Mutek Day 4: Nocturne 4 & Designer_Mix

Well, after three days of amazing shows and breathtaking visual artwork, there was no stopping or slowing down for the weekend! Mutek still had loads of great artists lined up for Saturday and Sunday’s events. Saturday was indeed a busy day with Piknic Électronik at l’Île-Sainte-Hélène, Designer_Mix at the Société Des Arts Technologiques and Nocturnes 4 at Metropolis. I was looking forward to seeing Canada’s own Deadbeat premiere his new show with German visual artist Lillevan at the SAT. Meanwhile at Metropolis, things were gearing up to be a long night with Nocturne 4 lasting until five o’clock in the morning. So anyone who was willing to pull an all-nighter was more then welcome.

Designer_Mix

I started the evening at La Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT) where Designer_Mix was being held. The event was a collaboration between Le Bureau du Design de Montréal and the SAT; it highlighted the designation of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Berlin (Germany) and Montréal as the first three UNESCO Cities of Design. For the occasion, artists from each city were invited to perform. Argentina’s Sol Del Rio started the evening, bringing her audio-visual talent for the first time to Montréal. Her ambient, minimalist and sometimes moody sound, blended well with her visual artwork that was projected on the walls surrounding the stage. Plus, an omnipresent cube behind the stage added an extra element to the already stunning visual aspect of the show.

Second up was adopted Montrealer Deadbeat bringing us his minimal dub sound with his new show alongside  Lillevan. Deadbeat’s deep sounding dub was a perfect match to Lillevan’s dark, black and white visuals that were the theme pretty much throughout their set. The duo looked at ease with each other, which was reflected in the both artist’s work. Their set slowly built speed and intensity as it when on. Sadly, I missed the final minutes of the set and the rest of the evening; the reason: it was time to head over and host The Letter B. I missed Pole, a German artist who was marking his return to Mutek for the first time in six years, and Argentina’s Chancha Via Circuito.

Nocturne 4

After hosting The Letter B, I returned to Metropolis for Nocturne 4. By the time I arrived, I had unfortunately missed Stephen Beaupré with the Banjo Consortium, which I heard was awesome. I arrived, half way, into Four Tet's electro-jazz set. Then came the Austrian trio, Elektro Guzzi, a live-electronic act composed of Bernhard Hammer, Jakob Schneidewind and Bernhard Breuer. I didn’t know what to expect of the trio since I had not seen any turntables or mixers; there was only a drum set, a guitar and a bunch of guitar pedals on the floor. Their performance was impressive; they managed to create the kind of amazing techno set you’d expected to hear with usual DJing equipment with only the instruments on-stage. The last act of the night was James Holden. He was, in my opinion, the must see act of the event, even if he started his set a three o’clock in the morning. It was well worth it. He delivered an energy packed performance that kept the large crowd dancing the rest of the night.

Designer_Mix, an adventure into the creative minds of the artists, and Nocturne 4, one long party; after all that was done and the sun was rising, I could not have asked for more.

-Alex Menjivar hosts The Letter B on Saturdays from Midnight-1am