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Wednesday marked the beginning of Mutek – five days of digital creativity and electronic music. An impressive line-up of artist awaited festival goers over the course of the festival: Amon Tobin, Modeselektor, Plastikman, Gold Panda and James Holden (among others). There was no lack of choice or things to do on the first day, from free shows with artists playing inside Berri-UQAM Metro, or in Place de la Paix on Saint-Laurent, to the big indoor events like A/Visions at the Salle Pierre Mercure and the main event, the world premiere of Amon Tobin's new show at the Metropolis during Nocturne 1. They might as well have called it the Amon Tobin day, because it was on everybody’s lips. It was probably the most anticipated show of Mutek. Actually, there were a few highly anticipated shows at this year’s edition, but I will get back to them in future articles.

Nocturne 1

I was not able to cover other events that day but I absolutely did not want to miss this one after seeing what I saw at the sound check. I arrived early so I would be able to catch a good spot at Metropolis, which turned out to be barely filled with people - a bit too early, I guess. First up was Badawi, a veteran of the New York underground bass scene, whose real name is Raz Mesinai. Badawi is his latest experimental project. He delivered a decent set that took some time for the bass to drop - ten minutes to be honest, but who is counting anyways? It was filled with drum machines, looping sound effects, and heavy bass lines; it was minimal at times, but the pace quickened midway through his set. He played for 45 minutes before giving way to Gold Panda.

Gold Panda

There were a few artist I was looking forward to seeing perform at Mutek most; Gold Panda was one of them. The London based producer’s 2010 debut album, Lucky Shiner, has garnered critical acclaim throughout the electronic music scene and has been in regular rotation on my iPod and on our show, The Letter B. He manages to seamlessly mix different styles and textures into his work in a way that creates a very upbeat, organic sound where everything just seem to fit together. The proof is the fact that it only took 5 seconds of his first track for people to start dancing. It was almost instantaneous!

Amon Tobin during his Sound check (mnjivr)

Then it was time for the main event! I’ve been a fan of Amon Tobin for a long time. I’ve always like his style and how he makes ordinary sounds into tracks. The Brazilian born producer has always come up with different ways of reinventing himself. For Mutek, he pushed the boundaries with his latest creation: an audio-visual 3-D experience that takes the audience into the mind and imagination of a genius. Tobin places himself in a multi-dimensional 3-D art work on which pre-rendered elements are projected on to the structure which is all narrated by his latest album, ISAM. I had been to a preview of it earlier that day but it was nothing compared to what it was on stage. It was as if during one song you could have been on a giant spaceship with engines and machines working and the next song you were floating amongst the stars or in a city filled with lights and sound. All the while, Tobin has in his cube placed in the middle of the 25’x 14’ x 8’ shapeshiftting installation that resembled Habitat 67. It was a site to behold; the ambience, the lights and the music really fit perfeclty together.

I can honestly say that I have never seen something as jaw dropping as this performance. It was an audio-visual overload; at times you could easily loose track of what was being shown because of the sheer speed and detail that every scene had. After seeing Badawi and Gold Panda - who were brilliant - as well, I can say that I can die in peace! Well no... because there’s so much more ahead, but it was that amazing! The real work of a creative genius.

More pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alejandro_projects/sets/72157626906218806/

-Alex Menjivar hosts The Letter B on Saturdays from Midnight-1am

Peru has elected a new president. Olianta Humala defeated Keiko Fujimori in a run-off election Monday.

Humala has been compared with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela for his dedication to defeating poverty and combating inequality. But he says he has no plans to nationalize industries like Chavez did. A move that scared American investors away from the oil rich nation.

There are signs that investors in Peru fear the same fate. The Peruvian stock exchange fell over 10% as soon as the results came in. Humala officially takes over from outgoing president Alan Garcia on July 28th.

Starting Monday, transit goers will no longer have access to Villa Maria metro station. It will be undergoing repairs and  renovations for at least the next three months.

A special shuttle bus will be available to take people to Cote St. Catherine or Snowdon metro stations. During peak hours the shuttle will leave every two to three hours.

The repairs are expected cost $1.9 million.

Photo by Nika Vee.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will table Canada’s budget to the House of Commons Monday afternoon. It will be an almost identical budget to the one tabled on March 22. The Conservatives hold a majority of the seats in Parliament and the budget is likely to pass without any trouble.

Flaherty said a few tweaks have been made to March’s budget. Political parties’ direct public subsidies will be phased out over a three-year period. Parties in the past would get two dollars annually for every vote they received in the previous general election. This cost the federal treasury $27 million every year.

Quebec might also be looking at a payday if an agreement can be reached with the federal government by Sept. 15. Flaherty has set aside $2.2 billion for Quebec for harmonizing its provincial and federal sales taxes.

In March, Flaherty called the budget a “low tax plan for jobs and growth”. The Conservatives have promised to eliminate Canada’s deficit by 2015-2016. They even said they would be able to do it by 2014-2015 during the last election campaign.