MUTEK 2005 :: Transmissions

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TRANSMISSION 1 ::

(06.02.05) The opening day at Mutek was pretty rich in A/V experiences. To kick
things off, as usual, the people who put on Mutek had a welcoming
reception complete with tons of free magazines (XLR8R, EI, Grooves,
and the like), pamphlets, maps, promo material, hors d’hoerves,
speeches and the usual bar fare. As you entered the festivities you
were instantly greeted by the sounds of Geert-Jan Hobijn and Carsten
Stabenow’s Staalplaat Soundsystem. Their Yokomono installation spins
and moves with toy trucks, vinyl and a series of unorthodox
transmissions. It was a bit of something like an adult playroom live.

The way it was set up for viewing you had to look down into the space
as if it were a wrestling ring. Quite red, and beautiful to behold. The sounds were a combo of improv and wiggly things. Montreal’s own
Motus 3F started the night with a vocal patterning, funky-dory post
hip-hop-tronica moment. It was great watching the “singer” sound in
and out of the mic. This duo had the room moving from the start –
recommended to watch for. Then it was off to the Museum of
Contemporary Art to see the first of a handful of live performances
presented within the context of an artificial intelligence
installation built by 12K/Mutek_Rec artist’s skoltz_kogen called
ASKAA. The installation is on display in the space as is, although
when performers play live it interacts with the work on contact.
Tonight was skoltz_kogen themselves debuting their environment – it
was starkly black and white, quite organic within the base of
something akin to CAD design. Their sound was quiet, crispy and
clean, and followed by Richard Chartier, who I, unfortunately, only
caught the very beginning which experienced a minor volume technical
difficulty.

Another mad dash to the ExCentris complex to see the triple set
including more visually arresting work by Montreal’s nAnalog, the
gurus behind much of the visual wizardry of Mutek’s formative years
past. Now out there on their own, the trio has developed a sound and
vision that is immediate, multi-layered post-industrial, very dark.
The imagery ran the gamut from crowds of faceless (possibly military)
people wearing the same shirts in rows, communistic texts fading from
the background and disintegration on many levels. It was a very
complex layering of sounds brought together almost perfectly with the
video work.

Up next were tINYLITTLEeLEMENTS, another duo who creates
a charged visual environment of stark, bold falling black, white and
redness. Their performance began looking as though it might be an
experiment in some basic video software and turned into an alarming
visual feast, truly a sprite in Mutek’s cap –a find for sure. Their
sound was post-minimal-techno with a barren rock flare though never
caustic or cloying. They had a wonderful presence on stage, graphic
artist Lia facing multimedia artist Sebastian Meissner (Autopoises, Random Inc.) with her back
to the audience. Finally, the night was ready for Norway’s Biosphere. Things started out with a quiet bold drone filling the room but built
up slowly when accompanied by the video work of Egbert Mittelstädt. Though there was a malfunction early on that was disappointing, the
show went on in less than a minute. The collaboration of Geir
Jenssen‘s (Biosphere) evocatively icy and spatial soundscapes with the
much more pop leanings of the video work created something
serendipitously like a surreal cross between the United Colors of
Benneton, Godfrey Reggio’s films and a day in the mirrored subways of
the world. Mittelstädt‘s video moves from left to right or right to
left continuously as it bleeds and blends and bends people in half,
multiplying them, stretching them like taffy. Beautiful effects, but
I couldn’t make the connection to the music instantly, and it took
time. When I listen to Biosphere I think of the earth, of the surf,
not neon lights and trains through Shanghai. Each element worked on its own, but blended together had a slight aftertaste.

Off then to Musée Juste pour Rire for Nocturne 1 featuring Canadian
Polmo Polpo, and Austria’s Radian and Kapital Band (both featuring
percussionist Martin Brandlmayr). Polmo Polpo‘s sound was dense and
murky, the video blended well with its dancing dolls, strip-teasers and
parachuters, though it all ended up like something of a big gray mass.
There were certainly some funky moments braided in here and there,
but this was a wash of a performance, just a lil’ dull. Up next was
the trio, Radian (Thrill Jockey) who simply kicked the night into
gear. The blend of smart post-electronic rock poise with a out jazz
sensibility, combined with three just really good musicians made for a
fun and dynamic performance. The lighting and stage set reminded me
of something out of Joy Division‘s closet. It was near perfect, as
the crowd certainly attested. The duo of Kapital Band were up next
for the finale of the evening, but with something of a budding
headache (no excuse, I know) my host and I decided to jump the
popsicle stand after two short tracks. They had some serious volume
and electronic wizard Nicholas Bussman was not about to let go, he was
twisting the Korg in half. I am sure the party is still going…but
must rest up for tomorrow, and all the other long night’s ahead.

