1. Samael, Sepultura, Kreator, and Lordi all played in Sofia this year. Within a few weeks of each other. In wintertime, of course (did you really have to ask)? Dream Theater are playing in July. With metal, it's business as usual in Eastern Europe.
2. Everyone who wasn't singing along with the Czech folk songs in the Czech pub in Nessebar was grinning like an idiot.
3. Our conference boat trip was mostly soundtracked by classic early 90's Eurodance. Haddaway's "Life", people! Wow!
4. The couple who salsa danced to "Hotel California" in the Irish pub in Sofia.
5. In the same Irish pub, I had a premonition (sometime around the 4th U2 song played in the first hour after I arrived there) that they'd play Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" and it would close the bar down, for all intents and purposes. And how about that, this is exactly what happened.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Michael Jackson RIP
I'm typing this in Nessebar, Bulgaria, participating in a bubble of science that exists within its own bubble in this beautiful little vacation spot where people go to bake on the beach, wander among centuries-old ruins, and generally feel cut off from the world. I suppose this is how they feel at Glastonbury (minus the occasional mud and rain), where everything happening out "there" is somehow not real, or is happening in some parallel universe. Nobody is talking about the death of the biggest pop star the world has ever seen, even though BBC news is on the TV in the hotel lobby. Nobody was paying attention to it.
I heard about Michael Jackson's cardiac arrest before I went to bed last night. So I knew what to expect when I woke up this morning, which certainly diminished the shock factor. All of this is simultaneously the most and least surprising celebrity death that I can remember. Surprising because his death was sudden, he was so young, and because most people (and this is one of the few times that "most people" can be stated literally, as in "most people in the world", without hyperbole) can't remember a time when Michael Jackson wasn't a phenomenon nearly on par with many major world religions. But it's also not surprising because he's been wasting away, very much in the public eye, for decades. There's the weirdo stuff we know about (the plastic surgeries, the air filters he and his kids wore in public), the stuff we don't (who knows what sort of pills and drugs he took over the years to cure his ailments both real and imagined), and it all sums up to a picture of a profoundly unhealthy man.
I honestly have no idea if Michael Jackson was a child molester or not (the courts say no), but no matter what bad stuff he was accused of, I always thought back to a comment made by his close friend Elizabeth Taylor. She claimed they had a lot in common and truly understood each other because they both knew what it was like to have never had a childhood. He didn't have what 99.9999% of people take completely for granted -- whether you were happy or miserable, whether you were beat up everyday or had everything handed to you, we all had the chance to grow up. I always felt sorry for Michael Jackson. It doesn't excuse anything he may or may not have done (or said), but I always tried to remember Elizabeth Taylor's comment and to understand him just a little bit better.
That's why I felt good about the way that his critical reputation has been rehabilitated over the past several years. During much of the 90's, it was hard to get away from "Michael Jackson, fading popstar and batshit personality" and to remember "Michael Jackson, superstar and creator of some of the finest pop music ever made". After he went into seclusion following his trial (of course, he moved to Bahrain, so this was not something accidental), the well of eccentric Michael Jackson stories dried up, and the only thing left was to talk about the music. Plus, a new generation of pop stars emerged (Britney, Justin, Usher) who grew up idolizing him, weren't afraid to show it (in their music, in interviews, and in their videos) and honestly didn't seem to give a crap about what kind of person he was. Their brains seemed permanently dialed in to the image of the man-child they watched on MTV and whose moves they imitated in their basements every day. Michael Jackson's music becoming cool again might be the best example you can find about art trumping life (att: Phil Spector), and although we might be conflicted about that as human beings, as music fans it's comforting to know that Michael Jackson's status as a creative genius and certifiable music legend will be forever safe.
I heard about Michael Jackson's cardiac arrest before I went to bed last night. So I knew what to expect when I woke up this morning, which certainly diminished the shock factor. All of this is simultaneously the most and least surprising celebrity death that I can remember. Surprising because his death was sudden, he was so young, and because most people (and this is one of the few times that "most people" can be stated literally, as in "most people in the world", without hyperbole) can't remember a time when Michael Jackson wasn't a phenomenon nearly on par with many major world religions. But it's also not surprising because he's been wasting away, very much in the public eye, for decades. There's the weirdo stuff we know about (the plastic surgeries, the air filters he and his kids wore in public), the stuff we don't (who knows what sort of pills and drugs he took over the years to cure his ailments both real and imagined), and it all sums up to a picture of a profoundly unhealthy man.
I honestly have no idea if Michael Jackson was a child molester or not (the courts say no), but no matter what bad stuff he was accused of, I always thought back to a comment made by his close friend Elizabeth Taylor. She claimed they had a lot in common and truly understood each other because they both knew what it was like to have never had a childhood. He didn't have what 99.9999% of people take completely for granted -- whether you were happy or miserable, whether you were beat up everyday or had everything handed to you, we all had the chance to grow up. I always felt sorry for Michael Jackson. It doesn't excuse anything he may or may not have done (or said), but I always tried to remember Elizabeth Taylor's comment and to understand him just a little bit better.
That's why I felt good about the way that his critical reputation has been rehabilitated over the past several years. During much of the 90's, it was hard to get away from "Michael Jackson, fading popstar and batshit personality" and to remember "Michael Jackson, superstar and creator of some of the finest pop music ever made". After he went into seclusion following his trial (of course, he moved to Bahrain, so this was not something accidental), the well of eccentric Michael Jackson stories dried up, and the only thing left was to talk about the music. Plus, a new generation of pop stars emerged (Britney, Justin, Usher) who grew up idolizing him, weren't afraid to show it (in their music, in interviews, and in their videos) and honestly didn't seem to give a crap about what kind of person he was. Their brains seemed permanently dialed in to the image of the man-child they watched on MTV and whose moves they imitated in their basements every day. Michael Jackson's music becoming cool again might be the best example you can find about art trumping life (att: Phil Spector), and although we might be conflicted about that as human beings, as music fans it's comforting to know that Michael Jackson's status as a creative genius and certifiable music legend will be forever safe.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Sunn O))), "Monoliths and Dimensions"
I can see where a lot of the praise is coming from with this one, i.e. Sunn O))) break with formula and add strings and angelic choirs to their already dense sound, but any album that begins with drudgery like "Aghartha" will dampen my enthusiasm to some degree. It's not such a horrible track, but the vocals are downright risible at times, and what's more, appear annoyingly upfront in the mix.
