#trying to get this to as many fnc fans as possible

[eepyghost]

if you wanna read a fic with lines like this:

"He’d become convinced, somehow, that even if he was looking at the Gods handing him handfuls upon handfuls of hand-drawn stars and glimmering veils of planets, universes not yet discovered, he would still look over to Gillion’s eyes. Just to see the one star he’d been missing, residing in his widened pupils. They reflected back each glimmer of stardust like a mirror of ink."

" We had always believed it. When the revolution arrives and war begins, we will mark the floorboard you would hide underneath with bright red paint. Because you would rather hide in comfort than fight for those who needed you."

"Death is safe. Death is certain. We can call it poetic pessimism."

"Chosen Ones were meant to be expendable. It is their virtue, it is their vice. But you, Champion, were the hero that destiny could not kill. Destiny’s hands alone, even matched with Fate’s, could not rid the sea of your influence. Destiny was not strong enough. If I must remain stronger than Destiny herself, I plan on being so."

that also has:

asexual gillion representation

new villains

a war setting between the oversea and the undersea

a slowburn FNC romance

m e r m a i ds ....

maybe read depths of natarus, my WIP on AO3 !!

[sanstropfremir]

Okay, time for my weekly rant so buckle up. The vocal stages were okay-I cant really remember them well because I watched them only once so take what I say with a grain of salt. Well I watched the Spark one once and I only got through half of the other one because I can’t stand ballads especially when there’s no interesting movement on stage to keep me engaged. Like it’s no fault of the members themselves or the song (I actually think their singing was incredibly beautiful and Eunkwang always sings like his wife just left him with the kids which is how you know he’s good) but I physically could not pay attention. That’s why I liked the spark stage a bit better-there was enough movement that I was able to focus on it. I really liked the use of the fire and the way they were walking in and out of the frame trading off parts so there weren’t too many awkward moments where the other members where on stage but not doing anything. The opening was gorgeous with each members being lit by the spotlight as they harmonize. So stagewise, I prefer Spark but vocally I think the other group was stronger. I love Spark and Taeyon is such an incredible vocalist (I mean the song is great because of her) so I don’t get why their delivery was, I don’t want to say weak, but subdued might be a better word. The only one that really stood out was Junhoe (but also that man couldn’t not stand out even if he tried, not with that incredibly rasp) and even he seemed to be holding himself back a bit. Though it was a bit slow it built up well to the two last choruses but still the first half could have been stronger. I know they were trying to draw it out to a strong pay off but I don’t really know if it was enough. And yes the suits were *chef’s kiss*. I think at this point in their career the FNC stylist has put SF9 in so many suits they’ve got it down to a science. Also I’m a sucker for those shirts with the triangle cut out and we got not one but two of them here.

Okay moving on, I’m not sure which group was next but I’ll talk about the Ikon stage. It seems like they finally realized that they’re on a performance based competition show so they decided to pull out the big guns. Love the little skit at the beginning (making sure people don’t forget that they’re YG), it was cute and refreshing. I really appreciated how they leaned into the campy acting in this stage (Stray kids did it too-just adding to the similarities between their stages). The song was meh but I also don’t really like BP especially not their recent stuff so it’s not a big deal. I would have preferred if they had gone with another song maybe Whistle or As If It’s Your Last or if they’d done a 2NE1 song like Chanwoo mentioned some point in the episode. I also think the stage would have been way smoother if they’d let Ikon and Lisa interact. Like if the boys appeared in her set after her section and then they all moved back to the first jungle set and then the whole thing turns gold and they did a dramatic outfit change (but with better jackets because theirs look like they came out of Party City). I also get what you mean about the dancers outfits not being that great. I actually really liked the outfits of Lisa’s dancers in isolation but they didn’t match with her or the set so they threw me off a bit. At least with the ikon members they were going for a modern look so the dancers outfits didn’t look that strange in comparison. Do you think it would have been better if they were white? How would you have improved then? The best way I can describe this performance was that it was a stage, stuff happened, I enjoyed myself but I don’t plan to revisit it anytime soon. Oh and we also have to give points for them cursing on national television not once but twice (at this point Jinwan deserves to say fuck).

Now to Stray Kids. So I feel like I need to preface this with the fact that I am actually a stray kids fan (I won’t call myself a stay because I don’t associate with the fandom) and though I’ve been really critical of them and their stages tend to be my least favorite I still have a soft spot for them (I got into this show because of them after all). I loved, loved, loved the intro with Felix (and yes his biggest flaw is that he’s Australian but I forgive him for it) and the way it immediately transitions into the chorus of DDD-the abrupt transition does fit really well with the Deadpool theme and I guess it is the closest they’re going to get to the feeling of yeeting themselves into traffic like in the movie. Interesting choice to start with the chorus. Now that I’m rewatching it I do really wish they stuck with the comic theme. I think that’s my gripe with SKZ-they have a lot of good ideas but they move on too quickly from them. Just pick a handful of things and sprinkle them throughout instead of cycling through them at breakneck speed. Like okay they’re doing Deadpool and he’s a comic character so keep the comic styling (it would have been a good thing to put in the projection behind Seungmin’s scene), maybe in the subway they could have had some fight choreo so the guns coming in at Lee Knows part aren’t out of nowhere (also someone please tell me they were trying to recreate the meme with the cat and the knives, please I need to know). I absolutely agree that them having a goal or an antagonist would have really helped the story along. I mean they literally have a spoken intro so why couldn’t Felix just tell us who they were fighting (and I’m pretty sure in the movie Wade tells us he’s trying to kill Francis in that scene sooo). As always they put more focus on the rappers (please can we get less Changbin and more Seungmin, Jeongin, or Lee Know or at least give Felix more parts). Seungmin was the real mvp of this stage and he had the best outfit (I think it qualifies for Hanya’s best gay little outfit list). Personally I with they hadn’t gone with Gods Menu again. I’ve been hoping that they would perform My Pace (and maybe remix it with their B-side TA off their Go Live album) because that would be such a fun stage. Again, I enjoyed myself but I won’t revisit it anytime soon. At this point the only groups I actually look forward to are BTOB and SF9 (they’re doing fucking Move and I don’t know whether to be excited or terrified-there’s a clip of Taeyang covering Move from a variety show or interview and I think he does it really well so I know at least one of them can pull it off). Again thanks for creating space where I can info dump and I hope I said something of interest to you!

i think you wrote more than me!! i love this, im gonna put my response under a cut im not being super obnoxious on the dash.

i get that the mayfly stage would be not as visually stimulating for people and usually i would count myself in with that crowd because i love a good spectacle but i think because i watched the spark stage first and my colour perception is sometimes weird so when there's a lot of movement with very little colour variation my tiny pea brain loses track of whats happening really quickly. especially with red. so it was kind of difficult for me to pay attention to the spark stage in the second half. also i absolutely HATE watching people flub on stage because it brings up such visceral secondhand feelings that i couldn't even watch the stage when i started the full episode today.

i love a good suit but you know what i would also love: sf9 in more costume variations. tbh im just getting nitpicky about it because im a costume designer down to the core and i got trained by a designer who specialized in doing avant garde costuming so i tend to skew more towards wild than reserved. it looks like the move stage wont be be suits so ill take it, but oh man to do i want to see some really crazy stuff. which i know they'll never do because idols have to be pretty at all times or the fans get mad but oh i want it so badly.

do you mean how i would improve ikon's backup dancers outfits or lisa's? here why dont i do both. for lisa's dancers i would have just done away with that harness shape all together, its almost exclusively a military style. the jackets by themselves would have been fine but really what they should have done was put them in something that matched the gold but contrasted enough to give them shape. by having at least her dancers in all black on a gold stage there was a lot of "haha look at me do a duck walk because lets throw in some voguing for spice." they could have gone with a mesh bodysuit idea similar to what she was wearing or even just different colour coats. as for ikon's backup dancers, firstly pants. not black. or even a longer skirt. genuinely a part of the reason why i dont watch girl group content is because i HATE the hem length of the shorts they make everyone wear. words cannot describe how much i hate that cut. kpop is so obsessed with showing off women's bodies and especially their legs but they do it in the LEAST flattering way possible because it "can't be too risqué," just shoot me now. i hate it. i hate it so fucking much. yea yea everybody was on cocaine in the 80s whatever but at least they were all wearing french cut bodysuits so their legs looked fantastic. stop interrupting the lines!! anyways. pants so the only section of skin showing is thigh to mid calf, especially because they weren't even doing any fun legwork! if they really wanted to keep the full sleeve bodysuits they shout have done them in a fabric with a texture or external embellishments, like a patent/vinyl or sequins/rhinestones. something to catch the stage lights so we can actually see the shape of the limb. but the easiest way to fix it is literally just cut the arms off the bodysuits. stages are lit to show off skin, sometimes the best way to have something be seen is just to have it bare.

i agreed skz cycles through ideas way too fast, they need to just pick a couple and stick them out through the stage instead of just adding more and more different ones throughout. also ok good someone else noticed that there is just...so much changbin. we don't need that much changbin. i know there's other boys in the group let them do something! also im pretty sure theyre not recreating the cat knife meme but actually the promo image from john wick chapter two, which i also could have sworn i saw a deadpool version of as an instagram ad back when movies were happening, but now that im looking for it it doesn't exist so i might be crazy.

im excited for the move stage but im also trepidatious because...its move. i have NO clue what the concept is from the previews so i just hope its weird enough to take it enough out of the taemin context for me to enjoy it.

