Reporting from a remote outpost in the south of France, the dark urban sounds of techno and dubstep seem more than a world away. It’s hard to envision the appeal of tribal escapism practised through absorption of incredibly loud, repetitive beats when one is surrounded on all sides by olive trees, rivers of cheese and booze, typing languidly while only a stone’s throw from the world’s largest nudist colony. I kid you not, there’s 40,000 of ‘em just on the other side of the fence, carrying on like you wouldn’t believe… And it’s two o’clock in the afternoon.
Though my attempts to cover the 10-year anniversary of the Mutek festival have been all but thwarted – U.K. dubstep phenom Mala refused to answer a few questions that I emailed to him last week – I’ve all but forgotten my disappointment due to an afternoon shower of red wine and burning sunshine.
Mala and Skull Disco’s Appleblim form the core of this year’s considerable dubstep offerings at Mutek’s Nocturne 2 tonight, bolstered by once-Montrealer Deadbeat, for whom I’ve long felt a deep admiration. His move to Berlin last year has allowed me to shamelessly worship his tunes without worry of being labelled a nepotist. As if that ain’t enough, tonight’s festivities (May 28) also showcase the return of red hot genre-bending remix specialists Modeselektor who, coupled with fellow Berliner Apparat (a.k.a. Shitkatapult co-founder Sascha Ring), form the live trio Moderat.
Mutek’s other prize offering this year, in the esteem of critics and trend-watchers the world over, must be the Montreal debut of Mexican duo Bostich & Fussible, best known for their work at the head of the Nortec Collective, whose Tijuana Sessions and 2008 full-length Tijuana Sound Machine have done with norteño and tambora (traditional styles from Mexico’s north) what Mala and his Digital Mystikz crew have done with traditional Jamaican dub and dub reggae.
In terms of minimal techno and tech-house, the cornerstones of Mutek, there is also reason to rejoice: Detroit legend Carl Craig performs Saturday (May 30) alongside festival regulars Mathew Jonson and Dandy Jack, while local connections Akufen, Stephen Beaupre, Mateo and Pheek return for Sunday’s finale. The much anticipated (perhaps erroneously) Piknic afternoon highlight is undoubtedly Ricardo Villalobos and Zip‘s tag team set Sunday.
In other news local, d’n'b treasure RCola, vinyl messiah and role model for all who aspire to a career in electronic music, launches his full-length album Rub-a-Dubwise at Friday night’s KO at Petit Campus. Touring incessantly, managing a complex ring of labels and vinyl distribution services, with this album RCola continues to establish himself as a bona fide producer in the truest sense. Recording with reggae greats Barrington Levy, Sister Nancy and Jimmy Riley, and remixing renowned international artists with broad appeal such as Transglobal Underground and France’s own Aiwa, Rub-a-Dubwise does for jungle and d’n'b what Nasa or Blue Sky Black Death have done for hip-hop, working with a variety of artists and sounds to create a modern day fusion project curated by an omniscient hand at the mixing console. Do not sleep.
"When two people dream the same dream, it ceases to be an illusion." – PKD
