MUTEK 2010, Day One

Passersby stop to slip on some headphones and listen to The Mole spin an impromptu set during rush hour. I found out about this event while it was happening via MUTEK's Facebook updates. Thanks MUTEK -- you've kinda preempted my photo essay idea before the festival has even officially started!

Gemmiform opens the festival.

The noises emanating from Bernier + Messier's elaborate "sound boxes" were somewhat superfluous, but it was fun to watch them tear up their "instruments". Their music rings and echoes through the elegant Monument National's main concert hall, and I think about how far MUTEK has come since the days when we had to stretch out on the floor of Ex-Centris.

Matmos' combination of humour, weirdness, and pastoral mid-70's Kraftwerkian jams will be tough to top.

[The User] twiddle the knobs from the pit. On stage there are fifteen ancient computers, their screens, and their printers. Those machines ... they're alive. Sadly, this performance wasn't as maximalist as I was hoping for, but as a visual spectacle, it was one of the most arresting I've ever seen.

Straight from the files of "It Could Only Happen in Quebec": the vampire-ish Georges Rebboh hypnotizes his goth girl partner Dominique Petrin and forces her to abuse a piano while he processes and manipulates the sounds. If you're a fan of experimental music and are looking for the next level shit for spicing up your sex life, look no further.

The performance took place in almost complete darkness. The blue blur is Petrin's dress lit up by fluorescent lights. The orange dots came from a sack of fluorescent stones, after she hurled them on her piano she proceeded to spread them around by writhing on the floor and moaning into a microphone. Genuine or not? Either way, it's no wonder why I skipped the start of the Comeme showcase.

I still can't stand most Latin-flavoured house or techno, but even I couldn't resist Matias Aguayo and his Comeme label-mates.