Secret warp zone

by JACK OATMON

After being somewhat perplexed by the incongruity of a crowd-surfing throng of giggling college students rocking out to dystopian German industrial electro that was booming out of a projected illustration of a retro-futuristic spaceship’s cockpit, I drunkenly stumbled down the street to the SAT. I refer to the interesting, if irritatingly short and early Digitalism show at Club Soda last Saturday, by the way.

So I crashed the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, whereupon the pop-cultural juxtaposition got even more absurd. I got to frivolously romp on an oversized inflatable dingy in a basement—a dingy basement—under the watchful eye of a security guard, just before seeing a 3D film about the celestial merits of Newfie fishermen. Not only that, but they also have some sort of oscillating elliptical camera set up in a white room with LCD projectors, creating the exact effect of transporting the viewer/subject into an ’80s new wave music video—they played “Blue Monday” when we were in there. They even have a gigantic dome tent in the park beside the SAT, where upwardly mobile urbanites drink sparkling wine on beanbag chairs and watch the latest in local music video production, completely unaware of just how many roaches, condoms and syringes are buried in the soft grass underfoot. The only thing that could have possibly made my night weirder would have been a send-off party for an Uzbekistan-bound friend and an all-night disco dance party in a used clothing store. Nah…

So make sure to get down to SAT, from noon till midnight and then some, between now and Sunday, Oct. 21. For more hideously contrived urban installations, look no further than this column. Austrian artist Kurt Hentschlager is on the case this week, providing an abstract sensory immersion so intense that you have to sign a waiver just to go in there. No shit. The exposition, entitled FEED, entails sitting in a smoky room and getting blasted with lasers, 3D film, strobe lights and 25 to 50-hertz sub-bass, amongst other things, supposedly inducing a trance of teenagers-on-acid proportions. That’s at Usine C from Wednesday, Oct. 24 till Saturday, Oct. 27.

Furthermore, the fine folks at Loose Joints will be hosting an Italo-disco party at Academy this Friday, Oct. 19, with New Yorker John Selway providing the tunes. And for all you postmodern, Google-addicted scamps out there, this music can be listened to both ironically and seriously at the same time, so there’s no need to worry about whether it’s cool to like. That same night, those not being baptized by fire at Metropolis might want to catch Scandinavians both real and phony as Australia’s Architecture in Helsinki square off against Swedes Lo-Fi-Fnk at la Tulipe.

Saturday, Oct. 20 sees Shout Out Out Out Out, Golden Dogs and San Serac rocking out at Cabaret. That’s right next door to le Studio, where New Young Pony Club will get all watusi and pursed-lipped and angled-shouldered on your sorry hide on Monday, Oct. 22. Thank you, CMJ backwash.

The last thing on the agenda is that I finally got around to casing DeathofVinyl, the new record-store arm of Nice Music Inc. Situated at 435 Beaubien W., the fabulous loft space is chock full of the newest wax in house, electro, dubstep and breaks, while also stocking a back catalogue of dusty bangers sold at per-kilogram rates. They’ve got a big jam coming up next week, so stay tuned.

Tings be getting mysterious… jack.oatmon@gmail.com