philip sherburne

Aside from Skoltz/Kogen's brain-explodingly good A/V performance at yesterday's opening show, about which I will have more to say when I have snapped the pieces of my cerebellum back into place, the clear highlight of MUTEK so far is Smith N Hack, who assaulted disco (?) samples, broke them down into bare-bones lumps and thumps, and built them back up into a shimmytime dance party the likes of which I haven't seen at a "techno" show in ages. They slowed shit down, they sped shit up; they dropped out beats and looped themselves silly. And the highlight of their performance, undoubtedly, was their Chipmunk'd version of Villalobos' "Easy Lee," with the vocals lifted about three octaves, and the beat turned into a tinny 80s elektrofunk ditty. Seemed like a sly, friendly "fuck you" to a tune that's become ubiquitous; it was enough to make me love it all over again, and adore their cheek even more.