When Apple decided to upgrade iOS 5, they also chose to replace the ever-helpful Google Maps app that made taking an iPhone to underground clubs like Corsica useful, particularly when visiting for the first time. We stood somewhere on Elephant Road battling with the new version of this pseudo GPS abomination until my friend JT spotted a man wearing a full-blown rabbit costume by the curb at the traffic lights. “He has to be going to the concert,” he whispered in his thick French accent, frisky from the can of Tyskie consumed on hoof. After questioning, it appeared he was indeed right, though a slight concern arose that I had missed the memo about Planet Mu Takeover being a Donnie Darko-themed fancy dress. The white rabbit led the way.
Planet Mu has been holding events at Corsica since 2008, showcasing artists and performers affiliated with the label, selling out the venue on almost every occasion. Saturday evening was no exception in boasting a roster that included a range of extraordinaires that I had convinced my dear friend were well worth seeing — from the label founder Mike Paradinas, a.k.a µ-Ziq, to Glaswegian soundscape pioneer and visual artist Konx-om-Pax, to the ultimate breakcore mastermind, Venetian Snares. With such an unhinged lineup, it was sure to be an engaging evening, with or without the assistance of les hommes lapins.
Corsica is situated at the rear of a tube station; it’s dark, cramped, and bears the features of a grubby domicile, with conditional exceptions. The lounge area is a converted bar, complete with leather sofas that overlook the main room and consequential stage. It was here we found Rudi Zygadlo closing down his set, which was probably the only one of the evening that actually involved musical instruments in a relatively traditional sense. As he packed away his guitar and drum kit, Ital Tek began setting up, a herd of Mu-star DJs huddled in a booth to the left of the stage twisting footwork, drum’n’bass, and techno to an ever-growing crowd while skewed images of Bladerunner cityscapes were looped over a white cloth behind decks and laptops.
The closer Ital Tek got to his performance, the more the crowd became restless and irksome, and the moment he began to throw switches, lights pulsated, bodies erupted from the shadows, and the building shook. At one point, I noticed JT and I were the only people in my line of vision other than the DJ, who did not bear a face tattoo — torsos were writhing, silhouettes burst and palpitated in strobe to a deep and penetrating set by one of the most creative producers on the bill. We managed about 20 minutes in this writhing sweat swarm as Alan Myson tore up the dancefloor, projecting his beats through the smoke -filled air and into the Red Stripe beer garden out back.
It was then when we discovered the second stage, where µ-Ziq was busy gathering momentum. His bass-heavy live set attracted less of a crowd than Ital Tek, but his jams were equally outstanding. His meshing of Chicago footwork with techno grimace and improv cuts was a jutting reminder as to why this man remains at the forefront of his game and the owner of one of the most enterprising independent labels out there. As his set drew to a close, we retreated to the garden once again for more Jamaican refreshments and a discussion about the scene. JT was shocked, firstly as to how many people were at the sold-out event, and secondly as to how passionately the audience seemed to bounce with every beat and jerk.
We made our way back to the main stage just in time to catch the end of Boxcutter, the number of bodies in this already crowded space beginning to swell. With shouts of “Bring on the Canadian!” and screams of “Snares!,” the techno overlord took to the stage. He placed six bottles of beer next to one of his laptops and the lights cut out. A creepy sample, something childlike and impish, seeped out of the speakers. Strobes immediately proceeded, and the audience was thrown into a self-induced techno mosh pit. Beer was spilled, bottles of water were flung, a gurning skinhead with a frantic septum piercing crashed into me. The intensity, the heat, the strobes, and the sheer volume subsided only with more creepy samples, suggesting more carnage set to follow. We lasted another half hour in this convulsing drove before catching the final stages of Konx-om-Pax’s DJ set in the next room. His music was so displaced from Regional Surrealism — an album I have developed sheer adoration for these past few months — that I was unsure if it was even him… though this may also have been due to extreme disorientation and befuddlement from the strobe/volume/violence still occurring at The Temple of Snares.
The Konx set was exquisitely paced, funky even. When it finished and the crowd showed signs of diminishing, we vacated the premises, unaccompanied by our man rabbit. The stroll somewhere in the direction of Waterloo complemented our slightly slurring dissection of the evening, but that then splintered off into gibberish about audience demographics, the fruit of which rotted in our squiffy state as we meandered into the night, our spirits in tact and our shoes in tethers.