From then on, things get a lot better. Sunn O))) are becoming more and more similar to black metal with each new album, and such evolution can only be a good thing. The standout track is certainly "Big Church" -- if they were looking to record a track that would defy you to avoid using any and all cliched descriptions (floating to the heavens on an angelic cloud of noise-cum-spirituality, etc.), then they succeeded beyond all expectations.
From then on, things get a lot better. Sunn O))) are becoming more and more similar to black metal with each new album, and such evolution can only be a good thing. The standout track is certainly "Big Church" -- if they were looking to record a track that would defy you to avoid using any and all cliched descriptions (floating to the heavens on an angelic cloud of noise-cum-spirituality, etc.), then they succeeded beyond all expectations.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
MUTEK revisited (V)
MUTEK10 wrapped up on the weekend, but I've still got one show left in my queue:
9. Matthew Dear
May 30, 2003:"Then Matthew Dear seems to double the volume, get darker and wildly nastier, while the beats come full circle to take on the role of full body massage."
This set, which at the time fit comfortably into the sound of Montreal's then red-hot microhouse scene, was recorded during Dear's time working under the False moniker for M_nus. He's more of a follower than a leader here (albeit a very talented follower), and it's simply amazing to think about how much better his music became when he started pushing the boundaries of the genres he dabbled in, rather than trying to comfortably slot himself within those boundaries (as he's doing here). The first half of the set is exuberantly dancefloor friendly, but the second half is darker and more sinister. It's a small jump from the first half to "Leave Luck to Heaven"'s strange combination of microhouse bounciness and bored vocals, but thankfully he stayed clear of that path in favour of the second half's more twisted, destructive side, which foreshadows a) the twisted, hypersexual sneer of Audion, b) the Bowie-esque dark pop of "Asa Breed", and c) Richie Hawtin's set that immediately followed.
It's a shame that we'll never get to hear Hawtin's jaw-dropping set from that night -- he was the only artist who forbade recording and streaming of his performance that year, citing the need to prevent unreleased material from being widely circulated. Months later, those unreleased tracks made up the bulk of "Closer", which is one of the decade's best albums. Otherwise, I really wish that the rest of MUTEK's complete archives were still accessible, although I can understand why they're not, given MUTEK's and many of the artists' tremendous growth as brands of considerable value (at least, I assume that this a key reason why). I doubt that my top two requests would ever show up on possible future versions of the podcast, since nobody ever talks about these artists anymore, but I'd lop off a toe to hear Mens/Koolwyk from 2002 (skin-flaying bass-heavy techno minimalism with rapid-fire test pattern video images), and especially Philippe Cam from 2001 (one of the most memorable techno gigs I've ever seen, perhaps my all-time top "Ballad of a Thin Man" moment, in fact, something happened that night and I STILL don't understand exactly what it was).
Bonus mini-review! Even though I wasn't there in 2005, I thought I'd cover this one too just because I love the new Moderat album so much (much jealousy toward those who saw them at MUTEK this year):
Apparat
Left to his own devices (i.e. when not collaborating with other artists), Apparat's music tends to be too trebly, too bright, too reliant on sparkling, looped melodic leads. I mean, ripping off 1996-1999 period Orbital can't be a bad thing, but Orbital always understood the value of pathos, better than just about all of their peers. This set might be lacking in emotional depth, but it makes up for it with it's "perfect execution", to paraphrase the blurb from the podcast. It flows smoothly and brilliantly between euphoric highs and more subtle lows, and decisively nails the big finish with its noisy, chopped up beats. Whew ...
9. Matthew Dear
May 30, 2003:"Then Matthew Dear seems to double the volume, get darker and wildly nastier, while the beats come full circle to take on the role of full body massage."
This set, which at the time fit comfortably into the sound of Montreal's then red-hot microhouse scene, was recorded during Dear's time working under the False moniker for M_nus. He's more of a follower than a leader here (albeit a very talented follower), and it's simply amazing to think about how much better his music became when he started pushing the boundaries of the genres he dabbled in, rather than trying to comfortably slot himself within those boundaries (as he's doing here). The first half of the set is exuberantly dancefloor friendly, but the second half is darker and more sinister. It's a small jump from the first half to "Leave Luck to Heaven"'s strange combination of microhouse bounciness and bored vocals, but thankfully he stayed clear of that path in favour of the second half's more twisted, destructive side, which foreshadows a) the twisted, hypersexual sneer of Audion, b) the Bowie-esque dark pop of "Asa Breed", and c) Richie Hawtin's set that immediately followed.
It's a shame that we'll never get to hear Hawtin's jaw-dropping set from that night -- he was the only artist who forbade recording and streaming of his performance that year, citing the need to prevent unreleased material from being widely circulated. Months later, those unreleased tracks made up the bulk of "Closer", which is one of the decade's best albums. Otherwise, I really wish that the rest of MUTEK's complete archives were still accessible, although I can understand why they're not, given MUTEK's and many of the artists' tremendous growth as brands of considerable value (at least, I assume that this a key reason why). I doubt that my top two requests would ever show up on possible future versions of the podcast, since nobody ever talks about these artists anymore, but I'd lop off a toe to hear Mens/Koolwyk from 2002 (skin-flaying bass-heavy techno minimalism with rapid-fire test pattern video images), and especially Philippe Cam from 2001 (one of the most memorable techno gigs I've ever seen, perhaps my all-time top "Ballad of a Thin Man" moment, in fact, something happened that night and I STILL don't understand exactly what it was).
Bonus mini-review! Even though I wasn't there in 2005, I thought I'd cover this one too just because I love the new Moderat album so much (much jealousy toward those who saw them at MUTEK this year):
Apparat
Left to his own devices (i.e. when not collaborating with other artists), Apparat's music tends to be too trebly, too bright, too reliant on sparkling, looped melodic leads. I mean, ripping off 1996-1999 period Orbital can't be a bad thing, but Orbital always understood the value of pathos, better than just about all of their peers. This set might be lacking in emotional depth, but it makes up for it with it's "perfect execution", to paraphrase the blurb from the podcast. It flows smoothly and brilliantly between euphoric highs and more subtle lows, and decisively nails the big finish with its noisy, chopped up beats. Whew ...
