I’ve been in Montreal, the city of festivals, painters, baguettes, amateur philosophers, video games, graffiti and music .. much much music … for the past couple of weeks.
Last night I had the opportunity to see an aspect of the future (at least for a 54-year old guy) in operation.
The world-reknowned MUTEK electronic music festival is in full swing. I attended Club Metropolis for MUTEK Nocturne 3 – Beats, Mashs and Remixes.
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For the occasion of the NOCTURNE 3 showcase, the Metropolis will host a massive two-room event to kick-start the weekend. In the main room, several of today’s best producers bring the spirit of fusion and sampling to the stage for an energetic showcase designed to celebrate the sampling potentials of electronic music.
Montreal turntablist Kid Koala brings his magical fingers and cartoonish imagination to the decks first, before ceding the stage to this city’s new generation of hip-hop manipulators, the hotly tipped synth crunk of Megasoid, featuring Sixtoo’s Robert Squire and Wolf Parade’s Hadji Bakara.
Modeselektor, the Berlin sensation that defies all categories except “incomparably energetic”, will take the Metropolis to new heights, as they appear alongside their longtime video-jockies Pfadfinderei for what ought to be a thrilling visual treat. Toronto’s breakcore specialist Knifehandchop brings the audience to a boil for night’s end.
In the Savoy Lounge, a handful of techno’s hottest underground names from this year will present an international smorgasbord of the genre’s bounties: San Francisco’s Dave Aju, Mexico’s Metrika, the international super-duo of Perlon’s Sammy Dee and Bruno Pronsato working as Half Hawaii, and Toronto tech-veteran Jeremy P. Caulfield.
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I’m not as avid a concert-goer and music listener as I was when I was younger, or at least I did not recognize what must be massive advances in speaker construction over the last 20 years.
There will be a lot of deaf 40 – 50 year-olds in another 20 years or so. The sound was so loud I felt physically assaulted, the bass-driven sound waves slamming into and penetrating my body, the mids and highs giving short, sharp and hard karate-like punches to my eardrums. I quickly began walking around on the floor of Club Metropolis with my fingers resting lightly in my ears, to mitigate the discomfort.
The atmosphere resembled a laid-back but devoted fundamentalist assembly, with a low-key hip shakin’ foot-wiggling head-back-and-forth sway to the beat(s) the de rigeur way of drifting through the crowd. I really appreciated the vibe … gentle, respectful, intense, happy, there for the music, a grouping with a positive heartbeat.
Notwithstanding the loudness and my physical discomfort with that, I also REALLY enjoyed the adept creative stylings of the artists I watched and listened to.
I particularly grokked Kid Koala (go ahead and click, it’s a cool web site). Here’s a YouTube clip for your enjoyment.
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Kid Koala – One of Montreal’s International DJ Vedetttes
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Tags: MUTEK, Nocturne 3, Kid Koala
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