MuchMusic.com | Blog

Christian Fennesz - live performance

As soon as I got to Montreal on Friday night, I had *just* enough time to rush over to SAT (La Societe Des Arts Technologiques) to pick up my tickets and schedule and then head to the first event of the weekend. SAT is a really cool venue that also acts as a gallery and homebase for MUTEK every year. The place was teeming with electronic music aficionados when I got there - it was a total frenzy. Thankfully, Montreal’s fairly small so the various showcases were close in proximity and it ended up being easy to hop from venue to venue throughout the night. My first stop was seeing Tim Hecker and Christian Fennesz at Theatre Du Nouveau Monde.

I’d never seen either of these guys perform and I had no idea what to expect from the venue, but let’s just say that what I got wasn’t at all what I was expecting! The show times were early (8pm & 9:30pm), and both Tim and Christian play super minimalist techno - something that would probably be more easily enjoyed in a theatre setting. And that’s exactly what it turned out to be. I was guided to a seat in total darkness by a theatre usher and reminded that flash photography was strictly verboten. Montrealer Tim Hecker took the stage first - unfortunately it was so dark in the theatre that I couldn’t snap a decent photo. There were no visuals or backdrop - just him at the table with his laptops, mixers and knobs. And sitting in such a dark theatre, listening to moody, repetitive beats was pretty much a recipe for naptime - but in a good way. It’s the kind of ambient music that makes you super pensive and introspective. Some people have described it as “cathedral electronic music” (fittingly, last time Tim was in Toronto he played at the Music Gallery, which is a church). When he played Chimeras, I had chills (you can listen to it on his MySpace page below). It’s a song of true crescendo-ing beauty.

If you didn’t check out Tim Hecker upon Pitchfork’s insistence in early 2007, do so now. His album Harmony In Ultraviolet is a work of art for any electronic music fan.

Next up was Christian Fennesz, more commonly known as just “Fennesz”. Christian’s been a mainstay in the IDM and electronica music scenes since the early 1990s, and he uses a guitar and laptop to layer his songs in a live performance setting. Lots of white noise, glitches and again, lullaby-esque melodies, but this time the music was accompanied by stunning visuals like raindrops, swirls and obscured facial details - very psychedelic. I’m not sure which of the two dudes in the photo I managed to snap is Fennesz, since once again it was very dark and both guys looked equally 40-something and Austrian, but I’m assuming it’s the guy on the right. After the thirty minute performance, the guys took a bow to a huge round of applause. It was a great, minimalist start to an evening that later ended with an explosion of rather thunderous dancing.

Links:
MySpace: Tim Hecker
Official Site: Tim Hecker

MySpace: Christian Fennesz
Official Site: Christian Fennesz

Posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 2:13 pm by Kat and is filed under Concerts & Events.

Related Articles:

• Much Does MUTEK: This Weekend!
• Hot Chip: Made In The Dark
• Nick’s Quick Review: DJ Champion at Virgin Fest
• Christian Bale Freakout: The Remix & The Mae Shi Tribute Song
• No This Is It for Christmas