Sunday, May 31, 2009
MUTEK revisited (IV)
8. Tim Hecker vs 242 Pilots
May 29, 2003:"Then, after a couple of exercises in sound/visual synchronization by 242 Pilots, it launches into their improvised visual accompaniment with Tim Hecker. He's dead-on awesome, combining noise and splendour while holding the room in his own personal trance."
You can grab a recording of this from MUTEK podcast #9, but be warned that it's not a complete version of the gig. The first twenty minutes were the "exercises in sound/visual synchronization", musically this resembled Thomas Brinkmann's vinyl-slicing experiments far more than what you'd typically get from Tim Hecker. I'm listening to the complete recording, the MUTEK version picks up once Hecker's warm, enveloping, airy tones kick in, as the set begins to focus on "Radio Amor" material.
So, what else can I say about the great Tim Hecker? He is one of the most reliable artists of the decade, and also one of the most formulaic. Both are meant to be compliments. He has found a signature style that works wonders for him, and I'm completely OK with continuing to listen to sets like these from now until he chooses to stop making them or quits music altogether. He takes his formula and alters it depending on how melancholy he wants his music to be (with choice of additional black metal or shoegaze add-ons) and away he goes. He is to the 00's what Stereolab were to the 90's -- he has about three songs and keeps rewriting them over and over, but those three songs are so damn good that the endless recycling scarcely seems to matter.
May 29, 2003:"Then, after a couple of exercises in sound/visual synchronization by 242 Pilots, it launches into their improvised visual accompaniment with Tim Hecker. He's dead-on awesome, combining noise and splendour while holding the room in his own personal trance."
You can grab a recording of this from MUTEK podcast #9, but be warned that it's not a complete version of the gig. The first twenty minutes were the "exercises in sound/visual synchronization", musically this resembled Thomas Brinkmann's vinyl-slicing experiments far more than what you'd typically get from Tim Hecker. I'm listening to the complete recording, the MUTEK version picks up once Hecker's warm, enveloping, airy tones kick in, as the set begins to focus on "Radio Amor" material.
So, what else can I say about the great Tim Hecker? He is one of the most reliable artists of the decade, and also one of the most formulaic. Both are meant to be compliments. He has found a signature style that works wonders for him, and I'm completely OK with continuing to listen to sets like these from now until he chooses to stop making them or quits music altogether. He takes his formula and alters it depending on how melancholy he wants his music to be (with choice of additional black metal or shoegaze add-ons) and away he goes. He is to the 00's what Stereolab were to the 90's -- he has about three songs and keeps rewriting them over and over, but those three songs are so damn good that the endless recycling scarcely seems to matter.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
MUTEK revisited (III)
6. Senor Coconut y Su Conjunto
May 31, 2003: "Despite the novelty graphics on the video screen (Space Invaders, robots, etc.), it's obvious when seeing them that they are no novelty act. Musicianship this good is no joke. Marimba and vibraphone players with this sort of dexterity aren't looking for laughs. I'm sure the majority isn't well versed with the Kraftwerk originals, but the band holds the crowd in the palms of their hands for a solid hour and a half. And Uwe Schmidt, despite sticking out somewhat by being the only band member dressed in a full suit, plays the role of the anti-star and stands off to the side with his laptop and lets the rest of the band be the stars. If you didn't enjoy this show, then you have no pulse."
Why did I think that the crowd wouldn't be familiar with the Kraftwerk originals? There must have been some reason for such an usual comment, but I can't for the life of me remember what it could have been. Comments from people I talked to before the show? Were people not singing along during the set?
When you're as prolific as Atom Heart, almost anything you do will have a limited shelf life, performance-wise. In this case, he got out while the gimmick was still hot. The world didn't need Kraftwerk songs done in mambo, salsa, and cha-cha-cha styles, and a few of these songs don't lend themselves well to the styles at all (e.g. "The Man Machine", "Trans-Europe Express"), but songs like "Neon Lights" and "Showroom Dummies" are just gorgeous -- you could probably slot these tracks into rotation at a salsa bar and anybody who didn't know the original songs would carry on dancing without batting an eyelash. And that massive, fifteen-minute "Musique Non Stop", complete with a round of instrumental solos, forgives just about any earlier miscues.
I don't understand why they didn't switch the order of the encores ("Expo 2000" should have been the first encore, with "Tour de France" as the second, and final encore that closed the book on this chapter of Senor Coconut for good) but otherwise, this performance is about as good as anyone could have possibly expected.
7. Bola
May 30, 2002: "When one goes years between releases and live gigs, you'd expect nothing less than all the stops pulled out. And he complies by mainly avoiding the blippy curiosities that have surfaced on Skam lately, and covering his songs in the lush ambiance that he's best known for."
One of the things I really loved about this show were the lush, colourful visuals, which were a relatively new thing for techno gigs at the time. Now, video accompaniments of the quality presented by Bola are pretty much the standard, or at the very least, nobody would look at them in 2009 and say that the artist had "pulled out all the stops". If I saw this gig today, I'd be far less impressed, right? Right?
I disowned Bola and anything Skam-y for a long time. In 1998, I was convinced that this stuff was the future of techno, nothing less than the next major step forward for electronic music, on par with the pioneering sound of the Detroit originals. HAHAHAHAHA. On just about any given day, I'll tell you this was my all-time biggest musical fortune-telling blunder. By 2002, I had stopped drinking that particular flavour of Kool-Aid, but was still fairly stoked about seeing Bola, whose album "Soup" remained special to me.
IDM is about as dead as dead can be, even deader than it was in 2002, but dammit if this set doesn't sound shockingly fresh. Maybe it's just because I haven't listened to Bola in a while (i.e. it's fresh all over again because I've dug up something ancient that nobody bothers with anymore), but the connections between this and contemporary dub techno have never seemed clearer (although today's dub techno is itself largely a turn-back-the-clock genre that is simply reprocessing the same Basic Channel records, but whatever, things run in cycles, current is current). Bola's music was ahead of its time in that the more serene moments perfectly anticipated the bedroom "pop ambient" style, and he balanced the funky/lush divide better than just about any other IDM-er.
This is my favourite of the "revisited" sets I've heard thus far. Who would've thunk it??