[2old4kpop]

15 Underrated Girly Kpop Songs That Make Me Go Absolutely Feral

When it comes to girl groups, more than anything I am a Blackjack and Blink. I like to listen to girl songs that make me want to murder men (and believe me, that blog post is in the works). But I’m also a ONCE, as TWICE are my sweet darling babies, but they’re about as girly as I can tolerate. I’m not one for the super girly concepts. I mean, did you guys ever see MINX? Occasionally I ironically jam to Shakey Love Shakey Shakey Shakey Shakey Love, but it was an absolute blessing from the K-pop gods to rebrand them as Dreamcatcher. It’s really only the A-list girly songs I tolerate, like GFriend or Oh My Girl. Everything else below them just seems really cringy.

Except for a few chosen few that are so good that they make me absolutely lose all of my shits. And I’m talking about songs that nobody seems to know like at all. Either these songs came out when the groups were still under the radar, before they had their big smash hits, or they just never seemed to rise to the top. But they are still valid and important. Videos are linked in the song names, since Tumblr won’t let me add more than five videos, but here we go.

15. April- Dream Candy

April is one of those rare groups that pull off the girly concept so well but don’t ever seem forced, like they are just truly naturally sweet and pure and precious. Honestly all of their songs are great, and it’s tragic that they haven’t had a comeback in 2019. But their debut, Dream Candy, is the one that really gets deep in my soul to that animal part of my brain that makes me scream this god damn chorus. But only really at the end. I never really listened to this song until it came on shuffle one day when I was walking home in the rain, and thought, why not listen to this awkward girly song, and then the last chorus hit and OH MY GOD. It’s a good one guys.

14. Momoland- Jjan! Koong! Kwang!

So this song comes out by some unknown group called uh, Momoland?, with a title that is just a bunch of sounds that don’t exist in English, and I felt like I was the only one on Earth that was like, “This is fine.” I was honestly in some I Am Legend universe where instead of me being the only living person on Earth, I was the only one that liked Momoland’s debut. As time went on Momoland started putting out what is pretty much some of the worst K-Pop that exists (I mean, have you SEEN the video for Wonderful Love? Try not to cringe challenge) and sadly enough this group just faded into obscurity and never had any huge, Earth shattering hits or anything. 

13. DIA- My Friend’s Boyfriend

On paper this song is awful. I mean it’s a song about being a petty bitch who has decided to steal their friend’s boyfriend, hence the title. Also the song ads cute little quirks like *squints eyes to read this metaphorical paper closer* coughing. Also the video has an unnecessarily long intro. But believe me when I tell you that this is an absolute slapper.

12. Gugudan- Wonderland

It’s a crime that Gugudan has never really hit it off, even with two I.O.I members. Their debut has this amazing Little Mermaid concept and believe me when I tell you that this chorus is best when screamed at the top of your lungs. After all the screaming I am basically in a manic state by the la la la’s.

11. LOONA 1/3- Love&Live

You’ll notice that the main theme of this list is that the choruses are absolute fire. But this one comes in and basically knocks the wind out of me with sweetness, like some kind of aegyo Kool-Aid man. It’s really the music that does it for me in this one, along with the melody, along with Heejin’s perfect high note. If this song doesn’t make you smile then you are a robot, like ViVi. 

10. Shannon Williams- Why Why

If Ant and/or Dec were here, they would hear this song and definitely say that Britain’s Got Talent. Shannon is the British IU,hands down, undeniably, I will not be taking questions at this time. But it’s very sad that her career was nonexistent after this came out. Was it the fact that this features a sixteen-year-old grinding against faceless boys? Or that this video widely revolves around her intensely stalking someone? It can’t be the song because that is perfect. 

9. AOA- Bingle Bangle

Okay so some history for those non-Elvises out there. AOA was THE HOTTEST girl group for a good minute, with so many timeless collaborations with the Brave Brothers that really changed the shape of female K-Pop for a while. And then ChoA left the group. And without the only member who could actually sing the face of the group, AOA kind of went quiet, save for a few Jimin solo songs. Then AOA came back with a new sound, and while everyone else thought it was terrible, I thought it was a bop! And I love the video and the concept! And the dance for this is so fun. Bingle Bangle is a real yes for me dawg. It’s only too bad that they lost yet another member and their concept was handed off to FNC’s new girl group. Speaking of which...

8. Cherry Bullet- Really Really

Yeah so they literally gave this entire “girls in a video game but it’s fun and cute” concept to Cherry Bullet, and they hit the ground running with it. This comeback in particular is my favorite of theirs because it hits one of my favorite pop music tropes: Having A Funky Instrumental Chorus, Only At The End To Put Words Over The Music. It ticks all my boxes.

7. Rainbow- Whoo

If you ever wanted to hear a song that made you scream “RAAAAIIINBOOW AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” then this is it. At this point in this list we start to hear the songs that make me truly insane, and this song absolutely destroys me. It’s really sad, however, that this is basically Rainbow’s swan song, as it was their last song before disbandment. 

6. Matilda- Macarena

I bet you haven’t even HEARD of Matilda. I bet you didn’t even KNOW that MATILDA just DISBANDED a FEW MONTHS AGO because ALL THEIR SONGS WERE BAD except for THIS ONE which is just full of CHAOTIC GOOD ENERGY and if you don’t ENJOY THIS then GET OFF MY LAWN. 

5. Berry Good- Angel

Berry Good was destined to be one of those girl groups, like Matilda, that came from a tiny company and was just given bad songs and were set up to fail. So they crowdfunded, and somehow made two incredible comebacks, Don’t Believe (which is a whole other story that we won’t get into today, but it’s an amazing song that you should check out) and prior to that, Angel. I don’t even know where to begin with this song because it literally makes me forget who I am and why I exist. It’s a banger?? This song starts off so soft and pure and jumps right into a chorus that makes you bang your head and scream “I TAKE A CHANCE, YOU NEVER KNOW” as loud as possible. And right when you think you can’t take it anymore, that you are gasping for air because you are drowning in perfection, THEY GO EVEN HARDER. Like, girls, you did not need to go that hard. Holy shit. They go full IU in Good Day. I don’t know why we were blessed with this, especially since after this all their other songs have been garbage, and they’ve been so unsuccessful that they lost their strongest member and they’re heading for disbandment. But we have this gem, and I’m thankful for it.

4. 4Minute- Heart To Heart

Back when 4Minute was just another 2NE1 clone, trying to compete in the market of “Girls Who Look Tough But Are Actually Sweet” 4Minute, aka The HyunA Group, put out this. Third Geners, this is what Second Gen was all about. This is the meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown. This song is everything. It’s perfect. And it’s too bad that 4Minute didn’t really stick with this sound, but also not, since with their more mature concept they wound up getting pretty famous once Park Bom... I mean, we’re not gonna talk about it. 

3. Hyolyn- Bae

Okay so I know that Hyolyn as an entity is not technically considered underrated, but her entire solo career is being slept on and I don’t understand. With Sistar gone, and now Red Velvet carrying the torch for summer anthems, Hyolyn doesn’t necessarily have to give us one of the best summer songs of all time but she did. Every second of this song to me is perfect. And yeah okay I’ll admit it, I am a Gay, I am attracted to women, and Hyolyn is a lot of. A lot of wow. She and HyunA are exactly my type, and this video is a lot. But the SONG you guys. It’s so much that I told even regular people who listen to English music to listen to this song. They didn’t, of course, because the world doesn’t appreciate Hyolyn like I would, I mean like I do as a fan and nothing else. This song was my summer anthem in 2018, Power Up wishes it was this good.

2. BESTie- Thank U Very Much

One of the things that really got me into K-Pop during the Second Gen was that it sounded so much like pop music from my youth. This is gonna sound weird, but I grew up in a Wiccan Neo-Pagan household where 90% of the music we listened to was traditional Celtic or New Age, and if it was ever anything else it was like The Beatles (my Mom and her sisters were one of those screaming and fainting Beatles fans, the trait that was clearly passed down to me, based on what happened when I saw G-Dragon live, but that’s another story) or ABBA, or any kind of British/European pop/rock from the 70s or 80s. So once I was old enough to really find out what kind of music I liked, I dived deep into cheesy pop songs like S Club 7, Britney Spears, and the like. But I always had a soft spot for ABBA. The melodies, the music, the strange lyrics that didn’t really make sense or weren’t quite grammatically correct but it worked. I feel like that love for obscure pop, along with the 90s and early 2000s bubblegum pop, pushed me right into the K-Pop scene. And this song is the best example of that kind of weird melody with oddly used English words, but it works in the best way. The chorus of this song sounds like it was written by ABBA. The ending of this song is transcendent. Tell me you can’t picture a Korean Meryl Streep in overalls singing the ending of this song while dancing on a beach. This song makes me lose all my shits. But I do have to say that this video is uh, Not Good, especially compared with how amazing the song is. But these underrated bottom of the barrel groups don’t have much to work with in the first place, so we can’t really fault them. This song holds up, and is going to hold up for a very long time. I stan.

