There was a photo ban in effect during most events, so we're left with promotional shots of Richie Hawtin... ...and Scott Morgan (Loscil)

Spread across five days, MUTEK makes use of a stable set of top-flight venues and caters to audiences that have every intention of bearing witness to almost every moment of each performance. As such, there is almost no conflicting programming within the festival and the events that run concurrently are within one city block of each another, with set times established well in advance. And with major players like Smith & Hack, Junior Boys, David Kristian and Schneider TM in attendance, there was little that could be missed.

After huge successes with Wednesday night's multimedia opening at Ex-Centris, Schneider TM's (those guys are ROCK. STARS.) Canadian premiere at S.A.T. -- Société des arts technologiques -- and Thursday's brilliant showcase from the cross-border Thinkbox Collective, it's unfortunate that Friday night's long-awaited and hotly anticipated return of Richie Hawtin's Plastikman was marred by technical gaffs. All of this followed a two-hour delay that nearly exceeded the length of the set itself. The concept for this command performance was simple: upon taking the stage, Hawtin would control every aspect of the performance and space, ranging from the PA and lights to the video presentation and smoke machines. The formulaic sounds laid out by Hawtin, though expected, failed to charge the audience after such a long wait. Simple beats slowly grew into dense exercises in patience as technical difficulties continued throughout set, alternating between interrupted or blank video screens and dynamic volume changes in the venue.

The patient crowd madly applauded Hawtin's finale and subsequent departure but I suspect many were thrilled to finally have the opportunity to hear the real jewel of the evening: Britain's über-producer Andrew Weatherall and his brilliant brand of maddening electro and dirty house. The punters still in attendance seemed thrilled to wind themselves up and act out, but after barely forty-five minutes the venue cut Weatherall off mid-set and ushered everyone out. This was a truly disappointing end to a frustratingly long evening. (The following night, there was a similarly odd situation when Jason Forrest (aka Donna Summer) was booed from the stage prior to a proposed encore. Plastikman clearly has a place in Montreal's heart; he could do no wrong, but poor Forrest was left to the lions.)

I'd be foolish not to mention the special role Minus label-manager Clark Warner played during Friday's oddity at Metropolis. Initially slated to perform a brief opening DJ set in advance of Plastikman's arrival, Warner's set expanded in size as the headliner's delay grew longer. His mellifluous and often times deafening array of droning, dense, and lushly symphonic samples and tones became an other-worldly experience that, in the end, far outshone either of the headliners.

Sunday night's closing party featured a line-up that, in any other context, would have commanded big money and possibly more than one stage. But at MUTEK it was just another night -- albeit a night featuring Vancouver's Loscil, Warp's Jamie Lidell, The Mole and Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit collaborating with Burnt Friedman. As this was the only event programmed for the evening, S.A.T. was appropriately packed and a gorgeous afternoon made for the first sticky and sweaty concert event of the summer season. Scott Morgan's set as Loscil explored the blissful electro-organics of his recent First Narrows, while The Mole tazed the crowd with some aggressive funk-inflected loop-foolery. After that, Jaki and Friedman floored everyone with a complex performance featuring live drums, electronic instrumentation and live digital processing.

With nary a blemish on their track record (the Plastikman showcase is proof that the faithful are willing to forgive nearly anything), the organizers of MUTEK proved once again that Montreal's claim to the North American crown of electronic music is just and deserved. Deftly balancing mainstream pop-isms with out-and-out experimentalism, the festival's roster of artists appealed to a wide cross-section of listeners, while also introducing successive waves of talent. Mark your calendars now for the first weekend of June 2005 and plan your vacation accordingly -- Montreal and MUTEK will be waiting, ready to share their not-so-secret secret.

Article by Mike Baker