May 31, 2003: "Despite the novelty graphics on the video screen (Space Invaders, robots, etc.), it's obvious when seeing them that they are no novelty act. Musicianship this good is no joke. Marimba and vibraphone players with this sort of dexterity aren't looking for laughs. I'm sure the majority isn't well versed with the Kraftwerk originals, but the band holds the crowd in the palms of their hands for a solid hour and a half. And Uwe Schmidt, despite sticking out somewhat by being the only band member dressed in a full suit, plays the role of the anti-star and stands off to the side with his laptop and lets the rest of the band be the stars. If you didn't enjoy this show, then you have no pulse."
Why did I think that the crowd wouldn't be familiar with the Kraftwerk originals? There must have been some reason for such an usual comment, but I can't for the life of me remember what it could have been. Comments from people I talked to before the show? Were people not singing along during the set?
When you're as prolific as Atom Heart, almost anything you do will have a limited shelf life, performance-wise. In this case, he got out while the gimmick was still hot. The world didn't need Kraftwerk songs done in mambo, salsa, and cha-cha-cha styles, and a few of these songs don't lend themselves well to the styles at all (e.g. "The Man Machine", "Trans-Europe Express"), but songs like "Neon Lights" and "Showroom Dummies" are just gorgeous -- you could probably slot these tracks into rotation at a salsa bar and anybody who didn't know the original songs would carry on dancing without batting an eyelash. And that massive, fifteen-minute "Musique Non Stop", complete with a round of instrumental solos, forgives just about any earlier miscues.
I don't understand why they didn't switch the order of the encores ("Expo 2000" should have been the first encore, with "Tour de France" as the second, and final encore that closed the book on this chapter of Senor Coconut for good) but otherwise, this performance is about as good as anyone could have possibly expected.
7. Bola
May 30, 2002: "When one goes years between releases and live gigs, you'd expect nothing less than all the stops pulled out. And he complies by mainly avoiding the blippy curiosities that have surfaced on Skam lately, and covering his songs in the lush ambiance that he's best known for."
One of the things I really loved about this show were the lush, colourful visuals, which were a relatively new thing for techno gigs at the time. Now, video accompaniments of the quality presented by Bola are pretty much the standard, or at the very least, nobody would look at them in 2009 and say that the artist had "pulled out all the stops". If I saw this gig today, I'd be far less impressed, right? Right?
I disowned Bola and anything Skam-y for a long time. In 1998, I was convinced that this stuff was the future of techno, nothing less than the next major step forward for electronic music, on par with the pioneering sound of the Detroit originals. HAHAHAHAHA. On just about any given day, I'll tell you this was my all-time biggest musical fortune-telling blunder. By 2002, I had stopped drinking that particular flavour of Kool-Aid, but was still fairly stoked about seeing Bola, whose album "Soup" remained special to me.
IDM is about as dead as dead can be, even deader than it was in 2002, but dammit if this set doesn't sound shockingly fresh. Maybe it's just because I haven't listened to Bola in a while (i.e. it's fresh all over again because I've dug up something ancient that nobody bothers with anymore), but the connections between this and contemporary dub techno have never seemed clearer (although today's dub techno is itself largely a turn-back-the-clock genre that is simply reprocessing the same Basic Channel records, but whatever, things run in cycles, current is current). Bola's music was ahead of its time in that the more serene moments perfectly anticipated the bedroom "pop ambient" style, and he balanced the funky/lush divide better than just about any other IDM-er.
This is my favourite of the "revisited" sets I've heard thus far. Who would've thunk it??
Friday, May 29, 2009
MUTEK revisited (II)
5. Deadbeat/Monolake webjam
May 30, 2002: "To add a note or sound to the music, all one does is point and click at the desired spot in one of the stanzas. Scott's additions are in blue, Rob's are in red. All is composed on the fly. In real time. And following it is as easy as watching the bouncing ball - white dots sweep through the stanzas indicating the position in the music. "
Here's another one that hasn't aged well, or to be more fair, loses a lot when deprived of the live visual element. And that's not really a criticism -- the whole point of this was to pull off a real-time performance between two collaborators thousands of km apart, so it shouldn't matter too much if the resulting music doesn't come off well as a stand-alone piece. Sure, the music meanders quite a bit, and is mostly just two guys switching loops on and off for thirty minutes, but what do you expect considering the stated improvised nature of the performance and the fact that the musicians couldn't communicate with each other except via a few dancing dots on a computer screen? It feels like they didn't have a clear idea of where they were headed during the first ten minutes or so, but once they hit the intermittently beatless portion about halfway through and Monolake's icy ambient bits start floating about, then it starts to feel more like a cohesive piece of music.
May 30, 2002: "To add a note or sound to the music, all one does is point and click at the desired spot in one of the stanzas. Scott's additions are in blue, Rob's are in red. All is composed on the fly. In real time. And following it is as easy as watching the bouncing ball - white dots sweep through the stanzas indicating the position in the music. "
Here's another one that hasn't aged well, or to be more fair, loses a lot when deprived of the live visual element. And that's not really a criticism -- the whole point of this was to pull off a real-time performance between two collaborators thousands of km apart, so it shouldn't matter too much if the resulting music doesn't come off well as a stand-alone piece. Sure, the music meanders quite a bit, and is mostly just two guys switching loops on and off for thirty minutes, but what do you expect considering the stated improvised nature of the performance and the fact that the musicians couldn't communicate with each other except via a few dancing dots on a computer screen? It feels like they didn't have a clear idea of where they were headed during the first ten minutes or so, but once they hit the intermittently beatless portion about halfway through and Monolake's icy ambient bits start floating about, then it starts to feel more like a cohesive piece of music.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
MUTEK revisited
I attended the 2001-3 versions of the festival, but haven't been back since due to a combination of factors ($$, work commitments, and relocation, in that order). Thee is a rich history of techno and experimental/improv music in Montreal, and this unusual combination of scenes (something that isn't easily found in many other cities) helps make MUTEK so unique.
Memories naturally fade over time, and I'm lucky that I can help myself relive those days through the diaries that I kept during those years at the festival (although I still call myself names for never having the good sense to bring along a camera). Years ago, the MUTEK website had an audio archive of past performances, but unfortunately that section has repeatedly come on and offline with the site's many full-body overhauls.
A couple of months ago, I started digging up a bunch of old sets on slsk, and I'm curious to see how well they hold up and what I think of them today. Around that time, MUTEK made that task a bit easier by starting up a podcast featuring performances from past years in the run-up to this year's installment of the festival.