Watch for the ongoing live online performances of
over the
next few days: more info here…

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TRANSMISSION 2 ::

(06.02.05) Ah, to start the day after four or five hours of sleep.
Hmmm, something of a semi state of being, a ‘lil buzzed as in past
years, yes. The day cracked with a bright sunshine and the heat
overflowed in downtown Montreal. I have to say that things this year
are a little different, and somewhat more laid back after last year’s
5th anniversary. The press folks seemed more earthy, the performances,
in general, are more far reaching and experimental, the audience is
casual and I think just about everyone here smokes, ahem.

Today’s events included a few panels as part of Mutek’s Intersection.
In many ways the panels are a bit of a facsimile of last years topics
and even speakers. Yes, they have included some bright stars like John
Aquaviva, Uwe Schmidt and Pheek among others, but the few panels I
have attended thus far are something of a rehash of last year. Not the
same goes for the great introduction of Le Placard this year which
includes umpteen artists playing for about an hour, give or take,
each. This is a silent environment where the players (not in the
closet as the title would suggest) play live for an audience wearing
headphones. One great thing about this is it allows some folks to
carry on speaking as the exterior is virtually dulled by the
Sennheiser headsets. Very intimate, direct and separate all at the
same time. Something brilliant of an addition (thank you Eric
Mattson).

Starting the ball rolling was Staalplaat Systems Yokomono project
which, as reported before, have their lock-groove records being played
by toy trucks with needles embedded on their underside, spinning on
its chunky feel. I had the opportunity to talk with Geert-Jan about
the work and he showed me one of the records up close and personal,
beautiful translucent red and clear discs which layed upon the
table still white the battery powered plastic toy did all the
work. We discussed the ability for them to tour the installation in
this format and in other larger formats and museum contexts. Mixers
and transistors oh my! Quite an elaborate choreography indeed.
In between sets I said hello to Russia’s Alexei Borisov who will be
playing tonight sometime way past midnight. Should be a spectacle for
sure. Anyhow, he shared with me a new recording on
zeromoon.com called Bogartiri which loosely translates to
something like powerful leader or something like that. If it matches
some of his previous work power is in a sense its middle name.

I am currently sitting in the Le Placard installation having listened
to work by Chinese artist FM3 who had a great, peaceful and intriguing
set. Currently playing is Montreal’s own duo morceaux_de_machines who
have a crunchy, low-fi sparsely industrial sound. The live’ness on
headphones is just perfect for this intimate experience. And the space
is filling up, no doubt for local legendary fave Martin Tetreault who
will be playing alongside Gunter Muller. Quebec’s Diane Labrosse is in
the house resting to the decaying sounds of these emerging
Montrealers. It’s quite nice to see the generations all together in
this setting. No particular division in this community.

Tetreault and Muller have started with something flapping, a bird, a
plane –sensitive and eloquent, the volume is relaxed, responding to
its immediate environment. The ambience is highly concentrated and
just washes through my brain. Sensually sensory and meditative.

I had some refresher time to think again about last nights shows and
want to reiterate that Biosphere could do for a more Jon Wozencroft
video styling. The environment was a sit down theater, and the video
was just ajar from what would have made the performance more of a
spectacular overall audio-video sensory experience, instead the sights
and sounds collided. Not to kick a dead horse, because the artists are
quite alive and electric, but I think the crowd probably went away
feeling somewhat visually assaulted by too much in one long sitting
(that is associated to the three performances back-to-back-to-back).

The moral of the story is to spread out the super visual works somehow
within the programming.

I’ll be back.

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TRANSMISSION 2.1 ::

(06.02.05) When we last left off the duo of Tetreault and Muller were
just getting started. I stayed through their set and just melted into
my chair. It was just complex, minimal delicate micro-ambient bliss,
no other way to describe it. Pure.

