Plastikman Live @ Mutek Montreal - the beginning

Plastikman Live @ Montreal / club Metropolis 2011 By Vincent Pollard As the main hall of Montreal’s Metropolis crowded in anticipation, two horizontal red lines appeared on a semi-circular black screen at the front of an otherwise dark auditorium. The lines started to slowly move on the screen, like the lights on Kit, the talking car from Knight Rider. A brief blast of static noise erupted and the beats started filtering in. Momentarily the screen revealed Plastikman -- Canada’s techno wunderkind Richie Hawtin -- in silhouette standing at his equipment looking otherworldly and almost alien. The second track was 2003’s “Ask Yourself,“ featuring Hawtin’s pitched-lowered spoken parts, which lent an even more sinister air to the proceedings and made the audience feel as if it was facing not a stage set but Big Brother from George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. The set consisted of a lot of old Plastikman favourites, keeping the sound satisfyingly retro and minimal, m