MUTEK10 began yesterday, and I thought it would be fun to pay tribute with a series of new posts about previous festivals. Next year, screw it, I'm getting on a plane.
1. Stephan Mathieu presents Sad Mac Studies
May 30, 2002: "Stephan Mathieu, flanked by a glacially chameleonic video screen, soothes me to the core with drones resembling a cross between chimes and choruses, and [an] electroacoustic hum which is so calming [that] I stretch myself out (never feeling tired for a moment) and reveled in putting my ear to the floor and listening to it purr."
Sadly, I only have about 20 min of this set. It's so incredibly peaceful and serene, something that makes you feel totally alone whether you're sitting at home, or stretched out on the floor of a darkened room surrounded by hundreds of other similarly stretched out people, lounging all over the gymnasium-like polished wooden floors of Ex-Centris. Mathieu performed two days later as "Full Swing" and was even better, confirming me as a fan for life, heck, I even bought a CD of his just a few months ago in my never-ending quest to recreate the 3D, all-enveloping intensity of these shows from 2002. Part of the problem is mine, I have to pick the wrong discs, obediently buying what happens to turn up in the shops even though Mathieu does drone infinitely better than he does weird experimental bleeps.
2. Gentle Bakemono
June 1, 2003: "Pleasing the dance floors has never been his principal focus. Showcasing his brand new digital-based sound as Gentle Bakemono, he opens with beautiful drifting ambient followed by his old familiar sounding material. Except that it's digital, I guess. Since the hub of the Montreal techno scene excludes him, Kristian's been overlooked as of late. But he hasn't been left behind."
And yeah, that opening 20 minutes of ambient is absolutely stunning, easily the best part of the set. David Kristian undoubtedly remains underrated.
3. Closer Musik
June 3, 2001: "... somehow, however inconceivable it may seem, Closer Musik and their dinky, catchy melodies are fun-tastically brilliant. This may all go to pot and fall into a casualty ditch as did with Rephlex records' similar experimentations with electro-retro-futurism, but for now, this crowd adores them ..."
(warning: the nicknaming and silliness in that writeup was something of an experiment, a goofy throwback to the naming conventions of my 90's clubbing days, it probably comes across as infuriating these days, but it was just a bit of fun I was having at the time, so let's be cool)
So much is lost from that Closer Musik set when you can't lay eyes on their dapper pop star clothes and antiquated equipment. Back in the days when everything was archived on the MUTEK website, I listened to this set over and over, wondering where the magic had gone and why it felt so exciting at the time.
This is why I have to take issue with the blurb from the podcast, which feels hugely revisionist to me. At the time, nobody was marveling at the timelessness of their approach or how it was such a departure from other acts on Kompakt. Closer Musik weren't ahead of their time, they were behind the times (their computers were Ataris!), and intentionally so, framing their sound as a throwback to "The Model"-era Kraftwerk, but stretching their primitive, minimally constructed tracks out to epic lengths. I don't think they sounded much like anything Kompakt released later on, unless the tie that binds is little more than Closer Musik's occasional use of vocals.
4. Akufen
June 2, 2001: "The countryman vibe continued with Montreal's own Akufen as your headliner. He started by roping everyone into a false sense of security, Process-style, with the stuck-in-a-cave atmospherics, which soon exploded into furious (but minimal, of course) techno beats with various electronic mayhem spread on top. Oh yes, everyone danced like a bastard again."
Again, the podcast blurb doesn't really ring true -- Akufen's big coming out year as the "great white hope" of the festival was 2002, after the release of "My Way". This is probably as good as Akufen ever got. His creativity was peaking here, later on, his reliance on microsampling became a crutch that pigeonholed his music into a time and place. But it's all here in the 2001 set -- dubbed-out ambiance, funky microhouse beats, and plenty of unusual twists and turns.
Memories naturally fade over time, and I'm lucky that I can help myself relive those days through the diaries that I kept during those years at the festival (although I still call myself names for never having the good sense to bring along a camera). Years ago, the MUTEK website had an audio archive of past performances, but unfortunately that section has repeatedly come on and offline with the site's many full-body overhauls.
A couple of months ago, I started digging up a bunch of old sets on slsk, and I'm curious to see how well they hold up and what I think of them today. Around that time, MUTEK made that task a bit easier by starting up a podcast featuring performances from past years in the run-up to this year's installment of the festival.
MUTEK10 began yesterday, and I thought it would be fun to pay tribute with a series of new posts about previous festivals. Next year, screw it, I'm getting on a plane.
1. Stephan Mathieu presents Sad Mac Studies
May 30, 2002: "Stephan Mathieu, flanked by a glacially chameleonic video screen, soothes me to the core with drones resembling a cross between chimes and choruses, and [an] electroacoustic hum which is so calming [that] I stretch myself out (never feeling tired for a moment) and reveled in putting my ear to the floor and listening to it purr."
Sadly, I only have about 20 min of this set. It's so incredibly peaceful and serene, something that makes you feel totally alone whether you're sitting at home, or stretched out on the floor of a darkened room surrounded by hundreds of other similarly stretched out people, lounging all over the gymnasium-like polished wooden floors of Ex-Centris. Mathieu performed two days later as "Full Swing" and was even better, confirming me as a fan for life, heck, I even bought a CD of his just a few months ago in my never-ending quest to recreate the 3D, all-enveloping intensity of these shows from 2002. Part of the problem is mine, I have to pick the wrong discs, obediently buying what happens to turn up in the shops even though Mathieu does drone infinitely better than he does weird experimental bleeps.
2. Gentle Bakemono
June 1, 2003: "Pleasing the dance floors has never been his principal focus. Showcasing his brand new digital-based sound as Gentle Bakemono, he opens with beautiful drifting ambient followed by his old familiar sounding material. Except that it's digital, I guess. Since the hub of the Montreal techno scene excludes him, Kristian's been overlooked as of late. But he hasn't been left behind."
And yeah, that opening 20 minutes of ambient is absolutely stunning, easily the best part of the set. David Kristian undoubtedly remains underrated.
3. Closer Musik
June 3, 2001: "... somehow, however inconceivable it may seem, Closer Musik and their dinky, catchy melodies are fun-tastically brilliant. This may all go to pot and fall into a casualty ditch as did with Rephlex records' similar experimentations with electro-retro-futurism, but for now, this crowd adores them ..."