1. Laboum- Shooting Love

So like I said before, I don’t typically like the super sugary, super tacky, super girly girl concepts. BUT I LOVE LABOUM. ALL their girly sweet songs are AMAZING. They somehow get everything right, in their own unique way. They’re not at all like “Oh, they’re like GFriend”, “Oh, that’s like Lovelyz” or anything, if you get what I’m saying. Laboum had their own cheesy yet perfect style of girly. Aalow Aalow: A CLASSIC. Journey To Atlantis: A CLASSIC. Hwi Hwi: A CLASSIC. Only U: YES YOU GUESS IT, CLASSIC. Sugar Sugar: DON’T MAKE ME SAY IT AGAIN. I could have made this whole list with just Laboum songs. So I made myself pick one by listening to as many old Laboum songs as I could before I would become an absolutely menace to society, as I am not responsible for my actions after listening to so much girly perfectlon at once. If I was arrested and went to court for I dunno, causing distress and mayhem to the citizens of my city, my lawyer would call it “the Laboum defense.” “You see, Your Honor, my client listened to a lot of Laboum songs, and lost control of themselves and became an entity, a ball of energy, a comet destroying everything in its path while screaming cheesy Korean lyrics.” And I would be set free, of course, because who wouldn’t lose themselves completely to the power of Laboum? But anyway I picked Shooting Love, as it puts me in a manic state from the very intro until the last second. And let me just say now that I deeply mourn this old Laboum, as they came back in 2018 with a new concept that makes them sound lobotomized compared to their old sound. Like slow R&B is fine, but compared to this it’s drab and slow and dull and I hate it. I Hate It. Bring back cute Laboum in 2020, or at least study Apink if you want to see how to properly change an aging cute group into a mature group. I could go on, but now I have the urge to listen to more Laboum. You’ll see me on the evening news tonight, I’m sure.

anyway 안녕

[fantasy9nation]

FANTASY SURVEY 2018 COMMENT REPLIES

 (Thank you all for dropping in your comments! We’re truly grateful for all of them so I’m gonna reply to them here! I apologise if I miss out your comment. Thank you to all who sending us love and support <3

That bias question is evil. The correct answer is ALL OF THEM.

sorry man it had to be done SKDJHF

If you do this again it might be neat to add bias wreckers and which member they noticed first, it'd be really interesting to see how those compare to biases! I look forward to seeing the results, seeing this kind of statistics is fun! :)

I will make sure to keep that in mind, thank you for suggesting!! the results are out now make sure to go check it out!!

thank you for putting this together!! it's always cool to see the fandom dynamics! have a lovely rest of the year! c:

no problem dear its our pleasure ❤️ have a lovely last few days of 2018 to u too!!

I love SF9!

me too :’)

hi

hello!

hwiyoung deserves all the love in the world

you’re right

yeehaw hi krystal 💓💓 its diana uwu

hi bby uwu ❤️

They're an incredible group already. And DANGEROUS. And Zuho is a big dang problem!

theyre amazing!! and yes watch out my friend

i love you!!!!!!!!

i love u too!!!!!!!

i triple bias my dudes (rochanseong) it's not being called indecisive it's called having a lot of luv to give 😇 keep up the great work!! 💕

i triple bias jaetaebin u aint special SKDFJHSK you are the cutest thank u so much angel!! 💓

SF9 is god tier.... everyone of them.

SAY IT LOUDER TO THE PEOPLE AT THE BACK

Stan sf9 you cowardly angels

been in this sf9 trap hole since 2016 >.<

I love SF9 so so so much they make me happy and I think they're really amazing & lovely so I just want to say thank you to you all for helping so many fans keep up with them <3333 you're doing an amazing job & Merry Christmas i guess since this is until the 25th :')

you’re welcome bb aaaaa ❤️thank u so much and merry christmas!!!

i want to eat youngkyun 🤤🤤

my baby hwi is still a miNOR ( not in korean age BUT HE STILL MY BABY)

Nice survey! Well put together, congrats! You just got me on the "favorite title track" and "favorite album era" ones because uugghhh i just can't pick one, they're all so good asdghj

thank you so much!! i understand how u feel man i cant pick either SKDFJHDJ

Interesting survey! Lovely work you guys are doing, much love ❤

thank u so much!! <3333

you guys are so great for running this blog and it's a true delight to see the content you share with us all about our 9 dorky boys, thank you~

we are still trying hard to update as much as possible :’) no problem!!

You nice, keep going! ;)

thank u ;)

You rock! Keep posting. There are not so many tumblr fansites that bring quality, unique content. Fantasy needs you.

thank u!! god we have been pretty inactive but we are trying to stay active T_T

Thanks for the fun survey! I love seeing FANTASYS being connected in things like this!

hehe no problem!! its our joy to bring FANTASYs together!!

I lov u :*

i love u too uwu

Can Hwiyoung be in a hair commercial? ♥️

am on the phone with their manager as we speak

I wish SF9 got all the attention they deserve . . . Also that they would stop puting HwiHwi in the back of choreography & that he had more lines.

they have so much talent but lowkey wanna keep the fandom small and less toxic :’) homeboy got so much attention despite all the crap FNC puts him through YES HE NEEDS MORE LINES

i miss them where are they

in FNC’s basement

I love you guys uwu❤

we love u too uwu

Much love :)

lots of love back to u <3

Keep with the good work guys, fighting <3 !

thank you!! <3

You guys are great 😃

so are you :D

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR RUNNING THIS BLOG i used to run a fantakens blog like this for another fandom (keyword: 'used to' rip i couldn't keep it up by myself after a while) so i know how much time and dedication it takes and i want to thank you for continuing to do this even though you just !! got into an accident omg i hope you're doing okay i hope you get well soon!!!!! please rest well!!!!!!! have a happy holidays!

the struggle is real man i was so close to closing this blog down ;-; and thank you so much TvT im recovering well from my injuries!! happy holidays <3

Keep up the good work 💖💖💖💖

thank u!!

Tell them they're doing an amazing job and they should keep going. Fighting! :3

will do!! thank you <3

[thetoxicgamer]

FNCS Invitational shows what the pandemic stole from in-person esports

On the morning of Nov. 12, a line of fans wrapped around the Raleigh Convention Center as a sold-out crowd waited for their chance to enter the venue for the FNCS Invitational, the first major in-person Fortnite event since the World Cup in 2019. While esports was the focus of the weekend, the surrounding festivities created a convention-like atmosphere with numerous displays and opportunities to interact with creators, making the experience something you couldn’t get just from watching a Twitch stream. As soon as fans entered the building, they were handed inflatable thunder sticks and directed to an ambiently lit convention floor that boasted an array of concessions, merchandise stands, and a meet-and-greet area. Even though the setup was relatively simple, behind the stands, there was palpable enthusiasm from the diverse crowd as they waited in a line that was hundreds of people long just to say hello to the likes of SypherPK, FaZe Replays, Sommerset, and SquattingDog. The FNCS Trophy was on display next to the creator meet-and-greet. | Photo by Max Miceli“It’s really exciting and almost surreal just to see everything put together and being able to meet those people you’ve known for years now,” Sommerset told Dot Esports. The slew of creators spent multiple hours on both days of the event trying to meet as many people as possible prior to gameplay. And once the games started, the crowd’s fervor only grew. While the tens of thousands of Twitch viewers for the event could hear the crowd through the stream itself, the cameras and microphones only reflected a fraction of the spectating spectacle. “There was a wide demographic. There were adults with their kids, of course, maybe with friends,” FNCS analyst Miniminer said. “There were adult groups. There were people from all different countries. I think that’s what surprised me the most. We had people from Brazil. We had people from Asia coming here. We had all different regions that I didn’t expect. I thought it would be people mainly from the U.S., people that were maybe an hour or two drive away.” The packed venue veered toward being a family affair as a large number of parents accompanied youngsters, but Miniminer was quick to point out that it wasn’t just the kids cheering. Parents all around the arena showed interest in learning about the game, the players, and the lore behind the MrBeast x Fortnite burger statue. The line to take a picture with the Beast Burger statue was longer than those for any given concession stand at times. | Photo by Max Miceli“It wasn’t just the kids watching, and the parents on their phone,” he said. “They were invested. You could tell they were enjoying it.” Casting during online esports events can sometimes feel forced as talent gives a play-by-play in an empty studio, but thousands of people reacting to every movement gave the casting a special type of authenticity. For Miniminer, that extended to giving analysis on the desk as well. Having a crowd to feed off of makes it easier to be in tune with what the fans are interested in and adds another layer to the broadcast. “It helps break things down,” Miniminer said. “It helps to see what people are interested in. … That’s probably the biggest advantage that the crowd has because it just gives you that extra depth.” Fortnite isn’t the only competition to return to play with in-person crowds this year. Most other high-profile games have gone back to having crowds, and even events like TwitchCon have brought gaming fans back together again. While the pandemic led to a notable rise in streaming viewership on platforms like Twitch, the energy that a few thousand fans can provide in-person enhances everything about an esports tournament in a way that can’t be replicated. Read the full article

[p101recaps]

Broduce 101: Episode 8 First Half (Quick Livestream Recap)

Since I missed the first half of the livestream, here’s a quick recap off the raw. I’ll link this to the second half recap too.

