Post-Hardcore Electronica Is Even Better with a Blistering Live Light Show

A kinetic live show makes its world premiere at MUTEK Montreal, featuring the talents of Takami Nakamoto and drummer Sebastien Benoits.

by Kevin Holmes

April 28, 2015, 1:30pm

Strobes, LEDs, and 32 bars on mic stands ripple with music in visual artist and musician Takami Nakamoto and drummer Sebastien Benoits' live audiovisual performance, Reflections, which makes it debut at MUTEK in Montreal next month. The piece is a collaborative effort between the pair with stage design by Nonotak, Nakamoto's art studio which he runs with illustrator Noemi Schipfer.

In the past, Nonotak created concert visuals using a needle-covered canvas, and an audiovisual cage with explores themes surrounding the Fukushima disaster. For Reflections, lights pulse and flow between the performers linking them together while suggesting a duality, notes Nakamoto—the ferocity of Benoits' drumming with the more ambient stylings of electronica.

Nakamoto, who released an EP Opacity last year, sees the performance as a chance to revisit his electronically-produced tracks with the addition of a live drummer. The idea, he explains, is to bring some physicality into an electronic performance. He and Benoits used to play together in a post-hardcore band called Doyle Airence, so this was a chance for them to rekindle their creative partnership through different experimental elements.

Photo credit: Arnaud Deprez

The theatrical setup includes not just the lighting on the stands, which add to the intensity of the performance, but also the drum kit itself, which is subtly lit from inside certain drum elements, highlighting aspects of Benoits' playing. It's not unlike the Arduino/LED kit, drummer Clark Baechle told us he was building for The Faint's live show, back in April 2014.

Get a taste of the performance in the video above, co-produced by Le Générateur at Gentilly, France. The live show will be a MUTEK Montreal on 28 May. Visit Takami Nakamoto's Facebook for updates and Nonotak's Facebook for more on their projects.