(warning: the nicknaming and silliness in that writeup was something of an experiment, a goofy throwback to the naming conventions of my 90's clubbing days, it probably comes across as infuriating these days, but it was just a bit of fun I was having at the time, so let's be cool)
So much is lost from that Closer Musik set when you can't lay eyes on their dapper pop star clothes and antiquated equipment. Back in the days when everything was archived on the MUTEK website, I listened to this set over and over, wondering where the magic had gone and why it felt so exciting at the time.
This is why I have to take issue with the blurb from the podcast, which feels hugely revisionist to me. At the time, nobody was marveling at the timelessness of their approach or how it was such a departure from other acts on Kompakt. Closer Musik weren't ahead of their time, they were behind the times (their computers were Ataris!), and intentionally so, framing their sound as a throwback to "The Model"-era Kraftwerk, but stretching their primitive, minimally constructed tracks out to epic lengths. I don't think they sounded much like anything Kompakt released later on, unless the tie that binds is little more than Closer Musik's occasional use of vocals.
4. Akufen
June 2, 2001: "The countryman vibe continued with Montreal's own Akufen as your headliner. He started by roping everyone into a false sense of security, Process-style, with the stuck-in-a-cave atmospherics, which soon exploded into furious (but minimal, of course) techno beats with various electronic mayhem spread on top. Oh yes, everyone danced like a bastard again."
Again, the podcast blurb doesn't really ring true -- Akufen's big coming out year as the "great white hope" of the festival was 2002, after the release of "My Way". This is probably as good as Akufen ever got. His creativity was peaking here, later on, his reliance on microsampling became a crutch that pigeonholed his music into a time and place. But it's all here in the 2001 set -- dubbed-out ambiance, funky microhouse beats, and plenty of unusual twists and turns.
Friday, May 22, 2009
American Idol Finale Part II, running diary!
I'm watching a commercial-free version, so this will be organized by segments. I managed to avoid the internet for the entire day after the finale so that I wouldn't find out who won, so these are truly "live", unbiased thoughts. Going in, I really had no firm idea about who would win Season Eight, making this a coin flip that we haven't seen the likes of since Season 2 (Clay vs Ruben).
1. There were 624 million votes cast this season, 100 million from last night alone. WOW. "The thing for me for you for me" ... ha, it's good to know that they recognize that Randy Jackson is a glorified Speak and Spell and are willing to exploit the humour in that. And why is Randy dressed like Urkel? Those glasses!
It is a somewhat interesting that Paula made an effort to not just be a cheerleader this season, and to be a bit more eloquent this season. Funny how she stepped up her game when Kara joined, because wasn't the plan for Paula to continue being a flake so that Kara could be the insightful one?
The top 13 commit murder against Pink's "So What", this was some serious summer camp talent show singalong material. I see that Jasmine Murray still sucks and can't sing her one line in tune.
2. David Cook belts out a scream-filled power ballad. I hope people download the heck out of it to raise money for cancer research, but unfortunately the song blew, and his voice sounded shaky and strained throughout. At least he screamed at proper moments in the song, and saved his voice for the big, majestic phrases in the chorus. Adam Lambert fans take note. In the meantime, AI found Justin Guarini under a rock and stuck him in the audience!
Now the AI version of toilet humour starts with the first of the silly "awards" segments. This Outstanding Male category is obviously a preamble to a Nick Mitchell appearance. I still think that they hugely missed the boat with this guy, sure he might have broken the show but it takes talent to pull off this psycho vaudeville shtick and unlike Adam Lambert, when Nick screams randomly and goes OTT, he's doing it for laughs.
3. Lil Rounds hits the stage full of fire, showing the kind of energy that made her look like a front runner during the semifinals, but then Queen Latifah, whose totally bland voice is completely unsuited for a song like this, appears and sucks all the life from the stage.
4. Why is Jason Mraz on stage and Kris Allen is not?? Because Kris had to get ready to sing with ... Keith Urban? The bloody hell????
But I have to admit that the two of them have fantastic chemistry onstage. Kris is the real "sing the phone book" contestant because you could basically put him on stage with anybody and he'd fit in. He could credibly guest on an impressive variety of records in a bunch of different genres, unlike Adam who would fit in with My Chemical Romance and that's about it.
5. Allison gets to introduce Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas. I guess this is her consolation prize for being the highest placing girl and being forced to hang with this chorus line of stiffs. Poor Allison.
6. More dumb awards, as Kara gets schooled during the Bikini Girl audition and is put in her place by the other judges for the first (but far from last) time. But what follows are a couple of the most awesome minutes in the history of the show. It starts with BG sauntering out, waving around her new fake tits (and looking unfazed when Ryan gets in a nice zing about them), and acting like the biggest snob who ever snobbed. Seriously, Paris Hilton is home watching this and thinking "what a spoiled little bitch". So BG gets the chance to sing again, acting like this is her second big break and a star-making moment that we're all going to remember, only to have Kara make a surprise walk-on, sing the hell out of "Vision of Love", and rip off her dress to display an even teenier bikini afterward. There's just no way that BG knew this would happen, if she was in on the whole thing then she should probably switch to acting. I'm going to invoke Occam's Razor and assume that she is in fact a completely talentless whore, and therefore she got PWNED, I mean, just watch her trying to sneak in a few notes and reclaim the song from Kara, then, when she realized that was hopeless, listen to her meekly attempting to draw some attention to herself by throwing in some worthless melisma as background vocals, then watch her awkward, shamed face on stage when Ryan comes out at the end, and finally watch her jealously checking out Kara's bikini body like she was a "Jerry Springer" guest who's about to start a catfight with the girl who stole her trailer trash boyfriend. If Kara is really about to be kicked to the Idol curb, then this was a HELL of a way to go out.
7. Allison and Cyndi Lauper seem to have their timing off throughout "Time After Time" (even including the post-song hug) but the spark of greatness is still there.
8. Danny Gokey sounds pretty good on "Hello", and then stands up to introduce ... Lionel Richie (I was ready to put my money on him singing a duet with his friend Jamar Rogers, but this is obviously a better option). It's just too bad that their version of "All Night Long" is pure cruise ship material (cf. Simon Cowell).
