Bee

Richie Hawtin can’t be summed up in a few words nor placed in one category. His imagination and creativity have proven to be without limits. Everything he does has an “un-seen” feeling to it, whether as a solo act, or along his M-NUS crew, it’s always surprising and challenging to live his events.

Yesterday was no exception with the revival of Plastikman. The event was sold out, which meant 10000 people were going to be there. Paris was the 3rd date of the tour and the rendez-vous mobilized French fans as well as many European ones, from UK, Holland and Germany. Time was slow until doors opened at 11pm and everyone got informed via the SYNK application that Plastikman wouldn’t start before 3.10am.

The wait was worth it though and it was mind blowing as expected. The stage was a huge LED screen in a form of a cage which broadcast the visuals. The shape was smart since all the crowd could equally see everything so no one would be marginalized.

The show was mainly visual for my part, since I went there without ever listening to a Plastikman record. Yeah you heard me, I only watched a Richie interview reviewing his career and talking about it. The music was very avant guardiste if you put it back in its right timeline, and I was very happy to witness the evolution of techno music till what we produce today. Sure the records have been re-adapted for the occasion but the essence of Plastikman was there.

Back to the visuals, it really made the music more interesting, as giving it another dimension. Every record was in the perfect harmony with its visual counterpart. Every track talked to the crowd, as if you’d see music alive, the way your brain processes it, well it was there on screen. It was dark, complex and psychedalic at times, very deep at others. Colors ranging from the majestic white to deep red. The SYNK app was fun, I couldn’t use it all the time since it drained my phone’s battery.

The show was an hour or so long, enough to make you go crazy I guess Marc Houle, Magda and Troy were in charge of the opening and closing sets, nothing to say about that since they are solid DJs and do great jobs all together. The M-NUS crew showed again that they can make crazy ideas come true with lots of practice, trial and errors (i.e. Contakt shows) and team work.

Overall the experience was quite trippy and I hope that the Richie crew will make a DVD out of it. I have a sure bet on that. Future events are posted on Plastikman’s websites, have fun if you’ll be around.

Richie always beleived in sharing experiences with his crowd over his gigs and he undoubtedly learned a lot from his “Contakt” tour. Plastikman is no exception.

Tags: Plastikman, Review

Making Contakt, the documentary

Mar 13, 2010 Blogging Bee, What to listen to

Making Contakt is a documentary DVD starring Richie Hawtin and his M-NUS crew throughout a series of concept gigs that happened in 2009. The idea behind the “Contakt” shows was to create a yet unseen experience out of a gig. The experience was 3 dimensional : One visual, second musical and third physical since the crowd interacted before and after every party.

The musical experience in Contakt showcased all the M-NUS crew live on stage. That is, Richie, Magdra, Troy Pierce with live supports from Marc Houle, Heartthrob & Gaiser. This was made possible with the creation of a unique (and complex) DJ setup that first surprised the hell out of me. It took me 5 minutes to emerge from the setup presentation and was thinking, damn that can open up so many possibilities while bringing up many questions on how can this be real ?

Multitasking as a DJ is a bit of a hassle, even with advanced gears and “Richie’s oh-so-famous sync macros ”. Yet concentration is a must to play a logical track’s progression and keep up with the transitions. Details weren’t given on that part. All we know is that the team worked hard to be on the same page and a huge respect goes to them. Who said computer assisted DJing was an easy task ?

Another interesting aspect was the visual one. Richie wanted it to be a Web2.0 like gig, live SMS messages written on the LCD screens, live webcam feeds to the audience, to sum it up, a live experience on and off stage.

The documentary narrates the unique experience of this crazy adventure. The concept’s risks were way too high, Richie’s ambitions were extremely high (As usual right ? ) but in the end it worked. There were flaws and there were successes and this is the beauty of it all.

I loved seeing all the sides of the production, it’s a melting pot between a behind the scenes, a movie and a documentary. You just don’t want it to end and once its over, you just want to replay the DVD.

The DVD comes with a CD of the soundtrack, most of the tracks are the M-NUS classics that you might have heard over a Richie or Contakt set if you attended any (Lucky you if you did).

The world needs people like Richie Hawtin, audacious, experimental and willing to take the experience further from what it is today. Some might not like him, for his personality or for his music style. But it’s undeniable how his presence affected the scene and how we mix music today. Digital DJing is good because it opens up possibilities, it opens up creativity, it makes you concentrate on more essential things and who knows, tomorrow you’ll be 3 on stage rocking the place down

You can buy the DVD from Amazon or M-NUS’ website.

Cheerz

Tags: DVD, M-NUS, Making Contakt, Review, Richie Hawtin