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