9. A retrospective of "Adam's journey" leads directly into a short rendition of "Beth", dressed up in studded leather, enough eye makeup to blind Cyndi Lauper, and a pair of O_O black wings that even Martin Gore wouldn't have worn on stage for fear of looking ridiculous. Then he introduces the real deal -- Kiss! I take back what I said, he obviously fits in with Kiss, because this is exactly the setting where his excesses don't matter one bit.
10. Carlos Santana with ... Matt Giraud? Before I can throw my shoes at the TV while angrily wondering where they stashed Kris Allen when he could have been onstage singing "Smooth", here come the top 13 (including Kris front and centre) to sing, yep, "Smooth"! Heather Locklear isn't nearly as excited as I am.
11. Steve Martin has a new album out? I keep waiting for the weirdass Inspector Clouseau moment to break out with Michael Sarver and Megan Joy as his jesters in training, but it doesn't happen. This is a pretty sweet song, actually.
12. The guys take a crack at "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy", which is a truly bizarre choice for a group performance, which leads to Rod Stewart sauntering out and gasping his way through "Maggie May".
13. And how could we survive until next season without one last Golden Idol award, this time for "Outstanding Female", but Idol delivers again because we really do need to see Tatiana del Toro again. The season is now complete, no sarcasm. If the AI producers really believed that Tatiana and Nick Mitchell were such jokes then you'd think that they wouldn't waste everyone's time in slotting them into the top 36 (and letting Tatiana into the wildcard round), but hey, it's not my show.
14. Now it's the swan song performance for the final two, dueling each other one last time on "We Are the Champions", and suddenly Queen themselves appear out of a cloud of smoke. Corny choice, but great booking, if you know what I mean. Queen's music is right in Adam's wheelhouse, so this is either his unofficial coronation song, or a sweet bit of irony as he goes down swinging. SO stoked for the results now!
15. YES! IT'S KRIS!! And the moment is ruined with a stupid AI winners trophy?
We can start the post-mortem analysis now, including the conspiracy theories about how Kris actually dominated the voting throughout the season and the producers tried to knock him down a la Clay Aiken to try to forge a real competition out of what might have otherwise been a runaway win. Bring on Season Nine ...
1. There were 624 million votes cast this season, 100 million from last night alone. WOW. "The thing for me for you for me" ... ha, it's good to know that they recognize that Randy Jackson is a glorified Speak and Spell and are willing to exploit the humour in that. And why is Randy dressed like Urkel? Those glasses!
It is a somewhat interesting that Paula made an effort to not just be a cheerleader this season, and to be a bit more eloquent this season. Funny how she stepped up her game when Kara joined, because wasn't the plan for Paula to continue being a flake so that Kara could be the insightful one?
The top 13 commit murder against Pink's "So What", this was some serious summer camp talent show singalong material. I see that Jasmine Murray still sucks and can't sing her one line in tune.
2. David Cook belts out a scream-filled power ballad. I hope people download the heck out of it to raise money for cancer research, but unfortunately the song blew, and his voice sounded shaky and strained throughout. At least he screamed at proper moments in the song, and saved his voice for the big, majestic phrases in the chorus. Adam Lambert fans take note. In the meantime, AI found Justin Guarini under a rock and stuck him in the audience!
Now the AI version of toilet humour starts with the first of the silly "awards" segments. This Outstanding Male category is obviously a preamble to a Nick Mitchell appearance. I still think that they hugely missed the boat with this guy, sure he might have broken the show but it takes talent to pull off this psycho vaudeville shtick and unlike Adam Lambert, when Nick screams randomly and goes OTT, he's doing it for laughs.
3. Lil Rounds hits the stage full of fire, showing the kind of energy that made her look like a front runner during the semifinals, but then Queen Latifah, whose totally bland voice is completely unsuited for a song like this, appears and sucks all the life from the stage.
4. Why is Jason Mraz on stage and Kris Allen is not?? Because Kris had to get ready to sing with ... Keith Urban? The bloody hell????
But I have to admit that the two of them have fantastic chemistry onstage. Kris is the real "sing the phone book" contestant because you could basically put him on stage with anybody and he'd fit in. He could credibly guest on an impressive variety of records in a bunch of different genres, unlike Adam who would fit in with My Chemical Romance and that's about it.
5. Allison gets to introduce Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas. I guess this is her consolation prize for being the highest placing girl and being forced to hang with this chorus line of stiffs. Poor Allison.
6. More dumb awards, as Kara gets schooled during the Bikini Girl audition and is put in her place by the other judges for the first (but far from last) time. But what follows are a couple of the most awesome minutes in the history of the show. It starts with BG sauntering out, waving around her new fake tits (and looking unfazed when Ryan gets in a nice zing about them), and acting like the biggest snob who ever snobbed. Seriously, Paris Hilton is home watching this and thinking "what a spoiled little bitch". So BG gets the chance to sing again, acting like this is her second big break and a star-making moment that we're all going to remember, only to have Kara make a surprise walk-on, sing the hell out of "Vision of Love", and rip off her dress to display an even teenier bikini afterward. There's just no way that BG knew this would happen, if she was in on the whole thing then she should probably switch to acting. I'm going to invoke Occam's Razor and assume that she is in fact a completely talentless whore, and therefore she got PWNED, I mean, just watch her trying to sneak in a few notes and reclaim the song from Kara, then, when she realized that was hopeless, listen to her meekly attempting to draw some attention to herself by throwing in some worthless melisma as background vocals, then watch her awkward, shamed face on stage when Ryan comes out at the end, and finally watch her jealously checking out Kara's bikini body like she was a "Jerry Springer" guest who's about to start a catfight with the girl who stole her trailer trash boyfriend. If Kara is really about to be kicked to the Idol curb, then this was a HELL of a way to go out.
7. Allison and Cyndi Lauper seem to have their timing off throughout "Time After Time" (even including the post-song hug) but the spark of greatness is still there.
8. Danny Gokey sounds pretty good on "Hello", and then stands up to introduce ... Lionel Richie (I was ready to put my money on him singing a duet with his friend Jamar Rogers, but this is obviously a better option). It's just too bad that their version of "All Night Long" is pure cruise ship material (cf. Simon Cowell).
9. A retrospective of "Adam's journey" leads directly into a short rendition of "Beth", dressed up in studded leather, enough eye makeup to blind Cyndi Lauper, and a pair of O_O black wings that even Martin Gore wouldn't have worn on stage for fear of looking ridiculous. Then he introduces the real deal -- Kiss! I take back what I said, he obviously fits in with Kiss, because this is exactly the setting where his excesses don't matter one bit.
