Looking Back at MUTEK 2016 - Part 2

Beyond the clouds. A

strong edition of MUTEK is always punctuated by sonic unidentified objects. The Parterre of the Quartier des spectacles, which in recent years has become one of the festival’s favourite locations, welcomed Burundi Index and Booma Collective foran afternoon: joyful experimenters devoted to new sounds. The mood was down-tempo, with tribal beats for both childrenand adults. Lee Gamble, producer and DJ from Birmingham, then took over with a noise-techno set marked by Drum’n’Bass and other English

gems. Impressive. Intrepid Shigeto and the

revelation Project Pablo. A brilliant beatmaker from the new generation of Detroit producers, as comfortable behind a drum kit as with an MPC, Shigeto hit hard for this Boiler Room, sweating body and soul over the DJ booth and delivering one wild instrumental after another. His sense of rhythm and melody was unmatched over an hour of breaks between hip-hop background, dreamlike percussion and acoustic techno. Martyn, one of themajor representatives of bass music, closed the evening with a fine touch of UK funky and dubstep against psychedelic visuals in the Satosphere. Pure happiness. After these first stretches at Boiler

[youtube id=”sMd1uGpRIU4″ width=”700″ height=”408″ autoplay=”no”]

Room, it was off to the MAC for the final Nocturne. Cobblestone Jazz and Session Victim had won me over the previous year, and I always make a point of following MUTEK on Sunday, often the best evening in my view. The first round in the main hall featured Dawnof MIDI, a Brooklyn trio venturing into jazz and acoustic techno in the manner of Germany’s Brandt Brauer Frick. Micro-houseplayed by a double bassist, pianist and drummer was a little too cerebral for my taste, but rhythmically interesting. Ode to the Pacific. In the MAC’s

[vimeo id=”122708317″ width=”700″ height=”408″ autoplay=”no”]

BWR room, headquarters

for new music and a little less packed than usual, I discovered my two favourites of the year: Lawrence Le Doux and Project Pablo. I have always believed in Sunday magic,and what more could one ask than these two deep-house enchanters to end the adventure beautifully? A touch of melancholy and layers of synths floated above our heads, bringing colour back to a rainy Sunday. I left the room smiling, lulled by two free electrons who reinvent

techno day after day. A fresh breeze blew through the city; with my head full of new sounds, I left on a positive note. This new edition brought great pleasure and the certainty that MUTEK has a bright future ahead. For full details, consult the related page, event page, exhibition page and partner links provided here.

[youtube id=”0_qcwXWnhEc” width=”700″ height=”408″ autoplay=”no”]

Full details are available through this link.