On its 14th year, MUTEK Mexico is an accustomed accident in Mexico City, bringing an arrangement of cyberbanking music’s brightest and best to the basic every year. In 2017, however, a adverse convulsion threatened to beating the anniversary out of commission. John Twells was on the arena to attestant MUTEK.MX besom itself off and achieve its burghal proud.
On September 19 this year, an convulsion hit Central Mexico, killing 370 bodies and abasing 6,000, and annoyed barrio and basement in Puebla, Morelos and in Mexico City. This adverse accident occurred, unusually, abandoned two hours afterwards a civic convulsion assignment actual the 1985 Mexico Burghal earthquake, area about 10,000 lives were lost.
It’s difficult for any burghal to affected this akin of claiming and while Mexico Burghal was impressively able for the catastrophe, it still appropriate time, allotment and abutment to allotment calm a faculty of course afterwards the disaster. Somehow, MUTEK Mexico, which was initially slated for October 11-15 – abandoned weeks afterwards the convulsion – wasn’t cancelled. The aggregation abaft the anniversary were vigilant, authoritative abiding they arrested the assurance of every area and area actuality used, so that locals and visitors would be safe aback MUTEK.MX was confused to November 22-26, and bookers accolade to ensure the availability of their absorbing account of artists. Thankfully, the re-booted affairs was aloof as adorable as the aboriginal one, with huge names like Nina Kraviz, The Orb and Squarepusher buoying riskier affairs like Upgrayedd Smurphy, Additional Woman and Equiknoxx.
When I accustomed in Mexico Burghal I was afraid by how aboriginal it appeared to look. Mere weeks afterwards a 7.1 consequence earthquake, the burghal was alive as if annihilation had happened. Stationed in Colonia Roma, a belled artists’ commune lined with French-style above mansions and Neo-colonial shops and restaurants, I wandered about silenced by the district’s energy, abandoned acquainted the cracks afterwards they had been acicular out. At the edges of best streets and barrio were abysmal striations and asperous holes, but congenital with this affectionate of accident in mind, the majority of structures were able abundant to hold, birdbrained angles vanishing into the city’s aberrant landscape.
By the time the anniversary began in ardent I was already in awe. The aboriginal area was a planetarium at the Papalote children’s museum, a abounding amplitude that houses a huge IMAX screen; it sits on the outskirts of Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City’s agnate of New York’s Central Esplanade and one of the better burghal parks in the Western Hemisphere. Inside the dome, A/Visions 1 had already begun: Max Cooper and Maotik’s “Hyperform” was first, alms aesthetically appealing beheld cheat tacked to a apartment of music that could best be declared as a adventure through the greatest hits of IDM covered by a abecedarian AI. As the set confused on, the calibration remained absorbing alike as the glitchy, Autechre-influenced beats began to becloud into tech-house. Diagraf, Ewerx & Wiklow’s “Liquid Architecture” was added engrossing, with glitchy soundscapes – about amid Pole’s adulterated dub and Burial’s storm-drenched drag – accouterment the courage for epic, morphing cityscapes that afraid the audience.
Before embarking on abutting evening’s activities, I was afflicted by the affliction the MUTEK.MX agents took to ensure festival-goers had the best attainable acquaintance in Mexico City. One of the better draws for tourists is the arrangement of absorbing cuisine – anniversary day artery vendors abounding the city’s sidewalks, while some of the world’s finest restaurants are dotted nearby. To action anniversary company a able aftertaste of the city, a “Gastronomic Route” was provided by MUTEK that accent not abandoned the best taco spots, aliment trucks and sit-down eateries, but additionally provided capital bounded knowledge: area you ability charge anxiety and what’s the angled etiquette, for example. These little touches weren’t necessary, abnormally in the face of the disaster, but were acutely welcome. It accustomed visitors to feel a little added affiliated and bent in their analysis – relying on the ability of bounded experts rather than the crowd-sourced, context-free blend of Yelp.
A/Visions 2 on Wednesday was already attractive like a must-see accident abandoned from the lineup. Steve Hauschildt kicked things off with a alternative of synth-drenched vignettes from aftermost year’s Strands that abounding Auditorio Blackberry, an abounding area that’s center average a cine amphitheater and a stadium. By the time Carsten Nicolai, aka Alva Noto, hit the stage, the abode acquainted abounding – the black was awash out and heaved as Nicolai’s expertly-chiseled rhythms echoed through the hall, allegorical accelerated shocks of blush that cycled on a huge awning abaft him. This was actual I hadn’t heard afore from Nicolai, advertence a new direction: crunchy, ear-bleeding rhythms replaced the prettiness of the Xerrox alternation and the accomplished affair acquainted clearly added acute and active than 2011’s acclaimed Univrs.
Lorenzo Senni, who had absent his flight and abandoned accustomed at the area moments afore he had to perform, had a boxy assignment following. Alva Noto’s crowd-pleasing beheld affectation was replaced with a PVC banderole and Senni proceeded to agilely back-bite through highlights of aftermost year’s Persona and this year’s The Shape of Trance to Come. Dancing anyhow and ambagious the admirers at every turn, Senni acquired an departure at Auditorio Blackberry, but committed admirers were adored with a achievement that accent what you can achieve if you absolutely stick to your accoutrements (or in Senni’s case, your Roland JP-8000). This was homesickness astern and adapted into article absolutely altered – article about absolutely new, in fact.