It was time to catch the Quebec artist’s showcase upstairs, so I
gathered my hutspah and through the black light (it’s very dark
through them there hallways) up in the elevator to the room with the
sparkly jazz stage curtains and streaming natural light and huge
skylight. Minibloc had to be the cutest duo in the festival. Two
petite persons, one stage, and a sound that ran the gamut from crisp
improvisation, to palpable live errors to punchy undercurrent funk.
Their short set was dotted by a host of broken and made electronics
and toys and they looked like they were having so much fun. Des
cailloux et du carbone was next up with a flare for wide open circular
sounds that were tonally hesitant and just changed the room’s
temperature about 20 degrees cooler. In mid-set I had to dash out to
eat (yes, we must) but before I got in ye olde ‘vator I spied Uwe
Schmidt (aka Atom Heart/Senor Coconut, aka lots of things), looking
quite dapper in a funky, tight fitting brown pinstriped polyester
leisure suit and in the not so distant background were artists
Monolake (Robert Henke) and Pheek. The crowd was colorful. On my way
out Alexei Borisov introduced me to Franz Pomassl, all the way from
Austria, which was an absolute pleasure. They were headed over to the
Atom Heart (www.atomheart.ca) record shop (one of the best
shops in Montreal specializing in electronic music) on Sherbrooke to
see my photography exhibition! Speaking of criticism, I look forward
to their diverse feedback (Gary James Joynes – aka Clinker ran into me
today and acknowledged the work and reported that he has been added to
the Le Placard show on Saturday in the 2:30PM time slot). Pomassl
will be playing live this evening – so I am looking forward to that,
and a surprise will include Borisov joining him live! Late night up
ahead to be well spent.

Tonight includes the aforementioned artists as well as John Duncan and
Robert Henke – should be totally off the controversial wall!

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TRANSMISSION 2.2 ::

(06.03.05) Tonight Robert Henke‘s Studies for Thunder roared its way through the
room with the big skylight, and with the people taking pictures of
said performance, he made lightning interactively. The sound was full
and the electric nature was just that. Electric, eclectic, ecstatic.
He left the room in a buzz for Argentina’s Pablo Reche who spun what
Henke started, keeping the room dark and low, loud and a long lasting
purr. The effect was vibratory and centered, yet surrounded the space
and made for something sensual through its brusque overture.

John Duncan‘s The Hissing started off in a full spin cycle, surrounded the
room, once it was silenced, with a circular saw of whirring hiss, like
a loud whisper duplicated and suspended way high. The performance
actually had the volume and intensity that could induce a trance-like
sleep while sitting up. I dropped into sudden coma while the static
tones and drones filled the space, as the room was completely
silenced. Last up was Franz Pomassl who pulled out every
improvisational stop possible. His stage presence alone was a mad
doctor at work. The feedback generated from his use of pulling and
prodding master electrical cords and inputs by using his body, tongue
and the stage siding was the work of an extremist performer. Add
Alexei Borisov to the mix and you certainly had one master combo of
noise, volume, feedback and ultimate power-soundtronics. Alexei added
spoken effects and various detailed mixing that steered through our
ears. Pomassl wreaked a very lovely, chaotic havoc with a confident
stance, in all its choreography and mature hi-jinks.

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TRANSMISSION 3 ::

(06.03.05) Today started with Beyond Borders: Cultural Hybrids – a panel covering
sampling (similar to the panel donnasummer and Matthew Herbert sat on
last year). This year there was a cultural update with panelists from
Chile (Uwe Schmidt, who just happens to be standing a few feet away
from me as I type this in the Le Placard space), China (Christiaan
Virant of fm3), Canada (Deadbeat, Scott Monteith) and Mexico.
Moderator and freelance journalist Philip Sherburne got the talk
started in an upbeat way by quoting from the book of Public Enemy,
fashioning black American nationalism and the aggregate nature of
Elvis as being akin to the directions that all music fusions seem to
be taking in our era. Each panelist had something pretty relevant to
say, and it was the first panel completely packed to the edges, no
doubt due to the inclusion of Atom Heart himself who was really lucid
and clear about the formation of his Senor Coconut project with its
comical fusion of Kraftwerk with cha cha cha. It was good to hear a
more international perspective on the use and re-use of sounds
transformed and refashioned from one culture to another.

