A portion of a Mutek review in Grooves from www.rjschepper.com:

Of course, while the sheer volume of artists presented at MUTEK precludes a complete description of all events, certain performances stood out. In the electropop realm, hellothisisalex (Toronto’s Mark Prier and Melissa Creasey), Germany’s Nova Huta, and Felix Kubin combined on Wednesday for a night of retro-pop electronica. hellothisisalex presented a melange of retrograde 70s synthpop: mix vocal-less Depeche Mode with some DAT Politics, add a pinch of Solvent and Lowfish plus a heavy bottom end, and the result is an irresistible blend of simple tunes and child-like melodies. The eccentric Nova Huta began by delivering an interminable, rambling spoken intro, the unpleasant memory of which was quickly dispelled once his particular brand of electropop began. In a brazenly theatrical performance, Huta used simple props and accompanying videos to accompany his simple melodies and brief songs. Felix Kubin also presented a 70s/80s electropop style in a colourful performance embellished by keyboard flourishes. The following night, Toronto’s Solvent (Jason Amm) and Lowfish (Gregory De Rocher) provided a set of tight ‘robot’ music featuring tracks from their respective releases Solvent City and Maintain the Tension, including two tracks with vocodered vocals. - R. Schepper

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