Before elimination heartbreaks, they’d served some fanservice to numb the pain with a bit from when BoA came to visit before position evals.

She brought them pizza! The boys had a collective breakdown of food appreciation, and we see a brilliantly photoshopped press picture of BoA holding up pizzas like an angel, like Kim Youjin clearly imagines.

Jung Jung, at the brink of tears: WHY IS IT SO DELICIOUS

They’re just happy to be around her, which is fully understandable. She does a little happy dance as they chant for her, and mingles with the trainees (there’s a nice shot of the Amazing Kiss group talking to her) before leaving them to their food.

Sidenote: the cameras always catch Noh Taehyun in the background, and he’s always unintentionally pulling the ugliest faces possible, unaware he’s in the shot.

Cube Chick Yoo Seonho is by far the happiest, putting away as much pizza as he could to compensate for only getting three meals a day at dorms. He’s obviously at that age where you eat everything in sight, it reminds me of my brother.

Cut to eliminations day and shots of tears. Okay, the warm and fuzzies have disappeared.

The trainees all do their entrance into the Ceremony Hall of Crowned Chairs.

Kim Donghan did a move from Shape of You, then a heart and wink combo.

Starship boys did something weird, ofc

Brand New trainees did the point choreo from Twice’s comeback song, Signal. Cute. 

My man Ong-ssi transitioned from a very stiff and formal bow to his high note meme face from Get Ugly

FNC Yoo Hwiseung did his lip-swipe

Cube chicks, whose backstage hwaiting needed to be redone three times for them to be in sync, did the Shugo Chara frame.

Pledis’ Nu’est boys did hearts and more Twice references.

Hashtag that Twice relevancy

Bae Jinyoung did the ear flapping move too

So did Maroo Park Jihoon. I suddenly miss Kwon Hyeob, seeing him up there alone.

ONO Moonbok, who looked ridiculously pretty btw - I hope they stick to styling him like this, did something that looked like Red Velvet’s Rookie or Lovelyz’s WoW, and held up his lovely hair in two pigtails. Adorable. The trainees were KO’d

Star Empire Takada Kenta looks more like a puppy than ever.

The Yuehua kids shot hearts and Ahn Hyungseob acted like he got hit by one

S.How trainees used their minimal screentime references - Namhyung did his finger to the lip with elevated pinky detail that had impressed Lee Seokhoon, while Dongsu did the plucking from the air bit from the Amazing Kiss stage.

MMO trainees, extra as always, integrated Auntie Jisung’s clapping move with Twice’s Signal. 

Baby maknae Lee Woojin did his meme face and finger heart from the Be Mine stage. A worldwide cutie.

C2K Kim Seonglee did finger hearts with the Very Very Very head bobbing

YGK+ Kwon Hyunbin tried a headstand before just rolling over like a cat in a blanket

Real Performers Ardor and Able Noh Taehyun and Ha Sungwoon did a finger point choreo before moonwalking off the stage in sync

RBW puppies referenced fallen trainee Dongmyung by doing his warm up flapping dance and hearts. 

Protect Them.

Tension building and then cut to concept evaluation song distributions.

They keep playing up the fact that Jihoon dropped ranks...are they egging the fangirls to have a flatout fight?

This way of arranging missions, with distributing trainees into teams and then shuffling after half of them leave is stupid and could be avoided if they split up the mission footage better. The show could fully have filler episodes between missions at this level of popularity so the vote timing and mission preparation could be allocated efficiently. 

Imagine working at a song and then having to start over a few days later. It’s ridiculous.

Songs are introduced by their producers. The viewers have been voting to match the songs to their favourite trainees for this mission. 

I’d said earlier that the idea was just going to incite some kind of fuckery, with fans not used to this amount of legitimate power. Sure enough, there was cheating involved so Kang Daniel, Lee Kiwon and Kim Dongbin were banned from their leaked song preferences.

Honestly, the cat emoji morse code was great. It’s one of my top controversies this season. 

First up is my personal favourite of the song concepts, I Know You Know, produced by heavyweight producer Joombas (who is famously responsible for Exo’s Growl, SHINee’s Dream Girl and also apparently worked with HOTSHOT). I’m all about the funky R&Bish vibe: not the kind of song that tops charts, but probably stays there a while. Watch this song be ignored though lol

Second is Oh Little Girl, a name even the producer draws quote marks around. This is the song for the hip-hop concept, and has a jazzy easy listening feel.

Next is Showtime, coming from a trio of newer or less popular producers. This seems catchy, but it sounds very familiar - not a song I’d remember. The choreo looks fun though, and they reference Dongmyung’s warm up! The trainees love it, cracking up as they mimic the move.

Fourth are another famous producer group, Devine Channel, who I believe do a lot of SM’s songs. They’ve also done a lot of very trendy title songs, including BTS’ Fire and VIXX’s The Closer. I think the English title for this song is Open? Correct me if I’m wrong. It sounds great, oddly like something I might have heard from Nu’est. I’m looking forward to this too, the choreo looks great.

Fifth song is from the producers that get the most hype, Hyuna’s new charity project from Cube, Triple H’s Never. Auntie Jisung decides he wants the song because Hyuna is involved, which, honestly, same. The EDM structure also feels overdone but I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to be the song that gets maximum hype since there’s no ballad.

Trainees get allocated their songs in envelopes and have to go to wait in separate practice spaces for the rest of their team.

Jaehwan doesn’t want to be in same team as Hyunbin, which I understand, considering that he’s had to carry him twice already. Like the other trainees, he wants to work with GodJonghyun. 

Pretty boys Bae Jinyoung, Park Jihoon and Ahn Hyungseob get sorted together. Maybe their fans have been working in sync. They also get excited puppy Gunhee, which means their vocals will be taken care of. 

Once the trainees all gather, their songs are revealed. Byun Hyunmin decides to rip the sticker for his room and accidentally pulls off the whole thing. 

Byun Hyunmin: :O

Noh Taehyun: Everyone, we’re not singing.

Hyunmin retries.

All the trainees: cAREFULLY 

The group gets Showtime, which was Samuel’s pick. He’s ecstatic.

Minhyun’s room has their sticker peel by Emperor Hwang to reveal Never, which pleases most of them. 

Park Jihoon’s room has a breakdown before Dongbin peels the sticker to show Oh Little Girl, a song I can see Sewoon do well in. The Yuehua trainees are all in this team too.

Moonbok has a braid in his lovely hair this segment, it looks fire emoji.

Hyunbin’s room has I Know You Know. Taedong, who has a lower range than the song needs, is nervous.

Baekho’s group gets Open, which most of the trainees are excited about. Seunglee in particular is relieved, since it was one of his picks. 

We go into centre struggles for the killing part.

Oh Little Girl has Jihoon battling Euiwoong and Minki. They all demonstrate, and vote Jihoon and Minki as their preferred centres. 

Euiwoong is getting worried. He’s one of the only initial popular trainees that seems to be dropping down ranks every week. Kahi gives him a much needed confidence boost at dance check in, and Don Mills praises him at vocal check in too.

Product placement break.

Open team wants a dance focus trainee as leader because of the high level choreo and elect Daniel, who now probably understands what he needs to do to lead his group after faltering last mission. 

But the team has so many people that they split into two halves while leaning choreo and one team falls behind since Daniel doesn’t split his attention between the two initially

Kahi calls them out on the distinction, with one group lagging while the first one does great. The second half, which has Park Sungwoo, who we know needs a lot of focused help, starts to catch up after the whole team gets scolded.

There are so many trainees in this team that won’t survive eliminations, oh god. 

Kim Seunglee, you deserve better.

Showtime group has a lot of strong singers. Woodam wants to be main vocal, and Yoo Hwiseung needs that vocal hype boost since his rank is risky too. 

Auntie Jisung: I want to try to do it too.

They start talking about the need for facial expressions and singing, Samuel wants to lowkey be centre. They need to have impact to bring the concept across, they decide.

