Mutek's Nocturne 2: Modeselektor + Anstam + FaltyDL + Jacques Greene + Sirisumo @ Metropolis

Mutek’s Nocturne 2 was the Modeselektion night – a night of forward thinking party music whose main room line-up was curated by Germany’s Modeselektor.

The event really was a no-nonsense affair; there was no space on this line-up for filler, so things got started right away with the heavily anticipated Siriusmo. I walked in about half way through his set to a relatively relaxed, but very appreciative, crowd that wasn’t large enough to make the dance floor uncomfortable, but was sizeable enough to let you know things were well underway. It was pretty much perfect. It’d be a mistake to think that them appearing relaxed meant they weren’t into it, as I learned during a breakdown when the crowd erupted into massive cheers and applause that really seemed out of sync with the kind of energy they were displaying. Musically, I’m a little afraid to try and put Siriusmo’s set into words lest I do it injustice. It spanned a wide spectrum of tempos and moods, at times sounding industrial, light, or even goofy. If there’s one thing he was not, it was monotonous. The rhythms were constantly changing in a way that I couldn’t predict, or even make sense out of, but it was done in a way that made you feel as if you were obviously in the hands of a master. The crowd ate it up (many even considered it the highlight of the night).

At 11pm, local producer Jacques Greene took the stage for the world premiere of his new live performance, accompanied by another local producer Ango. Apparently, Jacques Greene does not mess around with the word “live”. His entire performance was done on a vast array of hardware that surrounded him on stage; it was kind of as if he was in some kind of music laboratory. The performance felt a little straight forward after the beautifully eclectic mess that Siriusmo performed; though there’s nothing wrong with that. They delivered a solid set of blissful, synthy electronica. While I thought the music felt a little same-y in terms of the mood and rhythm it produced, it was still an excellent performance with a great progression from start to finish and enough to keep you interested. That being said, closing the set with a live remix of his most recent hit, “Another Girl,” as the only vocal track of the whole performance was possibly one of the best closing moments in any set I caught all weekend. It really shifted the performance into higher gear and gave the whole thing a really crisp sense of culmination.

Up next was New York’s FaltyDL. Going into his set, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m a big fan of his productions but had never seen him live. He started on some pretty groovy, old school house vibes that really got the place moving, until about 15 minutes into the performance where he really turned things up to 11. I’m not sure exactly what he did, or how he did it, but I was completely lost in his set from that point. He dropped banger after banger after banger and really worked the crowd up into a frenzy. Notable tracks (for me) were Ramadanman’s “Work Them”, Joy Orbison’s “Sicko Cell” and Addison Groove’s “Fuck Tha 101.”

I don’t have much to say about Anstam because I spent most of that set over at the SAT for a bit of the A/Visions event. What I did catch was very bass heavy on an industrial tip, but felt a bit too slow for me after the madness that was FaltyDL.

Finally it was time for the headmasters to shine. Modeselektor came on to close out the night in fine style (or at least with aggressive attitudes). They went so hard at one point I think they started playing downright hardcore and schranz (I might be exaggerating a wee bit, but the intensity of their show was not to be trifled with). Honestly, the music was so overpowering that I’m not even sure what else I have to say about it. They brought a bag of low-end, bass-heavy party tracks with them, set out to absolutely tear Metropolis apart, and they did it. Well done, boys. I wish I could say more, but my pen died (I suspect the ink was atomized inside of it), and it was hard to keep a level head for mental note taking in that hurricane.

-Patrick Meloche