There is a solid crowd here where Quebecian’s LeBlackNoise just
finished their dark ambient, hooded set and the floor will be open
soon to Tomas Philips. In the meantime, back at Musée Juste pour
Rire, I caught most of the Experience 2, the second local artist
showcase including Simon Guibord whose work used bowing on metals.
The sound was dense, thick and abstract. Luci, a duo who record on
Mutek-Rec presented a mix of crunchy noise, low-fi beats, and a jangle
of corrupted sounds that crumbled up and unfolded again. Last was
Dafluke who had everyone almost immediately on their feet with its
recreation of only highlights from 80s pop soul samplification and a
whole lotta sass. Look for his stuff at www.sushitech.com – it was
quite refreshing to hear something melodic after much extreme
experimentation, though I wouldn’t expect myself to feel that
ordinarily, it gave way to the diversity of electronic music on a more
physically interactive way, by route of the dance-floor.

Across town Italian DSP recording artist Martux_M
(www.martux.it) interacted with skoltz_kolgen at their ASKAA
installation at the museum. From the start there was a collective
concentrated minimalism that was as earthy as it was synchronized.
His style went from the improvisation of crushing a water bottle to
the dispensation of New Order’ish grooves reduced to simplistic snares
to rubbery warm beats that developed slowly and teased your tendencies
to almost want to dance, but kept the lid within the museum context.

Over at Le Placard I managed to catch Christoph Migone create a piece
where he continuously walked in circles up stage stairs to a
preprogrammed piece of music that was mysteriously wandering. He was
joined by Geert-Jan of Staalplaat who circled the stairs with him for
the set. The physical action was videotaped and a portion at the
beginning was simultaneously screened on the stage screen, but soon it
was changed to live computer text, maybe tech talk. The circular
walking and the music didn’t exactly match up, but it was interesting
to zone in and out of the work while lying on mattes in the middle of
the installation. And I am so glad that I did because next was Nancy
Tobin whose work was cerebrally a mind rush, creating a long brisk
drone of sound that washed over your body in a linear way. It fell
and circled and basically had an inebriating depth that sent me into a
solid trance. At the deck next was John Duncan who started by keeping
the listeners awake with clever and risky sounds that tested eardrums
for alertness. He used tones that had many wince, even remove
headphones for a handful of seconds until he waded into the wonderful,
hedonistic vortex he started that night prior. He sound is large, and
the intimacy of experiencing the work live on headphones really gave
you the feeling that he was playing for the select few (possibly 30
odd people). Though Le Placard will stream live online, and also be
kept as a listenable archive, the in-the-moment presentation really
did have a “connected” feel to the inner artistic workings of
performance, a direct-connect.

For the first time Mutek tried something different; two simultaneous
shows that appealed to a potentially different audience. Upstairs I
caught Adam Young as Direwires. His set was melodic groove ambient
(ala EM:T update). The environment was temperate and a great opening.
Downstairs was the duo Vertex who were a bit more dissonant and
calculating. Natural sounds mixed with satellites. They kept things
pretty grounded though. Back upstairs to see Tim Hecker vs. Klimek
(tinylittleelements). At first things were a bit repetitively
intercultural, there were slight hints of Asian themes, but things
were too slow and never kick started for me. The video (by Lia?) was
deadpan solid color pixels that changed too subtlety, the overall
effect just sounded a bit like an awkward combination of artists. I
decided to spend the remainder of the evening downstairs where I
caught Diane Labrosse collaborating with Gunter Muller. Their
interaction was quite delicate and fit together like pieces of a
puzzle. It was great to watch Labrosse move the music with her hand,
bending the tonality as Muller just focused staidly. They looked like
a set of sound librarians if you really think about it. A force to be
reckoned with. Muller‘s solo set was brilliantly ever changing in its
cryptic and crunchy format. Mostly intimate, the treated sound was
rhythmically dreamy and thought provoking. Following was Marcus
Schmickler who performed an invasive interrogation on the audience’s
ears. From the beginning, all all-out assault with pitch that could
potentially render some tone deaf for life. I compare this to the
flesh eating amphibious effect. After a long start, he brought the
house down very quietly and started with a brief classical
strings-type rendering that rooted the listeners once more and built
up on that for a pure rush of pulsating noise that was the intense
moment of the day. So, after a collectively chaotic start it was a
smooth finish, as he built it up and tore it down with pride.

A few after thoughts about the previous evenings performances. The
only word to rightfully describe John Duncan‘s The Hissing was
vortex. It was the big black hole we were all falling through
together. And Pablo Reche toyed with the inversion of a surround
sound implosion. As if all were caving around you at full speed and
with clarity.