Auntie Jisung: I still want to try though!

They ask the trainees to sing and do some face expression to pick centre and main vocal. Jisung and Samuel share centre while Woodam and Hwiseung share main vocal.

Coach Shin Yumi likes Hwiseung’s control over the notes better. He’s a lot more stable than Woodam, maybe because his natural tone is stronger?

Yoo Hwiseung gets some screentime for the first time.

Far out, Mnet. You really annoy me.

Never team has Ha Sungwoon being worried about being in a team with high ranking trainees, most of who want to be centre. 

They all battle with facial expressions but the trainees vote for Guanlin and Minhyun as centre.

At dance check in with Dabbing Ajusshi Kwon Jaesung, however, Sungwoon is the first one to volunteer to dance. 

He gets some well deserved praise for it, which honestly, the kid needs. Being in a group of trainees that are all popular is awful enough, but he’s a true all rounder. Without enough screentime or helpful editing, he’s been fading despite being good looking and a consistent performer. 

More product placement.

I Know You Know team has the underdog feel straight up, with the lower ranking trainees. I called the song as not being the kind to be popular.

Appealing time for the centre spot. RBW Hwanwoong stands out. Ah, my heart. Donghan and Hwanwoong get centre.

Dance check in with Kahi has her appreciating their hard work. Hyunbin’s dancing seems to have improved, I guess being cyber bullied has that effect on you. She also thinks Hwanwoong is a good centre choice, which is some well deserved praise. 

Tears and mournful instrumentals are abound as the low ranking trainees recount their experience before for upcoming eliminations. We get flashbacks for some of them, which should prepare you for what’s coming.

We all know where this is heading. The rest of the recap can be found here.

[anthonycharlestabone]

Tuesday, September 19, 2017 TOP OF THE MORNING … It's Tuesday, September 19, 2017 and welcome to Fox News First, your preview of the day ahead with all the headlines you need to start the morning ... If you are a subscriber to Top Headlines, you can still to get your early morning news fix and so much more right here … In the meantime, please spread the word: Tell your friends they can subscribe to Fox News First by clicking here at FoxNews.com/first. Here's your Fox News First 5 - the first five things you need to know today : President Trump and how he confronts North Korea's growing nuclear threat will be closely watched when he addresses the UN General Assembly today Hurricane Maria wreaks "widespread devastation" on the island of Dominica as the rest of  Caribbean braces for "potentially catastrophic" storm Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort was wiretapped by US investigators, according to a report  Hillary Clinton says she wouldn't rule out challenging the 2016 presidential election results, cheers on the "resistance" Laura Ingraham joins Fox News' prime-time evening lineup as "The Five" and "Hannity" get new time slots Let's take a closer look ...  THE LEAD STORY: Donald Trump will take center stage when he addresses the UN General Assembly for the first time as president and North Korea will likely dominate his much-anticipated speech ... Trump is expected to try to make an unequivocal case for the assembly's 193 members to help stop North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from testing nuclear bombs and intercontinental missiles on which to launch a nuclear warhead. North Korea has conducted 14 missile tests this year, the latest on Sept. 14. Trump will also have an opportunity to show the world his diplomatic skills as many world leaders, concerned about the president's "America First" rhetoric, will get their first chance to hear and meet him today. Tune in to Fox News for full coverage and analysis of President Trump speech before the UN General Assembly at 10:30 am ET! Two must-read items from Fox News Opinion: 1) Listen up, UN -- Trump means what he's telling you (2) Will Trump make America great again at anti-American UN? Or will he cave? MARIA THE MONSTER: The prime minister of Dominica, a Caribbean island, posted online that Hurricane Maria devastated the island, sweeping away the roofs "of almost every" resident he contacted—including his own ... The category 4 hurricane is starting a charge into the eastern Caribbean that threatens islands already devastated by Hurricane Irma and holds the possibility of a direct hit on Puerto Rico. Authorities in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico warned that people in wooden or flimsy homes should find safe shelter before the storm’s expected arrival there on Wednesday. Click here to track Hurricane Maria's path. FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHAIR ON INVESTIGATORS' RADAR: Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was wiretapped by U.S. government investigators both before and after the 2016 presidential election, according to a report ... The wiretapping was authorized by a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court after the FBI started to investigate Manafort  in 2014, CNN reported. He's been under scrutiny over his financial dealings and lobbying efforts with pro-Russia and Ukrainian officials but has denied colluding with Russia to influence the election. ELECTION'S NOT OVER FOR HILLARY: Clinton continues to stir up headlines on her book promotion tour, saying in one interview that she wouldn't rule out contesting the 2016 election results and telling supporters at a separate event Monday night that she's proud of the "resistance" ... In an interview that aired Monday afternoon, NPR's Terry Gross pressed the former first lady and Democratic candidate on whether that meant she would "completely rule out questioning the legitimacy of this election if we learn that the Russian interference in the election is even deeper than we know now.” Clinton responded, "No. I would not." Why does this matter? - Hillary Clinton can't put the 2016 election behind her - and neither can the Democratic Party as long as she dominates the headlines. Almost one year after her election loss, she sucks the air out of the room for potential Democratic challengers to Trump in 2020 - you can name one. Headlines like these are why some Dems dreaded the release of Clinton's book. A NEW PRIME-TIME FOX NEWS EVENING LINE-UP UNVEILED: Laura Ingraham to host The Ingraham Angle at 10 pm ET, starting Oct. 30 ... While The Ingraham Angle will debut late next month, the other changes to Fox News’ prime-time lineup take effect on Sept. 25 when Hannity moves to 9 pm ET and The Five returns to its original home at 5 pm ET, where it was regularly among the most-watched shows in all of cable news. FNC’s 10 pm. ET slot will be occupied by a variety of rotating guest hosts until Ingraham’s show premieres. There's so much more you should know as you start your day ... so, let's do this.   ABOUT LAST NIGHT Heard on Fox: "I can't second-guess this judge. ... [The judge] has a feel for the evidence - a sixth sense as to whether or not you should believe a particular witness."" – Judge Andrew Napolitano, on "The Story," on a judge's acquittal of a white former police officer in the shooting of a black man - a decision that sparked three days of violent protests in St. Louis. Click here to watch ICYMI (And you didn't set your DVRS) ... Tucker: The Emmys more indoctrination than entertainment Fox Business: "You're presenting a fallacious argument": Kennedy battles "dead cops" tweet professor who supports Antifa "The Five": Greg Gutfeld: Trump gets mowed by the press MINDING YOUR BUSINESS Toys "R" Us bankruptcy imminent: Sources FedEx to report earnings amid e-commerce boom Just for you: A tax rate cheat sheet Rolling Stone to be put up for sale FOX TROT ACROSS THE NATION 3 arrested as protest turns violent Georgia Tech after police shooting Non-STEM professors reportedly push for boycott of UC Berkeley "Free Speech Week" Protesters call out Pelosi over Trump DACA deal Dylann Roof asks court for new lawyers, says race makes them his "political and biological enemies" Convicted rapist throws a fit while being deported, report says NEW IN FOX NEWS OPINION Michael Goodwin: Trump vs. Hillary -- It's time to reverse the "abnormal" and "normal" labels Tomi Lahren's Final Thoughts: Another city, another riot Eyes Wide Shut actress: Reaction to my "coming out as a conservative" story was absolutely shocking Sen. Rand Paul: Graham/Cassidy does NOT repeal ObamaCare and I oppose it  HOLLYWOOD SQUARED Emmys ratings crater; Trump-bashing to blame? Error on Beyonce vinyl surprises fans with Canadian punk band songs Did The View cut Jedediah Bila for being tough on Hillary Clinton? Netflix sends lighthearted cease and desist letter to Stranger Things pop-up bar DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS? College footballer dies after complaining of illness following game The ancient Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series just won't die DSEI: From Leopards to Boxers --- top armored vehicles grab attention at defense show Mail carrier battling cancer delivers hope to fellow patient on her route DON'T MISS THIS TODAY On Fox News: All Day: Team coverage of President Trump's address before the UN General Assembly will include: John Roberts, Kevin Corke, Eric Shawn, and Laura Ingle.  Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean and the Fox News Weather Center will have the latest on Hurricane Maria's path of destruction; Mike Tobin and Will Carr are in St. Louis for the latest in the tension following a white police officer's acquittal in a black motorist's shooting death  Fox & Friends: Guests include: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt; country music duo Big & Rich; Dr. Oz tackles the opioid epidemic America's Newsroom, starting at 9 am ET: Guests include Rep. Ron DeSantis Tucker Carlson Tonight, starting at 8 pm ET: Guests include former US ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson Hannity: Amb. John Bolton and Monica Crowley President Trump's first address before the UN General Assembly On Fox Business: Mornings with Maria, starting at 6 am ET: Guests include filmmaker Ken Burns, former U.N. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte and model and entrepreneur Kathy Ireland Cavuto: Coast to Coast, starting at 12 noon ET: Guests include NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Risk & Reward, starting at 5 pm ET: Guests include Rep. Marsha Blackburn #OnThisDay 1997:  In his first public comments since the death of Princess Diana, Prince Charles told the British people he would always feel the loss of his former wife, and thanked them for their support. 1985: The Mexico City area was struck by a devastating earthquake that killed at least 9,500 people. 1982: The smiley emoticon was invented by Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman, who suggested punctuating humorously intended computer messages with a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis as a horizontal "smiley face." :-) 1970: The Mary Tyler Moore show debuted on CBS-TV   Thank you for joining us on Fox News First! Have a great Tuesday and see you in your inbox first thing tomorrow morning! Unsubscribe ©2017 Fox News Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 10036. Privacy Policy.

