The Toronto edition of Kraftwerk Live turned out to be even better than the Berlin one -- the whole show sounded tighter, with fewer down spots. I'm going to chalk it up to seeing the band's second show that night in Berlin, maybe they were tired. The speakers in Ricoh Coliseum are amazing, the pound and kick from them made otherwise missable songs such as "Expo 2000" sound exalted. Having said that, the overall experience of seeing the band was better in Berlin, because the venue was smaller (read: music and crowd was louder), I was far closer to the front (although sitting comfortably through a gig with an unobstructed view is a nice change once a while), and I was continually occupied with thoughts of "lordy, I can't believe I'm seeing Kraftwerk in Berlin and why are those echo signals depolarized so much by those misaligned waveplates, anyway"?.

An equally big moment in techno occurred this week with the release of the (almost) complete schedule for MUTEK 2004. Without delving into philosophical considerations, I was on the fence about going this year mainly due to a lack of a) time, and b) money. Then, the email with the schedule highlights sent to the MUTEK mailing list a week or so ago pushed me to the "stay home" side. The treats seemed many, but the deja vu feeling was strong.

-- I didn't realize that Richie Hawtin hadn't performed as Plastikman for nearly ten years. So that would mean that I saw one of his last performances at a rave in 1995. And half of his show last year was "Closer" material.
-- "A rare North American performance by Ricardo Villalobos", yes, rare everywhere except for MUTEK, where he has performed four times in the last three years.
-- Crackhaus (seen them), Herbert (seen him many times, including twice at MUTEK), Ilpo Vaisannen (saw him in Pan(a)sonic 1.05 times, once in 1997 and for a few minutes in 2000 before they packed up and went home because the venue wasn't loud enough. Since I doubt the Toronto promoters are too happy with him because of this, leaving the city to hear him again is a necessary condition), , , , , ,
... and more artists I wouldn't skip town for, plus many I would but I've seen already ... now for the full schedule ...

It's a bit pared down this year, although that Sunday daytime vacancy is a bit deceiving at first glance (more on this later). The chances of eating proper meals this year appears greater.

Ex-Centris 1. Chessmachine sounds intruiging, and I do love me those Ex-Centris experimental evenings.

Nocturne 1. The IDM/beatfusion/newstyleromanticfunkpop catchphrases don't perk me up to any significant degree, but that certainly can't be said for the RETURN OF SAT TO THE MUTEK VENUE AGENDA. Awesome.

Experience 1. I don't know Thinkbox Collective, but SAT in the afternoon + Free show is a sure bet.

Ex-Centris 2. This looks amazing, with the always dependable David Kristian, mayhem and noise from Vaisannen and Austria's Pure (!wow!).

Nocturne 2. Raster-Noton takes over with a lineup that wouldn't have looked out of place at MUTEK 2000. I should mention that two days into this schedule and already about five MUTEK alumni will have played, with another three after day three, and so on.

Experience 2. Poor Mike Shannon and Jay Hunsberger were the emerging stars on a SAT afternoon two years ago as well.

Metropolis 1. Plastikman, saw him in 1995, saw Richie last year, and at HMV a few weeks ago, yada yada ... BUT THIS TIME HE'S THE ONLY ARTIST ON THE SCHEDULE. This can't be, can it? There'll have to be a DJ or two to open for him, but that'll still mean 3-4 hours of Plastikman! With that kind of time to kill, will he raid his entire backcatalogue? Richie loves long sets. This just got 200 % more attractive.

Experience 3. An enticing afternoon, a true mixed bag of beats of all sorts, including another exclusive, Vaisannen's Angel project!

Metropolis 2. Here's why there's nothing happening on the Sunday: this is an all-night event! Genius!

Finale. Where's Villalobos on this schedule? Is he making a "surprise" appearance sometime on the final night? And what better way to help close down MUTEK than a collaboration between Burnt Friedman and MF'IN JAKI LIEBEZEIT. JAKI = MONEY.

Speaking of money, where did all of mine go?