Day 3 of the Avant_MUTEK Chicago events ends the celebrations on a high note with a monster double bill of headline-worthy avant-garde electronics: a rare “Live Surround” performance from Germany’s MONOLAKE, coupled with a Chicago debut of Deepchord’s heralded offspring project, ECHOSPACE. DJ sets from Chicago indie electronic mainstays KARL MEIER & CHRIS WIDMAN round out this line up of international and local pillars!
NOTE: Early-bird tickets available for $12 online at the METRO/SMARTBAR website!
Regular $15 tickets available at the door.

MONOLAKE

• On the Web

• Live Surround project

Monolake is Robert Henke, a Berlin-based producer of sophisticated electronic dance music that represents the ideal synthesis of computer-driven musical experiments and dancefloor rhythms. Founded in 1995 by Henke and Gerhard Behle, Monolake is currently Henke’s solo project after Behles left the act to concentrate on his duties as head of the Ableton music software company. Emerging from Berlin’s legendary Chain Reaction/Hard Wax collective, Henke has since released 6 full-lengths and numerous EP’s on his own Monolake/Imbalance imprint. Monolake’s music is indebted equally to both dub and minimal techno–drawing comparisons to Maurizio and Vladislav Delay–while incorporating elements of drum & bass and academic computer music. Cool, restrained, and undeniably rhythmic, the project feeds the fluidity of bedroom ambience into the pulsations of club life, pushing elements of these disparate genres to their limits. Henke’s work as co-creator and conceptual designer of Ableton’s popular “Live” software has revolutionized electronic music performance and in 2009 he was appointed professor of sound design at the University of Arts, Berlin. Monolake’s Chicago appearance features his Live Surround performance, an ongoing research project that explores notions of space and depth in sound (traditionally concerns limited to the production studio), in the non-static and unfocused club environment.

…the aural equivalent of a glass-and-steel skyscraper, and I’m repeatedly sucked in by its grandeur.

– Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader

DEEPCHORD presents ECHOSPACE

• www.echospacedetroit.com
• myspace

The deep, immersive echo chamber that sits at the center of DeepChord’s signature Echospace series may appear inspired by the genre-defining work of first-wave dub technoists that appeared on the Chain Reaction label in the mid- to late-90s. But it’s also work that’s quintessentially building upon the Detroit scene where it was born, and that divine marriage of roots and vision make the work at once so highly considered, so timeless, and so pertinent. A Detroit-Chicago collaboration between prolific and low-key ambient dub-techno producer Rod Modell (Deepchord) and Steven Hitchell (Soultek), Echospace released a series of 12″ singles on England’s Modern Love label, all of which were compiled on a CD named after the series, The Coldest Season. The same year, the duo also issued a pair of singles on Lee Purkis’ Fortune8 label, as well as an additional release on echospace[detroit]. As with much of Modell’s output, Echospace’s material is deeply rooted in the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction school of dub-techno, emphasizing deep throbs and alternately soothing and unsettling ambience .

CHRIS WIDMAN

• www.abstractscience.net
• Chicagoist Mix

Chris Widman is a Chicago DJ that defies easy classification. As host of the weekly radio program Abstract Science since 1997 and Smartbar resident DJ, he is at the forefront of breaking new styles, crossing genre lines and re-introducing forgotten music. When DJing for the dancefloor, Widman mixes a diverse array of sounds–dubstep, techno and detroit electro among them–to create his own form of sonic warfare, designed to both entertain and challenge audiences. This versatility and depth has seen Widman DJ with acts including Amon Tobin, Kode9, Moderat, Monolake, Nightmares on Wax, Plaid and Skream. Widman also records and performs live with Colin Harris as Quadratic.

For the full-listing of Avant_MUTEK 2011 events, click HERE.

LINE UP DETAILS / WEBLINKS

MONOLAKE Live Surroundsound set (DE)

DEEPCHORD presents ECHOSPACE (US)

KARL MEIER(US)

CHRIS WIDMAN (US)

• Facebook Event
• Resident Advisor