[jessicakmatt]

Alain Mongeau and Patti Schmidt on the MUTEK Legacy

Alain Mongeau and Patti Schmidt on the MUTEK Legacy: via LANDR Blog

We talk to the forces behind Montreal’s most dedicated music and technology festival

Y2K was the turbulent turn of the millennium. It was the year computers were supposed to glitch the entire world…

But computers were doing other work in 2000, especially in music. They were showing up in more studios and on more stages. In a way, glitching the public’s idea of what a live performance looks like.

“You call that music!”

“What if they’re just playing something off iTunes?”

“The artist isn’t even doing anything!”

These are the early growing pains in electronic music that Alain Mongeau—founder of MUTEK—was coming up against in the 00s.

“In the first years, no one had musical backgrounds. They were more like geeks, playing around with tools” says Mongeau. “But eventually they become musicians. And then the music’s really good” adds Patti Schmidt, curator at the festival since 2008.

‘Computer music’ has been around since early experiments in the 60s and 70s. The undertakings of Iannis Xenakis or Laurie Spiegel and Max Matthews from the Bell Labs were groundbreaking. But the laptop as a performance instrument on a stage, was a separate kind of revolution.

Since its creation in 2000, MUTEK has been exploring that revolutionary intersection of music (‘mu’) and technology (‘tek’). Mongeau’s background in communications and multimedia—spiked with raving, utopianism and visits to Berlin in the 90s—was the foundation behind the festival’s ethos.

MUTEK’s focus was—and is—taking the artistic practice of electronic music seriously, instead of treating the music as a mere backdrop to hedonism.

17 years later, the artists and public have come of age too. Musicians and geeks are less distinguishable from each other. Laptops on stage are not a conundrum anymore. Computers have permeated all spheres of music. MUTEK has seen it all evolve, already seeking the next barrier to push.

In conversation with Mongeau and Schmidt at Schmidt’s Montreal home, we delved into the legacy of the World’s most dedicated music and technology festivals, the notion of ‘avant-garde’ today, the story of the MUTEK’s international offshoots and how artists and audiences have transformed over the years.

Leticia Trandafir: What are your backgrounds and how did they bring you to MUTEK?

Alain Mongeau: MUTEK is the result of a personal interest in electronic music and digital art, and of my professional trajectory. I have a PhD in Communications and I taught multimedia while also making digital art.

I’ve shown artwork at different symposiums, notably the ISEA Symposium on Electronic Arts in Australia. In 1995 we brought the symposium to Montreal. I became the artistic director—that was my first professional initiation to organizing events. So I left the university and dedicated myself to that.

After the symposium, I got involved with the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (FNC). FNC had started integrating a new media component. I was in charge of that for a few years. That’s where I developed a know-how in events organization.

Patti Schmidt: Did you know what a good event was then, or did you have to learn that over time?

A: The reason I continued doing it was the positive reaction we were getting. ISEA was at its fifth or sixth edition. It turned out to be one of the best ones—to the point where the organization asked us to host the headquarters. So it actually moved to Montreal for five years and I was in charge of that.

P: You were in your early thirties, right?

A: Yeah. At the FNC, I had a similarly successful experience. Since I was coming from a communications background, I was perhaps more attentive to content—diving into content, curating content… Not that I like that notion so much… But it was always about putting ideas and artists together, making sets out of it, and presenting a panorama of what was happening.

The whole new media component of the FNC had quite an impact on the scene here. Personally, I was more attracted to electronic music. So when I got the opportunity to merge both my personal interests and my newly acquired know-how, I came up with the MUTEK festival idea.

L: At the time, what were your models for festivals merging music, technology and digital art?

A: The first edition of Sónar took place in 1994. I knew about it, but I didn’t go until the late 90s. I was more inspired by the idea of what Sónar was about—music, creativity and technology.

Even earlier than that, I went to the famous Berlin LOVE Parade in ’91 or ’92. Those were the early years of the parade. The year I went they had 80, 000 people. One or two years later they had over a million people. It exploded.

But the most interesting part was what was happening in the city at the same time. There was a festival called Interference Festival that took place at Trésor, a magnificent old club. This was the first attempt that I could see of a festival about the artistic practice behind electronic music. Back then this kind of music was more about raving and partying.

This was the first attempt that I could see of a festival about the artistic practice behind electronic music. Back then this kind of music was more about raving and partying.

At raves, you didn’t have many live sets, it was more about the party. But this festival had a small catalogue, they would describe the artists, it was half live performances and half DJs. So I thought: “Okay, this is something dedicated to the artists themselves and to the art practice, not just partying.” For MUTEK that was the root, the example.

L: Patti, you joined MUTEK in 2008 correct?

P: 2008-ish. But I’d been to every edition, and I knew Alain peripherally from the FNC days because they were doing events with Cold Cut and other musical artists. It was also the early days of internet being stable. I was working at the CBC since 1991 and we would tape concerts and put them on the air.

A: Your show [Brave New Waves] was kind of a partner of MUTEK.

P: Yes, really early on—which no other mainstream programs were doing really. Although there were moments when MuchMusic and MusiquePlus would play Cabaret Voltaire and the like. So there was still a little bit of that in the air.

If we backtrack even more, when I was 16 in the mid 80’s it was a very exciting time to experience contemporary music. The Smiths, American punk rock, and Kraftwerk (which had been around for a while already). All the synth pop and music using technology was the stuff that was turning me on. I was mixing that with hardcore and ska when I was doing college radio at McGill University in 1987.

I kind of missed the rave thing. And I think it was because of punk rock and other identity politics. Maybe I wasn’t that open at the time.

But then I started working at CBC and it was a huge education. It’s not like I showed up there knowing everything. Avant-garde music, completely whacked-out improvisation, punk rock, new music, electronic music, acid house, Detroit techno… I got to learn about all those records as they were coming out. I was putting all of that on the air and mixing it with a wide panorama of other kinds of music.

Eventually, all this music changed my life. Going to electronic music events allowed me to move from music based in the brain—from the intellectual way of understanding music—to being able to connect the rest of my body. Maybe it was the ‘artified’ context that made it more possible for me to enter some of those spaces. Then I became totally evangelical about it. Always trying to bring people in, it was revelatory for me.

I also have a graduate degree in art history and communications. In university, I would usually try to turn all of my work into ways to study music and scenes—the theoretical and conceptual things that were going on. I wanted to understand contemporary music. So I became a bit of an advocate for genres that are ignored by the mainstream.

Going to electronic music events allowed me to move from music based in the brain—from the intellectual way of understanding music—to being able to connect the rest of my body.

Through the work at CBC radio, I was able to connect with a lot of different music communities over twenty years. Those communities know me and trust me now. I tried to never be a dick with whatever power I might’ve had on air, because I was also a musician and ran labels and these sorts of things too. Media power is temporal. I’ve been able to leverage some of those relationships over the years too, and it’s been exciting to be able to stay in the game.

Around 2000, I got really interested in the technology that was happening with laptops and the ability of artists to play live. The sophistication and complexity in the language and syntax of electronic music, all the different timbres that were possible and the compositional weirdness that was possible… I still want to be on that river. It’s more interesting to me than being a classic rock fan.

I think that there’s really exciting things going on with art and music, and audiovisual practices in particular really caught up. At first it was a little bit VJ glue-on for some of them… But now there’s sophisticated softwares and the thinking has changed, and I think that’s a really exciting area.

Contemporary music expressions, no matter what, genre is super important to me. It was really easy to team up with the projects that Alain was interested in. It made perfect sense.

Leticia: When you started at MUTEK, was there a particular thing you thought, “I want to bring this to MUTEK”?

P: Part of my job at CBC was to be a little evangelical. That meant to present new things, to turn people on to things they don’t know they like yet. Or to capture that 10% of the population who might be curious.

I don’t think you’re ever gonna convert everybody over. But people don’t know what they don’t know until they know it! So it’s a fun job to work in, an area where you can provide that to people.

Going to clubs was a revelation for me. “I don’t know what the DJ is playing and I don’t care!” Removing the familiarity of the song or of what music stands for from that experience.

