Decade dance

Montreal’s eldest electronic music festival
turns 10 to the tune of the timely
and the tastemakers

CHILDREN OF THE APOCALYPSE: MGMT

by JACK OATMON

The name dates the festival quite nicely. In 1999, the world stood on the brink of a new millennium with all its enchanting promises of digital proliferation and new frontiers of art and culture. That’s why Mustapha Terki and Jacques Primeau christened their electronic music festival MEG, after the then-unimaginably large and futuristic data quantity, the megabyte. Ten years later, data capacities have swollen exponentially and the festival’s programming has ballooned accordingly, featuring a lot more than just one gig, as was the case when the first edition in June, 1999 graced both Paris and Montreal each with a single showcase of cutting-edge acts.

“Before that,” says Terki, “there were lots of places for electronic music, raves and free parties, but there wasn’t a festival that gave space for artists from that culture.”

MEG now includes the four-day festival here, parties in Paris and a tour across Europe and the United States, as well as collaborations with other festivals, including both Osheaga and Pop Montreal.

The acronym itself has meant a few things over the years and currently stands for Montreal Eclectic Groove, in honour of the mixture of live music and electronic production that epitomizes the festival. It’s an apt title for a weekend that spans techno, electro, house, dance-punk, indie rock, crunk and, most importantly, everything in between.

OCCUPIED: Busy P

Major MEG moments

On Friday, catch one of Toronto’s most interesting garage electro outfits, Woodhands, as they hit Divan Orange along with local Gameboy chip-tune dude Matt Fuzz to open the festival. Pop chimes in on Saturday with the moody, theatrical pop of Bonjour Brumaire and Land of Talk’s folky charm, again at Divan Orange.

The schedule is predictably heavy on Institubes and Ed Banger artists, seeing as MEG was key in introducing Parisian hipster house to Montreal in the first place—I recall the Justice show with only a few dozen audience members at the 2005 edition. Institube’s drugged-out-sounding glitch guys Bobmo and Jean Nipon will be at les Saints on Saturday night, doling out uptempo, high-hat-heavy blogfodder. The real treat of the evening, however, will be Devonshire, England’s Joseph Mount, aka Metronomy, purveyor of quirky, heady IDM tracks, though it’s hard to say how the sneaker craze (not to be confused with shoegaze) crowd will react to his erratic forays.

Meanwhile, graphic design superstar So Me and scenester extraordinaire Busy P will be on the big late-night MEG boat cruise on Sunday, departing from Quai Alexandra. They’re with Chicago’s warp-speed booty house ambassador DJ Funk as well as Detroit kindred DJ Assault and Montreal’s Turbocrunk posse. Organizers plan to make that the main anniversary throwdown, and if it’s anywhere near as nuts as the Piknic/Ninja Tune barge jam last September, someone’s gonna be swabbin’ them decks for a good few hours the next morning.

RIM SHOT: DJ Assault

Gaga at Osheaga

If you pass by the MEG stage of Osheaga on Sunday, you’ll be treated to unparalleled masters of mellow, groovy, introspective techno, Booka Shade, whose two-man live show adds new dimensions to their already captivating compositions. That day, you can also see Montreal’s best electro-punk live act, Duchess Says, those ranting and raving masters of audience engagement. Touchy-feely U.K. indie dance outfit du jour Foals will also be on hand, wailing away their postmodern turmoil to the sound of delicate guitar melodies and finicky staccato beats.

Monday’s Osheaga showcase is likewise stacked, with highlights including the ultra-schmaltzy cacophony of optimism that is the Go! Team as well as MGMT’s patented clash of childish innocence and post-apocalyptic imagery. As far as live shows go, it’s hard to argue with the practised diligence of MGMT, who beautifully recreate the romantic woe of their record and always seem to maintain an unpretentious nonchalance.

MEG MASTER: Mustapha Terki

For complete info, go to
www.megmontreal.com