two weeks pass...
one month passes...
I went to all the major events, and the Demo Derby (unfortunately I can't really report too much on the cafe electronika stuff) I wrote up a rundown on my festival experience, which I will post
*Yes, I'm going to go into detail, but keep in mind that this will serve as a personal document that I can look up to reflect upon in the future. So no need to actually read it, ha.
**Yes this isn't very critical because I generally am pleased very easily in these sorts of things, as I tend to have somewhat low standards when it comes to seeing live music (which I like) especially when it’s of this high quality :). Also, If I sound overly sentimental, it's because this is my first Mutek, first of anything of this kind really, and a young man like myself needs his musical experiences.
Nocturne 1 was uhhhhh, not so good. As the night was much about kitsch in electronic music, for me - one who can't stand kitsch - it wasn't that good, although the stuffed animal surgery destruction table kept one happily occupied. I just saw Pero and the Electric Machine and Gangpol and Mit before leaving to get as much rest as I could for the coming days.
The Dubstep night was fantastic. I've liked dubstep for a relatively short while, but this really swung open doors for me. I really, really liked Shackleton, and Kode 9 just totally blew me away (he did a short live set and then continued on via a dj set, along with Spaceape). Rhythm and Sound, although I’ll probably get a lot of flack for this didn’t really do much for me as frankly, their not the thing I really want to see that badly when I’m tired and it’s after I’ve danced up a storm. Although I enjoy listening to their recordings, I’m not too big on straight up reggae, interesting to see them though.
The third night was a lot of fun. I stopped in for Robert Henke's set, which I liked, despite the technical problems. I got pretty into it, and it was nice to have a really relaxing ambient set right before the festival shifted into serious techno/house mode. I even put myself under hypnosis during his set.
Right after that, I went over to the rest of the night’s events and then. . . Kalabrese was truly loads of fun, certainly 'feel good' music, excellent to warm up a night with, put a smile on my face, that’s for sure, and for a set that was split into individual tracks, as it was played by a live band, it was nevertheless able to really please me. The previous comment goes as well for Matthew Dear, who certainly sold me on his new material - he exceeded my personal expectations (which were largely built around Deserter, which I didn't particularly care for all that much). Some of the tracks were really really good, and it's too bad he cut them down to such short radio-ish lengths (that third to last song could honestly be stretched into a 10+ minute track, and I’m sure it would be huge). The Mole, who I was only barely familiar with really shook things up, I liked it quite a lot actually; soulful house that was rolling and brought serious funk, got the crowd dancing, that’s for sure. Cobblestone Jazz, though, they killed it. Played till 4 and put on a consistent and truly banging set – really, really good stuff that just worked really, really well, totally slayed the dancefloor (okay seriously, is it just me or does no one talk about Peace Offering, because if you ask me, it's better than Dump Truck and India in Me).
The next day, perhaps fueled by residual adrenaline left from outrunning a vagrant who tried to mug me the night before, Piknik was great. For those who don't know Piknik Electronik is pretty much the happiest place on Earth, the all afternoon island dance party underneath a giant Calder Stabile. I arrived for the last half hour of Claude Von Stroke's set, right when he dropped Who’s afraid of Detroit, I rested during his set so I don’t have too much to say, but I do about My My, who were dead on point, as were Chic Miniature, although I regret not paying as much attention to the latter as I could have (I spent 25 minutes in the ungodly long crepe line for instance). Audion too was quite good, and in spite of claims of him putting on 'dry sets' this was pretty fluid, a lot of good tracks, good energy, thumbs up.
And thus after an hour break it was time to go out again, as like hell I would miss Pantha du Prince, as a lot of people did, and frankly it's their loss, because he makes such beautiful music. He put on a lovely set, the first time in the festival I felt really lost in the music, moved even, all while I was thinking about how badly I needed to buy his album. Jichael Mackson was good, better than I had expected, Matias Aguayo and Roccness were alright, should have switched places with Pantha Du Prince though, I think. Gui Boratto however, really did it for me; I was totally enamoured, he kept going to moments of pure bliss and then putting a 4/4 kick on top, really, really into it. Liked Michael Mayer as well; was quite looking forward too it, but was a bit intense, by the middle of it too intense perhaps. If I can remember correctly he was playing at like 135 BPM, a lot of quite banging techno and trancey stuff, which I knew he’d play, but kind of didn’t expect for some reason; he seemed a bit too heavy for someone who was working towards their 15th hour of partying that day alone, only to start again early the next afternoon. Furthermore, I've never really been a big fan of his mixing style, but nevertheless I did often find it hard to leave the main floor while he was on. My only regret is not spending more time in the other room (which featured Ambivalent, Miskate, Lee Curtiss, Pheek, and Someone Else), which from what I saw seemed to be always on point, and filled with really good energy.
And finally Piknik 2. Which was again wonderful. Didn't really catch much of Jesse Somfay, but Digitaline were good albeit that I was only half into it. Heartthrob was unprecedentedly good, which really made me rethink my somewhat indifferent attitude towards him, and Sutekh, well he just killed it, It was the only times where I consistently though about wanting to download a recording of the set while it was ongoing, if only for the extended polka outro. And in the beginning, there was the Wighnomy brothers, well, they were actually at the end, and they ended the festival rather nicely, playing a lot of great tracks, although I must say I’m really not a fan of their affinity for the filter knob. They brought their sense of humour, and man, that intro made the hair on my neck stand up.
But nevertheless what a good environment, it’s going to be hard to settle back in at home, there’s no way I’ll be able to even stand all the mediocre blog house (to be redundant) I’m normally exposed to. Alas Mutek is certainly a place where I feel more comfortable, it was interesting to be side by side with people who all were really into what was happening, which I don’t generally do often, not to mention being around all these producers I admire so much, haing to hold back on fan0boydom while waiting in the hotdog line with Michael Mayer, or partying down to Matthew Dear for instance. Mutek. . .Good times J.
All in all, my top 5
Sutekh
Gui Boratto
Pantha Du Prince
Cobblestone Jazz
Kode 9
If that didn't do it, here's visual proof of just how truly into it I was.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/AbXy6001/hey.jpg
― mehlt, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 06:43 (eighteen years ago)