I don’t think you’re ever gonna convert everybody over. But people don’t know what they don’t know until they know it!

When you are able to start articulating that to people, or setting up the context for them to it find out by themselves and seeing it happen—it’s amazing.

Leticia: What was Montreal like as a place to do something like this, especially in those first iterations of the festival in the early 2000s?

A: Personally, I had been surfing the rave movement in Montreal. I also went to many events in the US. I was turned on by the early years of rave where everything was very utopian and new. I was inspired by the idea of creating a space where you would take over the night, find new spaces, new music, etc.

It was very underground for many years. After awhile—maybe around ’95 or ’96—it got kind of co-opted by more commercial forces. It was the birth of the afterhours movement in Montreal. It was all going back to clubs, and becoming increasingly commercial. The spark and utopian nature of things was getting diluted. So the idea of MUTEK was to recapture something of the initial enthusiasm.

On the other hand, there was also this idea that electronic music never really caught on in North America. I always felt like we were at least one or two trains late in relation to what was happening in Europe. Having traveled a lot, I saw what was happening over there. It was already so strong—especially in Germany—where there’s a whole culture and infrastructure developed around it. Electronic music culture was also something that helped the two Germanys reconnect.

And here, we felt a bit isolated. So the idea with MUTEK was to start something here, and bring some of the artists we respect.

P: I think there’s some prerequisites about Montreal that make it really ripe for this—special elements that don’t exist in the rest of the country. I’ve been in the rest of Canada, and there’s a reason I live here.

This idea of dance culture, of sensuality of the body, disco, clubs—it existed here. People stay up late at night. There isn’t the same kind of prohibition, Anglo-Saxon Protestant thing that happens in say, Ontario.

There’s also definitely this idea that you can pursue an artistic life in Montreal. Artists in other cities have to justify their experience as artists all the time. Whereas it’s really part of French and francophone culture.

There’s a general support for an avant-garde sensibility that comes out of that too. People are proud of the avant-garde composers who come from Quebec. And I think that despite the potential linguistic restraints, Montreal and Quebec have always projected themselves into the world in a much sexier, more effective way than any other city in Canada. So I think all of that made it possible.

A: The initial drive was much more about having the impression that we were losing the relation to what I nurtured in this movement: creativity and something raw.

There’s two important aspects also. First, I was so happy to escape clubs with the rave movement. Commercialization was bringing it back to this prefixed format, where you go in a club. I don’t like going to clubs. Second, I felt like everything was happening elsewhere, and we had to do something about it. Either leave, or do something about it here.

The FNC years were also really important. I was able to test some ideas that became a foundation for MUTEK itself. I had a good budget and brought a lot of artists. I realized that artists love to come to Montreal. They would come here for the first time, and they would just be flabbergasted by the city. That gave me confidence that there’s something to do in Montreal.

Maybe we don’t have the beaches that Sónar has in Barcelona, maybe we don’t have the underground awesomeness of Berlin. But in the North American context, there’s something about Montreal that’s worth tapping into.

L:  It seems like there is also a tendency to look outward instead of saying, “Maybe there’s something to do with what we already have.”

A: I definitely think there are cycles. When you get older you can look backwards and have a different perspective. When I look back at Montreal, there have been ups and downs.

For the first years of MUTEK in the early ’00s,  there was a lot of enthusiasm around our little scene. A lot of people moved to Montreal from elsewhere because of MUTEK. They felt something was happening. So for a few years it became a convergence point.

We were left with, “Okay, what are we doing here?” We had to retap into the essence of what the festival was about and work with new generations of artists.

Then after about six years of MUTEK here, we lost the plot again. The market being what it is here, a lot of people moved to Europe. Montreal’s a small city, and North America isn’t so hot on electronic music, it’s also harder to tour…. All the musicians that we helped develop, they just left.

We were left with, “Okay, what are we doing here?” We had to retap into the essence of what the festival was about and work with new generations of artists. It’s a bit depressing in Montreal, when you see everyone leaving. “It’s happening elsewhere again” I thought. But then it flows, comes back, there’s more artists coming. So it’s kind of interesting in that way.

L: Was that balance between local artists and international acts there from the beginning?

P: In those early years, you had young producers like Mark Leclair (Akufen), Mike Shannon, and Dead Beat—it was still kind of a small community globally. Matthew Herbert would show up, and those guys would get to hang out with him. They would perform on the same stage and they would be like, “Oh my God, I really need to up my game,” or “Wow! What is he doing with that thing over there?”

Those are some examples up close where you get to be challenged as an artist and it’s super valuable. I’ve seen how this has worked with many different generations of artists who’ve come through the festival. It’s really exciting and important for us to be able to offer that.

It was the same in programming radio. I didn’t have Canadian content restrictions. But I would go out of my way to make sure that if I was playing Canadian music, people would know about it. It would also be nestled beside other things of quality. It never did anybody a service to just play something out of quota.

This function has become more solidified, more articulated, and sophisticated. There are now export ideas, the other MUTEKs around the world, and the circulation of Canadian audiovisual artists. Bringing them elsewhere has been a really interesting result of how this dynamic has worked out over the years.

L: And how did the international branches of Mutek come about?

A: Part of the inspiration for MUTEK came from looking elsewhere, feeling like it’s all happening elsewhere and trying to do something about it.

But after the first edition of MUTEK, we got contacted by different cities in Europe to do something with us. That was kind of weird, because we felt we were losers over here—totally isolated! We took their gesture of trying to connect with us as an indication that we were doing something that people noticed. So we realized that being here and connecting to what’s happening elsewhere could be a fuel to nurture or develop.

The first invitation we got to do a showcase was in Berlin as part of the CTM Festival. We did a MUTEK night—it was the beginning of quite an adventure. What’s really interesting is the way that everything has developed in an organic way, and it came through mainly the connection that was established by bringing artists from abroad to MUTEK.

The first festival we did outside of Montreal was in Chile because we brought Ricardo Villalobos and another artist called Davi Jack to MUTEK. There’s also a personal story: I lived in Chile when I was young. When they found that out, they said, “You should come with us! We go there every year to spend the Christmas Holidays.” So I went for the first time in twenty-five years, through the connection with these artists.

When I was there, they said, “You should do MUTEK here. We’re gonna introduce you to people who will help you develop the project and bring it here.” We got to work and it happened the following year.

And just about every out of town MUTEK has a story similar to that one. It’s always at this human level.

L: That’s really cool. I want to turn to the concept of ‘avant-garde.’ What does it mean to you?

P: I think avant-garde is a timeless concept. And maybe you have to shift what your definition is all the time. There are cycles of: “That’s not avant-garde anymore, that’s commercial now.”

My avant-garde is not somebody else’s avant-garde, depending on who heard something first.

Avant-garde can be novel, a kind of non-commercial, maybe something you haven’t heard before. Something singular—and by that I mean the artist’s voice is unique and stands out. Something avant-garde is ingenious and perspective-altering.

So, my avant-garde is not somebody else’s avant-garde, depending on who heard something first.

It’s about being brave. For quality avant-garde, I like to have a sense that it’s put together, that there’s thoughtfulness. Even someone’s intuition can be genius too on some level.

A: The Canadian architect Phyllis Lambert said, “The second you claim you’re avant-garde, you’re not avant-garde.” So that’s kind of a term I never use… maybe I slip it in a grant submission, or when I want to be a bit obnoxious. But it’s not something that I claim for anything I would do. I think it’s always much more about novelty.

It’s more about research, investigation, pushing the boundary, the notion of exploration. In the term ‘MU-TEK’ there’s the connection between music and technology. It’s also about following the mutations of creativity as it’s inspired by the use of technology.

In the term ‘MU-TEK’ there’s the connection between music and technology. It’s also about following the mutations of creativity as it’s inspired by the use of technology.

A lot of the artists doing electronic music are not ‘musicians.’ Most of them won’t even say that. I mean maybe today it’s different, but in the first years no one had musical backgrounds. They were more like geeks, just playing around with technology. It was more like making sculptures with sounds, music, beats…

P: But eventually they become musicians. And then the music’s really good.

A: Eventually. But for many years, it was just people exploring with their tools.

P: Which drove a lot of people crazy and didn’t provide entry points for audiences!

A: Take Brian Eno. He never said he was a musician. He was more an explorer.

But then, after a while, some trained musicians got interested in that field. And then you saw waves of artists trying to bring musicianship to the mix. We were the first ones to have laptops at shows. We always follow the development of these technologies.

One of the early artists we presented even before MUTEK itself was Robert Henke—who eventually became the developer of Ableton Live. He’s been part of the fabric of the festival since the beginning. He developed tools because he was frustrated by the state of the practice back then. These tools got huge.

So we’ve been tracking the mutations of how people react to those technologies. For a lot of musicians or electro-acousticians, electronic music is not real music. There’s that barrier. And then we had people like Nils Frahm or Hauschka, trained musicians that have no prejudice against electronic music. Those are some of the people who transform it from inside.

