Field Notes From Montreal: Audion

Trance Lab field reporter Craig ventured north of the border last weekend to soak up a taste of Montreal's steaming techno scene with an evening at SAT to catch live sets from Spectral Sound's Matthew Dear as Audion, Epsilon Lab's Pheek, and others. He submitted this report.

Walking up to the doors of the Societe des arts Technologiques on March 10^th, we knew we were in for a treat. The night was titled “Statik” and was presented by DiskHo. The lineup included the likes of Matthew Dear, Pheek, Mateo Murphy and Jon Schmidt. The club pulsated with some early sounds from Jon Schmidt while we waited in line for the 10pm doors. (Apparently, someone forgot to bring money for the cash register, so we were stuck waiting outside for an extra 20 minutes until it arrived…but that’s another story.) Many familiar faces from Montreal were out for the night that was sure to be an intense display of electronic creativity, as I’m sure anyone who has heard the “Suckfish” album would attest. There was no cheap gear to be found as one look around the stage revealed more Allen & Heath equipment than a Richie Hawtin setup. The sound towards the middle of the room was clear and deep throughout the night.

Jon Schmidt kicked the night off from 10-11:30 with a nice set. Lots of straight techno to wet the appetite. The club was fairly empty until Pheek and Mateo Murphy teamed up for an off the wall live pa from from 11:30 to after 1. Their set was slightly more interesting as they mixed with a little more attitude. Some harder beats and progressive sounds had the floor packed for the arrival of Matthew Dear, whose set can only be described as Audion. Two stand-out tracks for the night were definitely “T*tty F*ck” and “The Pong”. They were both intensely hypnotic renditions of the album tracks and simply blew me away. Sexy, clever microhouse-flavored techno. However, I think the track of the night had to be “Kisses”. I don’t think I’ve heard anything quite like it before. While the album is a beautiful one to listen to, nothing can compare to the live version on a system that does the music justice. When all was said and done, Matthew Dear lived up to his reputation as a pioneer and leader in the techno community.