Midnight shows at FIMAV are generally given over to the more fringe elements and emerging artists in the "musique actuelle" realm. Montreal´s Maxime Corbeil-Perron and Félix-Antoine Morin fit the bill, though they are also students and graduates of renowned multimedia programs, as well as being founding members of the wonderful Montreal label Kohlenstoff Records.
Their Political Ritual project featured each member with a table-load of electronics and musical instruments, either modified or invented, duelling in front of mostly abstracted video images. While the elements of the performance — Suicide-style deep and minimal pulses, bone-vibrating drones, fractured and effervescing electronic noises — were all masterfully crafted and artfully deployed, the sum total felt confined to a small field of play, letting time work against instead of for them.
Too many indeterminate sounds married to too many indeterminate images had a lulling effect that ran contrary to the intensity of the presentation. Their obvious care for varied sources, marrying the academics of electroacoustic composition and classic industrial and DIY music, made for a heady brew of sound, but the precision and consideration they exhibited at times ran contrary to the anarchic spirit their artistic statement promised.
Their Political Ritual project featured each member with a table-load of electronics and musical instruments, either modified or invented, duelling in front of mostly abstracted video images. While the elements of the performance — Suicide-style deep and minimal pulses, bone-vibrating drones, fractured and effervescing electronic noises — were all masterfully crafted and artfully deployed, the sum total felt confined to a small field of play, letting time work against instead of for them.
Too many indeterminate sounds married to too many indeterminate images had a lulling effect that ran contrary to the intensity of the presentation. Their obvious care for varied sources, marrying the academics of electroacoustic composition and classic industrial and DIY music, made for a heady brew of sound, but the precision and consideration they exhibited at times ran contrary to the anarchic spirit their artistic statement promised.