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TRANSMISSION 4 ::

(06.04.05) Clinker (Gary James Joynes from Edmonton, AB), who replaced
Thinkbox Collective, played Le Placard and simply smoothed the mood.
His cooly spatial playing mixed smart style with an abundance of
rolling ambience, most in the room just reclined for his exotic set.
Vibrant, pastel rhythm. (Bernhard) Gal (now living in Berlin) who is
on tour with cassette wizard and label guru Howard Stelzer (Intransitive
Recordings) followed him with a complex sound that was only effected
by the background noise, even with any noise cancellation brought
through the headphones. His style stop-started a few times breaking
tensions and barriers with a flow of field recordings from perhaps
street fairs or other places where people were socializing (or was
that actually Le Placard‘s background noise?). That was its vibe, its
reinvention of the moment, almost sounded as though he was recycling
the sound in the actual space of the performance. I am not sure if
the crowd knew he ended his set, but I was listening, and he left
questions to observe over time. He and Stelzer will play live again
in Montreal on June 8th at Casa del Popolo:
www.casadelpopolo.com

RANTS :: Smoking, it’s really hot and not the best ventilation at some
of the venues, so smoking seems like an inherently irritating habitual
cultural thing here, though I hear a rumor that local laws will ban
smoking in clubs come January 2006. If this is successful, there will
be healthier Mutek’s ahead. And the background noise. The bathrooms
overflowed with water on the floor and papers everywhere like the
punk clubs of the early 80s, less wreaking 420 than usual, though
there were fragrant wafts here and there. At a few of the shows,
where intimacy was key, you had a continuous drone of people
chattering away, as mentioned with John Duncan‘s set earlier, and when
Marcus Schmickler played, even though he shaved most of our eardrums
from their sockets, when there was a scoop of diminutive tonalities in
his playing it was quite off-putting to hear grand laughter and blur
that wasn’t coming from his mixer –to a lesser extent cancellations
like that of Ricardo Villalobos – a seemingly modern day Grace Jones
who has missed his plane to Montreal more than once, though, that was
to the crowd’s benefit later. For these slight irritations the show
went on, and the festival in total was a big success, especially for
those who like more avant garde approaches to electronics.

Reflection of last night’s performance :: Now that Ontario’s Direwires
(Adam Young) keeps reflecting back, I realize that his set was quite
impactful, and taken out of festival context I would say his work was
one of the biggest finds here. Mellowly warm ambient with some
restrained beat rhythms.

Of the Latin set, I only caught Danieto (Traum Recordings) of Chile
who’s poppy IDM dance sound was perfect for the hot day and bright
light. The room, if full, would have become a club environment. So,
in the heads of those there, it was just that. The crowd was wrapt
and moving. This was not overwhelmed with bass or special effects, it
was more of a hallucinatory blend of good vibes. I felt guilty for
not staying for more but I was too enthralled by the Le Placard
experience so it was downstairs to take in Tim Hecker. And he more
than made up for the former evening by playing a host of layered
inventions. It was brightly colored sweet and sour ear candy.

Ahhhhh, a chance to breathe and take a short nap before the big all
night party show, actually, unlike last year’s all night event (rave),
they were only able to get proper permits taking the programming to
3AM, and as far as I am concerned, seems like plenty of music for the
masses.

We entered with Monolake, who were back as a duo (Robert Henke and
T++). Along with the enriched club visuals of nAnalog, the
show was a definite solid party, dance playhouse. There was nothing
unexpected, just good, clean, dance music and nothing too dark or
improvised, it was pretty clean all the way through. Vancouver’s
Mathew Jonson (www.wagonrepair.ca) was the take home stand-out
performer of the evening who used some rock elements and lots of great
records, his set was post DJ, playing up the percussion as he used a
few similar techniques that you may find in a good Ritchie Hawtin set.
Austere, uplifting, just ran the gamut. Luciano (Perlon/Playhouse)
was performing solo sans Villalobos, so it was the first of a few
surprizes. He used crashing rhythms, winding beats, big bass and
built to a huge pinnacle when the sound unexpectedly quit for about a
dozen minutes. He looked quite shocked at the power surge, but they
had some house music to fill the gap and he started up again, and
though he made for a thumping good time, it lost its way, and he was
so grateful that people threw applause and not tomatoes (it wasn’t
his fault).

