Digitalarti Mag's blog

Between the 1st and 4th of April 2010, 14,000 people visited the Electron festival. This is testimony to the importance this event has acquired, with its performances, screenings, conferences, and, of course, its plethora of DJ and live acts. Here’s a look back at the highlights of this year's 7th edition.

When we get to the Usine, the Electron festival's flag ship self-run cultural centre, we were welcomed by Subsound, operating on the front lines, seeping torturous dubstep, with armored bass and ferocious breakbeats. We met Oy next, a charming young lady whose origins are as mixed as her those of her music. The voodoo-like teddy bears that surround her controlled the samples, while the little lady livened it up with electro-synth, hip hop, and jazz filled electronica sound effects and loops in real time.

Up the stairs, at the Zoo, we found the tried and true efficiency of a DJ duo, sprinkling their set with “fun/club” references that one might find very… generational. We then stole away to Mixhell, Sepultra drummer backed up by his wife on the turn table! Back on the ground floor, KAB was breaking out again with breakbeats and grime, along with King Cannibal, followed by the more supple drum-n-bass of Sub Focus. End of the first round.

Dawn of the second day (about 3 pm…) took us to the BAC’s (Contemporary Art Building) party hall, for an exhibit bringing together artists like Frédéric Post, Elena Montesinos, Muck and Christian Marclay; we naively went looking for his “endless column”, even though the pile of records was sitting right there beneath our noses (the lost letter syndrome …). The exhibit’s masterpiece was Les roses blanches; Claude Leveque’s installation showed, not neons, but a disco ball in a room with scattered dishes, bathed in black light, and covered in white plastic…

In the same room, we saw a conference by Serge de Laubier, about the Meta-Malette (Meta-briefcase) developed at the Puce Muse (a living, virtual and visual music research center). In a very instructive way, he explained the mechanism whereby one can associate images, movements and sounds in real time; and how it is possible to modify sonic textures almost infinitely, and to “play” music with playful interfaces (joystick, pad).

Later on, laying back on the sofas, in the Alhambra, we saw Vladislav Delay’s set, with Derek Shirley (on the double bass) and Lucie Capece (sax and clarinet), a subtle mix of electro-acoustics and electronic tinkering. Next, on the same register, but another “scale”, Eric Truffaz and Murcof extended their Mexico Project in front of a full house, a house whose back stage was slightly smoky, as Erik Truffaz jokingly noted to his audience at the end of his captivating performance.

The contrast with Hudson Mohawke’s muddled heaviness, accompanied, what's more, by a screeching DJ, was brutal, to say the least... Same punishment from N-Type. We're washed back ashore, if we may put it thusly, to Renaissance Man and then Apparat's break- and multifarious gimmick-boosted techno. Enboldened, we “slalomed” all the way to the Paladium, the vast hall where Josh Wink was already on the turn table (coming after Green Velvet), before calling it quits ahead of the rest (DJ Zinc, etc.), overwhelmed by the bmps and our own old age…

The next day, at dawn once more (darn, 6 pm already…) we got “synchronized” for the Raster-Noton party at the Alhambra. Pixel opened fire first, armed with an oscilloscope, under the gaze of a camera which showed us his moves and helped us to trace the resulting modulations. Atome TM took over next, with lively songs interspersed with short clips. A “post-Kraftwerk” ambiance, in particular the vocodorized voice on some of the pieces. Following which Alva Noto, allied with Derivative, delivered a "live" version of Unitext, along brightly colored convergence lines synchronized to this synthetic symphony.

The rain was beating down when we headed back from the old style theater/cinema, to the Usine, where Von Magnet was present and full on, with their theatrical and tribal "flamenco mutant” (voice, machines, drum(s), guitar/bass). Excellent. We then got hooked up to Byetone’s groovy and saturation/demodulation-inhibited “technotronics”… Same for Pantha du Prince, whose over-saturated bass somewhat leadened the dynamic of their "dark" ambiance and its melodic line. That was the end of the line for us, but he would go on for a while, with Claude Vonstroke, in particular.

One regret, though: having missed Le Corps Électronique, a group of contemporary choreographies lined up for the opening, most of which included a dance and a drone-music-type musician (Cindy van Acker and Mika Vainio, etc.). All in all, 7 shows, like vibration centres (chakras), each responding to a different color or note.

LAURENT DIOUF

Published in the Digitalarti Mag #3.

Digitalarti Mag, the international digital art and innovation magazine.

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