by RAF KATIGBAK

Talking to Andrew Weatherall (who's playing MUTEK this weekend) is like riding a rollercoaster on acid - confusing, exhilarating, hilarious and when it's over, you believe your mind has expanded, you're just not sure how. Ask him about his DJ sets and you'll get an answer with so many rapid-fire twists, turns and fractured logical tangents, that it makes that spazzy kid in Spellbound look like a Nyquil ad.

While it's strange enough to hear him leap from the subject of kids with rifles running amuck in high schools to musical purism to the best way to dig an escape tunnel to religious blind faith and the fashion sense of political extremists in the early part of the 20th century - all in one breath - the strangest thing you'll notice is that somehow, he makes total sense. Then again, one listen to his musical output over the last decade and a half and it becomes obvious. Drawing links between disparate points is what he does best.

After being on the forefront of the U.K.'s acid house movement, producing Primal Scream, remixing New Order and helping to define experimental electronic music with his Sabres of Paradise and Two Lone Swordsmen acts, his latest album From the Double Gone Chapel (with fellow Swordsman Keith Tenniswood) uses twisted studio savvy and good old-fashioned guitar, drums, bass and vocals to fuse disco-punk with forward-thinking electronic music.

"It's not a rejection of electronica," asserts Weatherall from his U.K. studio. "That would be foolish. It's just another dimension." While Weatherall's made a career of keeping people guessing (did I mention his Sunday night gig DJing rockabilly and psych at his local pub?), his tastes have always veered towards the sounds of urgency and rebellion, even when it comes to the oft-clinical sounding world of minimal techno. "I can find the visceral thrill in minimal if it's done well. A lot of the early stuff is kind of spacey and sounds as if it's powered by gas. A lot of the music today is more interested in process and software, and programming is more important than the end result, but I want something with soul. The techno I like is kind of rough-edged and clunky and sounds like it's about to fall apart at any minute."

With Plastikman at Metropolis on Friday, June 4, 10pm, $35

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