To the pleasure of the schedule change came Atom Heart
playing live with one of the Bucci brothers. The work was a bit
reminiscent of 80s acid with some industrial thrown in for good
measure, but they kept it a whipped and light as possible, and the
video programming that was seen earlier, by tINYLITTLEeLEMENTS, was
switched to house lighting that included red tubes and blue floods.
It had hints of his adopted South American rhythms, but over and
above, harder, harsher. It was interesting and entertaining, though
the feeling at the center of the dance floor was subtlety discharged.
The evening was sweaty as most threw their bodies like caution to the
wind.

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TRANSMISSION 5 :: Finale

(06.05.05) The day started as yet, another scorcher, yes, it’s over 90 with lots
of le humidite. I must say that it, in many ways, slowed the goings
on. As such, I decided to take paces today and for my final festival
experience, took in the ASKAA installation once more, to see the
incomparable Joe Colley (formerly Crawl Unit). Multimedia Canadian
artist Jamie Drouin was up first with an earthy sounding set that
interacted with the visuals more so than the other performances, as he
crackled and twisted micro-beats. The interlaced, large-scale paper
screens with their dangling sound receptors and other wires were his
canvas to explore. The overall sound was funky and intricate, warm,
yet slightly aloof. When Joe Colley begun his set reflectively as he
laid his glasses and his glass of white wine down on the table, like a
trained concert pianist, he was reflective and calculating, if not a
bit meditative. Like an alchemist, there was no laptop, though he
incorporated the use of tiny glass vials, a sound receptor that he
dragged along the serrated table top, a microphone, mixers, all the
while never remaining quite stable. He filled the room with buzz and
whirr, as his fuzzy transistor motors were connected he incorporated
static and feedback with the pinch of his fingertips. Inside the jars
he dangled a metal claw (?) and basically conducted electricity for a
bit over 1/2 an hour. The sounds were built from complete
improvisation, and watching him physically, added a perfomative aspect
not seen by the others working within the context of the installation.
Very intricate and curious.

Due to the heat and the direct sun I opted out of the days’ Picnik
Electronique and decided, instead, to let the party people in da haus
do their thang while I explored a bit of Montreal. So, I basically
walked through some smaller neighborhoods and shot some photography,
ate some delicious treats (yes, Montreal has great food) and some
blissful music shopping at Cheap Thrills, Beatnik and Atom Heart (I
found a Akumu, Robert Musso and a Move D that I had never come across
before!). Other reflections were a bountiful cycling festival that
routed its way down La Fontaine, the industrial train yards and Alexei
Borisov mentioning that he was leaving a dance event (there are
countless of these in Europe) to switch the mood to another festival
nearby, of death metal!

For the finale I was not feeling completely up to par with the weather
and some strong allergies, so I decided to take in only Si-Cut.DB
whose performance was stunning, and a great finish to a wonderfully
received fest. Mr. Benford (Sprawl, Bip-Hop) and I met just prior to
the show and it was great to chat with him and Eric Mattson about an
interesting night out in France where Mutek had presented a showcase
for Philippe Petit. I also had a good opportunity to socialize with
Franz Pomassl, and we discussed the importance and integrity in being
part of the media, and how it has the power to communicate the
cerebral and sensory aspects of performance. I also noticed John
Duncan and Joe Colley in conversation, would love to hear a
collaboration by the two of them if ever. I spoke with David Day of
Forced Exposure (www.forcedexposure.com), the best distribution for
electronic and experimental music in the U.S. and we talked about a
documentary he and his girlfriend are working on.

Si-Cut.DB‘s performance interwove basic dubbyness
alongside a massaging set of pure vibrating beats that were low to the
ground, yet higher than the 30 foot ceiling that towered above. It
set a framework for the beginning of the end of my night. He
basically played four or five lengthy tracks, most likely featured
partly on his latest recording From Tears: Beach Archive
(www.bip-hop.com) which I am looking forward to spinning
sometime. The music, at its level, may have even helped improve my
allergies. And, though there were four additional performers that
would run through the evening, I ushered myself home for a good
night’s rest before my long journey home.

Big congratulations and two thumbs (and even some toes) to the entire
Mutek organization, for once again outsmarting most like festivals
with an amazing lineup, and many surprises – here’s looking forward to
next year!

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