10. Carlos Santana with ... Matt Giraud? Before I can throw my shoes at the TV while angrily wondering where they stashed Kris Allen when he could have been onstage singing "Smooth", here come the top 13 (including Kris front and centre) to sing, yep, "Smooth"! Heather Locklear isn't nearly as excited as I am.
11. Steve Martin has a new album out? I keep waiting for the weirdass Inspector Clouseau moment to break out with Michael Sarver and Megan Joy as his jesters in training, but it doesn't happen. This is a pretty sweet song, actually.
12. The guys take a crack at "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy", which is a truly bizarre choice for a group performance, which leads to Rod Stewart sauntering out and gasping his way through "Maggie May".
13. And how could we survive until next season without one last Golden Idol award, this time for "Outstanding Female", but Idol delivers again because we really do need to see Tatiana del Toro again. The season is now complete, no sarcasm. If the AI producers really believed that Tatiana and Nick Mitchell were such jokes then you'd think that they wouldn't waste everyone's time in slotting them into the top 36 (and letting Tatiana into the wildcard round), but hey, it's not my show.
14. Now it's the swan song performance for the final two, dueling each other one last time on "We Are the Champions", and suddenly Queen themselves appear out of a cloud of smoke. Corny choice, but great booking, if you know what I mean. Queen's music is right in Adam's wheelhouse, so this is either his unofficial coronation song, or a sweet bit of irony as he goes down swinging. SO stoked for the results now!
15. YES! IT'S KRIS!! And the moment is ruined with a stupid AI winners trophy?
We can start the post-mortem analysis now, including the conspiracy theories about how Kris actually dominated the voting throughout the season and the producers tried to knock him down a la Clay Aiken to try to forge a real competition out of what might have otherwise been a runaway win. Bring on Season Nine ...
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
American Idol Finale -- random liveblogging notes!
-- Adam's "Mad World" II doesn't even remotely touch the greatness he showed the first time. He was constantly on the verge of oversinging, and it lost all the vulnerability that made it so wonderful the last time around.
-- useless twat Matt G with his pouty sad face IN THE AUDIENCE. What's this guy's problem? He's pissed that he's not up on stage?
-- Kris kills it with "Ain't No Sunshine", showing more passion and fire than he has all season long. And good on him for not making the safe choice and going with "Heartless" again (hi dere Kat McPhee you sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" during the finale in Season 5).
-- "A Change Is Gonna Come"? What an AWFUL choice for Adam, who will surely scream the hell out of it in an attempt to inject his version of "soul" into it, and kill any and all of the sentiment that makes the song so great.
-- See, I told you. Maybe Simon Fuller just wanted to expose Adam as a pantomime freak. They spent all those weeks trying to sabotage Kris' chances, so maybe what goes around comes around.
-- Of course the judges love it, but screw them.
-- Another awesome performance for Kris, which again perfectly displays the best of his talent, although I agree with Randy and Simon's comment about the arrangement being not ideal for the setting. This means Adam won't be singing any rock and roll tonight, which is a mistake.
-- This year's schmaltzy Idol winner's single is at least better than the usual crap they serve up. Kris' best argument for choosing to sing last when he won the coin flip is being justified right here, i.e. you definitely don't want the pimp spot going to Adam Lambert singing a Diane Warren-ish OTT power ballad.
-- Kris sounds hesitant from the first note, and doesn't have the big voice to carry this kind of song. He flubs a note in the first chorus and is clearly praying for it all to be over as soon as possible. His biggest trainwreck of the season, easily. Poor guy, and it's not at all his fault.
-- Of course the judges are living in bizarro world. Randy thinks it's more suitable for his voice than for Adam's. If we're only voting based on the talent they showed over the course of the entire season, then why hold the finale? What's the point of singing these songs if they're not meant to count. Or how about this, what's the point of praising a guy all season for "knowing who he is an an artist" and then forcing him to sing a schmaltzy ballad that is exactly the opposite of who he is as an artist?
-- In all, this felt like a completely superfluous show -- we heard the exact same praises we've been hearing all season long, and nothing occurred that will change anybody's mind about their favourite contestant, so GO KRIS GO!
-- useless twat Matt G with his pouty sad face IN THE AUDIENCE. What's this guy's problem? He's pissed that he's not up on stage?
-- Kris kills it with "Ain't No Sunshine", showing more passion and fire than he has all season long. And good on him for not making the safe choice and going with "Heartless" again (hi dere Kat McPhee you sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" during the finale in Season 5).
-- "A Change Is Gonna Come"? What an AWFUL choice for Adam, who will surely scream the hell out of it in an attempt to inject his version of "soul" into it, and kill any and all of the sentiment that makes the song so great.
-- See, I told you. Maybe Simon Fuller just wanted to expose Adam as a pantomime freak. They spent all those weeks trying to sabotage Kris' chances, so maybe what goes around comes around.
-- Of course the judges love it, but screw them.
-- Another awesome performance for Kris, which again perfectly displays the best of his talent, although I agree with Randy and Simon's comment about the arrangement being not ideal for the setting. This means Adam won't be singing any rock and roll tonight, which is a mistake.
-- This year's schmaltzy Idol winner's single is at least better than the usual crap they serve up. Kris' best argument for choosing to sing last when he won the coin flip is being justified right here, i.e. you definitely don't want the pimp spot going to Adam Lambert singing a Diane Warren-ish OTT power ballad.
-- Kris sounds hesitant from the first note, and doesn't have the big voice to carry this kind of song. He flubs a note in the first chorus and is clearly praying for it all to be over as soon as possible. His biggest trainwreck of the season, easily. Poor guy, and it's not at all his fault.
-- Of course the judges are living in bizarro world. Randy thinks it's more suitable for his voice than for Adam's. If we're only voting based on the talent they showed over the course of the entire season, then why hold the finale? What's the point of singing these songs if they're not meant to count. Or how about this, what's the point of praising a guy all season for "knowing who he is an an artist" and then forcing him to sing a schmaltzy ballad that is exactly the opposite of who he is as an artist?
-- In all, this felt like a completely superfluous show -- we heard the exact same praises we've been hearing all season long, and nothing occurred that will change anybody's mind about their favourite contestant, so GO KRIS GO!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