Thursday’s performance, afresh at the Auditorio Blackberry was advantaged artlessly “Ambience”, and understandably took a added solemn, above tone. Kicking off with Rafael Anton Irisarri, we were off to a acceptable alpha as the US ambassador layered amusing guitar tones over balmy pads and candy acreage recordings, bushing the allowance with dense, admirable clouds of sound. But a few account into Tim Hecker’s set, I started to lose focus. I’ve apparent Hecker comedy afore and on this occasion, the ambience may accept debilitated the achievement – it articulate at times ambiguous and lacked his accepted power. The Orb followed and reminded me why I haven’t ventured out to see them in contempo years. Their accomplished addition was all but abandoned as Alex Patterson, antic a tee-shirt emblazoned with the abiding mantra “Keep Calm And Know That I Am God”, askance annoyed samples snatched from a accumulation of CDRs as Thomas Fehlmann corrective his ambient-by-numbers worksheets nextdoor.
The big guns, however, were cat-and-mouse in the wings – MUTEK.MX had abandoned aloof begun, as I apparent aback I accomplished Friday’s venue, Fábrica, a repurposed bolt branch an hour alfresco of Roma. This was a accident for the festival; the area wasn’t calmly attainable and while it was impressively sizable, with art installations brindled throughout the barn and aliment trucks sitting on the outskirts, it was too new to be a reliable draw. Thankfully, as French techno ambassador Chloé lit up the capital stage, the army began to grow, and by the time Kelly Lee Owens took to the date in a puffer anorak (she’d bent Laryngitis and like a trooper performed anyway) the area acquainted packed, but not abominably so.
Emptyset kept things beginning in Allowance B, capping a abundant year with a achievement that pulled the best $.25 from Borders and Skin. Fuzzy, adulterated visuals flashed abaft the duo as they pummeled an adherent army with boisterous beats and precisely-engineered electro-acoustic drones. Elsewhere, above the boardwalk to Allowance C, bounded ambassador Jadir Zárate afflicted with downtempo, glitchy soundscapes and hiccuping beats. The big draw for this black admitting was Nina Kraviz, who allowable account from her absonant assemblage of admirers as she rocked through a no-cheese-allowed alternative of abundant techno that was absurd not to enjoy. As the antipodal synths of ‘Red 1’ echoed above the dancefloor I about regressed aback to Birmingham, 1999 – at 3:30AM in a barn in Mexico City, that’s no beggarly feat.
Sadly, the Saturday’s Nocturne 2 was beneath impressive, area IDM adept Squarepusher snatched the banderole slot. While the army appeared to be wowed by the accomplished prankster’s asinine mix of accelerated EDM squelches, absurd melodies and chopped abbey breaks, I was larboard activity absolutely lost. True, Kraviz’s aloof barn techno the night afore wasn’t decidedly groundbreaking either, but it was expertly paced and wasn’t artlessly an bulletproof bank of annoying tropes, conducted by a man in a angry suit. Better was Allowance C, area Editions Mego’s LCC bashed through a abominable set of automated anguish and cutting 4/4 fabricated alike added absorbing by the actuality that it was handled by abandoned one of the duo’s associates – Uge Pañeda.
By far the highlight of the evening, and possibly the absolute festival, was a jagged, alarming set from Mexico City’s own Upgrayedd Smurphy, who appeared on date belted by three dancers that interpreted her burst club music with the affectionate of angry attitude usually aloof for the catwalk. It was a bold, bright achievement that illustrated Mexico City’s active aesthetic progression afterwards bottomward into homesickness for alike a second. Additional Woman angled out this allowance for the night, but by again best of the army had vanished to ogle Squarepusher in the capital room, abrogation me to insolate in the duo’s birdbrained digi-dub about alone.
It was accessible to feel afflicted and beat by the time we accomplished Sunday’s free-entry closing party, which took abode alfresco of Museo Tamayo, a abreast art building in the affection of Bosque de Chapultepec. But this was area I saw how the anniversary absolutely interacted with the city. The army was clearly altered – younger, beneath macho and added assorted – and the music was absolutely aimed at the party, a animation of beginning air afterwards a anniversary of absorbed drone, ascetic techno and aesthetic posturing. Argentina’s Chancha Vía Circuito was an aboriginal highlight, and the army lapped up his dubwise, occasionally berserk cumbia, dancing angrily as the sun set over the park. Again it was bottomward to Jamaica’s Equiknoxx to adviser us into the evening, area amount assembly duo Gavsborg and Time Cow were abutting by diva Shanique Marie, who added a faculty of personality to the show, brightening up rhythms from Equiknoxx’s contempo Colon Man LP with acclaimed articulate hooks and snippets from bonafides like Erykah Badu and Sade.
As the skyline abolished into addition night and Argentinan cumbia architects Klik & Frik afflicted a still-dancing army with their LED-lit hoodies and dancehall-inspired productions, I already knew I would absence Mexico City. MUTEK.MX had accomplished the impossible: the anniversary had survived an convulsion and acknowledgment to an abundantly committed aggregation and a burghal that absolutely seemed to never sleep, it was one of the best absolute productions I’ve encountered in two decades of festival-going. As I able to depart, I noticed that abandoned a brace of canicule after there was yet addition impressive-looking accident in CDMX, a anniversary of the beat GRM institute, with performances from Kara-Lis Coverdale and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe. I’m still regretting not carefully missing my flight home.
John Twells is FACT’s Managing Editor. Find him on Twitter.
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