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October 24th marked the return of Amon Tobin’s ISAM show in Montreal, following a premiere last June at Mutek ‘11.

Emika, the Berlin-based dubstep singer/producer and recent Ninja Tune signee, opened the night. In contrast  with Amon Tobin’s audio-visual spaceship that was about to emerge from behind the curtain, Emika came armed with a minimal amount of gear, but still delivered a powerful set of live electronics, manipulating her voice using two microphones running through FX boxes while stomping on a drum machine and a Waldorf synthesizer. Her defiant attitude while standing on the edge of the stage with very little audience interaction  matched the harshness of the sounds she used to build complex rhythms and melodies at earth-shattering bass and sub-bass levels.

The tension in the sold-out Métropolis built even more during an unusually lengthy break in-between the two acts, most probably to insure the smooth functioning of Amon Tobin’s high-tech machinery. Yet the wait was worth it as the crowd burst into applause when the massively impressive superstructure of various-sized cubes, one of which large enough to accommodate the artist and his whole control room, was revealed. Amon Tobin immediately set on to showcase a breathtaking hour-and-a-half of computer-generated visuals synec to a futuristic soundtrack made up of deconstructed sound fragments from his ISAM album, which he augmented with a wide range of sound effects that would not have been out of place in an interstellar war videogame. Full of electronic zaps, swooshes and booms only occasionally relieved by organic sounds, the sonic content of the show was of extremely high calibre, showing to the sceptics that Tobin’s innovative stage design had not been made at the music’s detriment. Fluidly shifting between scenes and ambiances, the projections evolved from a galactic mesh of 3D-mapped constellations and shape-shifting spacecrafts into an abstract mixture of distorted lasers, pulsating waveforms and every visually stunning animation you can (or can’t) think of. With his ISAM experience, Amon Tobin visits a whole universe beyond most of today’s electronic acts. Not only do you get to hear the sounds made by a gigantic, terrific-looking robot, but you also get to see that gigantic, terrific-looking robot in full action. The glimpses we got of Amon Tobin only served to remind us that at the heart of all this technologic dementia lies a human, and a very inspired one.

-Alex P hosts Club Terrestre on Tuesday nights from 11pm-12am

A G20 conference has been organized in Southern France regarding the Greek debt crisis as its main focus.

US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed that the European financial crisis must be taken seriously.

Obama believes that the crisis is taking a financial toll on the rest of the world as well.

He is confident that he and the European leaders will bring financial stability back to Europe and the whole world.

Concordia's Arts and Science Federation of Associations passes a motion to strike Novemeber 10th.

The strike will allow students to join in province-wide protests against tuition hikes.

The meeting had a shaky start in which GSA and CSU implored students to invite more people to register so they could reach quorum.

Reaching the quorum of 400 undergrad and 60 graduate students made the meeting official.

This allowed them to pass the resolution requesting students be exempted from academic obligations next Thursday.

Organizers repeatedly stressed the effects tuition hikes will have on the future of accessible education.

Premier Jean Charest's decision to raise Quebec student tuition by nearly 75% has drawn the ire of many students in the province.

Schools from across Montreal will be holding a joint protest on the 10th at Place Emilie-Gamelin.

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau is upset that a Tory MP publicly questioned his Catholic faith. He even went as far as to indicate that he might not be suitable to speak to Catholic school students.

The upsetting Facebook comments were made by parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister Dean Del Mastro on October twelfth. Justin said he was raised Catholic by his father and went to Church every Sunday and did his nightly family prayers. Del Mastro stands by his original comments, saying Trudeau’s public positions are often not in accordance with the Catholic faith.

Trudeau added that he sees no problem with combining Catholicism with the rights of gays and lesbians. He notes that he is personally very opposed to abortion, but still believes nobody can tell a woman what she should do with her body. 

Last month’s “It Gets Better” video, which a group of Conservative MPs took part in, brought up a debate between religion and politics. Some MPs had opposed the extension of marriage rights to gays and one even called homosexuality a sin. Gay rights advocates say the main concern was that Conservatives have taken little concrete action on Parliament Hill to stop discrimination or promote rights in legislation.