We poke here and there, we try to follow, make some crossovers, cross-pollination. We bring people who we think will be interesting, and see if they can provoke new ideas and a new drive.

P: This idea of the early days, of geekdom and of how electronic music was presented had this academic sheen around it—although Detroit techno is different. There was that whole argument about organic versus digital, and ‘is it real?’ ‘is it authentic?.’ It used to be something to comment on if a musician crossed over to the electronic side. And it used to be a conversation or a discourse that happened all the time.  Now we’re over that. These are the tools that are available—some people will use pianos, but they will also know how to use MIDI, you know? It’s not a problem. That debate stopped.

A: It stopped but it resurfaces. For many years, the first time we had laptop concerts, there was the novelty of it, but then people complained about it…

P: “No gesture? What is happening?!”

A: Ableton Live allowed for recomposition on stage, but that was boring to watch so they had to develop interfaces. I remember stories about some people playing iTunes and fights about what it really means to play live. The same with video proejctions: “was that pre-rendered?” But you’ll also have someone who is doing pre-rendered visuals, and what they’re presenting is so much more spectacular.

P: The idea of virtuosity is totally subverted by electronic music, just because of the lack of gesture. How can you tell? Are the judgments of virtuosity just based on these old classical models, where you have to see action, sweating? Then you can judge whether it has virtuosity or not?

These were all these things that the festival had to fight about—and maybe they haven’t totally gone away.

I remember thinking in 2008: “How are we going to get an article in a mainstream paper like La Presse?” Well, we had put forward the most ‘musical musician’ and then tell them, “Don’t be afraid, everyone calm down, it’s gonna be alright.” Maybe that’s died down a bit because really, everything is electronic music and digital music now.

But still in North America you have to fight against this rockist or pop idea that things are not music unless they’re organized into albums and song structures with refrains. We still have to fight the idea that familiarity is one of the greatest values of a song, or that a specific kind of feeling should be delivered to the listener.

I still feel like that’s the thing that people haven’t quite gotten over. Maybe it will never happen.

A: What we try to do when we put the program together is to create an experience. It’s a five or six day immersion where you will go through so many different states by being exposed to so many different interesting artists.

And just because you like an artist’s music, it doesn’t mean they’re going to give a good performance. Sometimes it’s just boring. Sometimes, we know a certain artist deserves to be in the festival but it’ll take ten years to have the right context. Then when they come, they blow everybody’s minds. And there’s so many stories like that.

So, again, going back to the question, is it avant-garde or not, it’s not really about that. It’s about the idea of keeping this global idea alive, of exploring, pushing and being inclusive.

P: The practice of research and discovery, of being curious— that’s the frame of mind that we hope to give to people. We’re super lucky to have an audience that cares about that and trusts us. They complain to you when something goes wrong or if they didn’t like it. But I like to hear those stories.

A: It’s hard, because the whole festival is based around discovery, but you don’t sell tickets with new artists. We have to push. It’s this sort of relationship where people get to trust us.

Funny enough, year after year we do surveys about what people want to see next year. They ask for what we’ve already done in the last years. And I’m thinking: “Don’t you get it? We’re trying to bring new people!” But there’s this idea that we have to bring people back. So it’s a complex balance to strike.

P: Headliners and what’s familiar will feed into our strategy to make people discover new artists. “You came to see this, but you’re gonna love that!”

Of course you put the emerging artists a little bit earlier, but everything gets set up. Nothing is filler. Everything that’s in there matters. It’s all there on purpose.

L: So how has the Montreal audience evolved as an audience?

A: The Montreal audience is quite difficult. It’s quite spoiled too.

P: Now it is.

A: It’s always been complicated. Nearly 50% of our audience comes from outside of Montreal. Without those statistics, the festival would not exist, even today. Montreal never fully supported MUTEK the way it could’ve. So that’s kind of a weird relationship. But we never gave up. We try and try again. This year we yielded to the fact that the Montreal audience has too much going on in the spring.

P: And no money.

A: So we’re trying something else, because we still want to please the Montreal audience.

That being said, I think we’ve maintained a relatively good relationship with the artistic community in Montreal, just because half of our program has maintained this self-induced mandate of 50% Canadian content and 50% international. This encourages us to develop different strategies to involve the scene.

P: For emerging artists who have a really good idea going on in their work, putting them on a big system in a good context creates this really special opportunity to try something out in proper clothes, you know? And I think that’s been cool for the connection with the local community and a lot of them know it.  It’s fun to be able to provide that opportunity—and there aren’t many opportunities for that kind of production in Montreal.

A: But the Montreal audience is quite difficult. I think it’s a guest list mentality. They still complain today that the festival is expensive, but we have so much to offer and so many artists on display. Some will spend maybe 50$ to go to Stereo for one artist one night, and they’ll complain when we charge 30$ or 35$ for 3-4 artists—some of whom rarely play here.

P: MUTEK is a festival experience too. Even if you’re a zombie at the end, there’s something really rewarding about going through the whole thing. We leave a little treasure trail for you to follow and try to balance it out so that you’re not totally blasted. The local audience tends not to commit to the finds.

A: People who come from outside, they’re committed. Some Montrealers got it after a while but many go to one or two shows—they just dip in and out. After a while, some people realize “Oh, yeah, I should do the Mutek thing” and they take holidays and do the festival in Montreal.

P: But we’ve had to think about it more consciously in the last few years; about how to engage with the local audience that we are going to assume is not going to buy passes for the whole thing. How do we connect with communities and audiences?

A: When other international organizations try to organize things in Montreal, they sometimes come out of that experience and tell us: “Gosh, we don’t know how you guys do it, this was tough.” Because the thing is, the public here is knowledgeable, quite critical and vocal about things.

Leticia: MUTEK’s coming up, what are some of the most important conversations, or things that have come back in conversations?

A: Our network is reaching a new critical mass. Mexico’s been around for 15 years, Barcelona for 8 years, last year we added Tokyo, this year there’s Buenos Aires, there’s discussions about new cities… There’s kind of a resonance in the network itself, it opens up a kind of whole new paradigm of possibilities.

We’re sending a lot of Montreal artists to the editions in Tokyo, Mexico, Buenos Aires edition…There’s fruitful exchanges between the different players in the network, which tells me that there’s something new shaping up.

P: It’s worth noting though that MUTEK never scouts a location. We don’t come in and drop a pin down. All these people approach us because they see something valuable in the way we do things. We’re always gonna have a discussion with the various MUTEK franchises about what that moment is for them, the values of the festival, and the possibilities.

MUTEK is not a brand in the sense that you can just slap the name on something and people go “Yeah!” We’re not about parachuting into places and then leaving. It has to be cultivated by someone who’s connected to the ground and cares about wanting to put that thankless, expensive work into making an event for community, cultural and aesthetic reasons. We used to call it this the ‘Open Source model.’

A: From a Canadian perspective, the political alignment at the moment is good, the new government pouring more funding in the arts. After 20 years, there’s no other event that’s doing what we’re doing in Canada. There’s New Forms in Vancouver which is great, but it’s a different scale.

We feel like we have a role to play on a Pan-Canadian scale, but that always depends on the funding. They’ve announced new funding but we haven’t seen any of it yet, nobody has. We hope it’ll open up new connections. But that’s kind of boring!

L: No, it’s actually super interesting, I was thinking about that. I asked myself: What are the other festivals around here that people are pumped about? MUTEK is the main one that comes to mind. There are other ones, like Moog Fest, now Sustain-Release, the small TUF fest in Seattle. The contemporary and edgier side of electronic music culture in North America is getting more interesting.

But when I think of larger but still edgy festivals,  I tend to think about European festivals like CTM in Berlin, Unsound in Poland, Club to Club in Italy, Rewire in the The Netherlands, Astropolis in France, Sónar in Spain … In North America big festivals tend to be perhaps more commercial.

P: And they don’t have mandates to support local artists, except for putting them on opening slots. They don’t think about their careers or development, of nurturing them in the larger sense.

L: In Montreal, there’s very little industry to speak of. Montreal, in my mind, offers more a fertile ground for experimenting, and becoming an artist, and forming your practice, and then you have a few big institutions that might be able to help you. Where do you go after that development phase? Festivals are a major way of doing that, and MUTEK is quite a big step for those artists here. It provides this vision to look outward and connect with other people.

P: For five ephemeral days a year…

Get your tickets for MUTEK 2017 happening August 22 to 27. Follow MUTEK Montreal on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo and SoundCloud. Find out about MUTEK Mexico, MUTEK Barcleona, MUTEK Tokyo and MUTEK Buenos Aires.

The post Alain Mongeau and Patti Schmidt on the MUTEK Legacy appeared first on LANDR Blog.

from LANDR Blog http://blog.landr.com/mutek-legacy/ via https://www.youtube.com/user/corporatethief/playlists from Steve Hart https://stevehartcom.tumblr.com/post/164102793689