four other acts on Thursday, June 2, 8:30 pm. Wide-ranging instrumentalist Kristian's current predilections focus on "atonalities, field recordings, and washes of ambient static."
In the same series, the Raster-Noton label is showcased with five performances on Thursday, June 3, 10:30 pm (SAT). Founded way back in 1996, the main interest of the influential label was to create repetitive minimal-music in a pop context.
For the free Expérience series, the Thinkbox Collective has six artist/musicians performing Thursday, June 3, at 5 pm (SAT). Also, the fractured funk/experimental house stylings of Mike Shannon and Jay Hunsberger, founders of the Cynosure Recordings label, will form part of a show in the same series on Friday, June 4, at 5 pm (SAT).
Métropolis club hosts two late night events, with Richie Hawtin adding a further chapter to his Plastikman project on Friday, June 4, 10 pm, while an eight-performance blowout with Montreal-based Egg, Matthew Herbert, and others will make for an extended set on Saturday, June 5, starting at 9 pm.
Lastly, Jamie Lidell and 1 Hour Fiasco (aka Pablo Fiasco, aka Geoff Johnston - man, these digital music types love their noms de plume...) make up part of the big finale show at SAT on Sunday June 6, 9 pm.
Complementing the performance part of this busy li'l fest is MUTEK_INTERSECTION, comprising Panels, with topics such as "Electronic Music and the Journalist", and "The Cultural Flow of Electronic Music"; Workshops covering the use and application of several popular brands of digital music software; and the MUTEK PRO Lounge, where the fest, in conjunction with different technology partners, shows off the latest gear and covers some of the practicalities of electronic music production and distribution. See their web site for details.
AND ... in an attempt to add colour to the pasty faces of MUTEK-goers, Piknic Electonik organizers are joining MUTEK for an afternoon of music and relaxation in the park at Place de l'Homme. Sunday, June 6, 1-8 pm (Parc Jean-Drapeau, Île Ste-Hélène)
Note: The march of digital progress can be unkind. Viewers with older computers and anything other than the latest operating systems may find the flash-dependant, resolution-specific MUTEK site frustrating. Too bad their web designers committed the egregious sin of forgetting the lo-fi community (that is, most people) among internet users.
MUTEK runs from June 2 to 6. Events happen at:
Ex-Centris
536 boulevard Saint-Laurent
SAT
1195 boulevard Saint-Laurent
Metropolis
59 rue Saint-Catherine East
MUTEK_INTERSECTION
3625 ave du Parc
Tickets are available at Ticketpro & SAT, See the MUTEK site for more options and information.
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