My friend Randy and I just returned from what will probably be rated as one of the top 2 live performances. Mute Math, an experimental electronic band performed at the Canopy Club in Champaign. I’ve really had only a passing knowledge of Mute Math, at least I thought until I realized how many songs I did know. However, I went primairly based on their reputation as a live band.

There were two openers: The Cinematics and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. The Cinematics, from the looks of it, will be a band to watch. Heavily influenced by U2 in sound and lyrics, they were a formidable opener for Mute Math. I think the singer even had a young Bono look about him; surprisingly they didn’t pander to their influences but instead took that sound and made it their own. The second opener, we were less impressed with. It might have helped to switch the order given that the second band seemed less engaging than the first.

Mute Math came on, finally, after around a 40 minute turnaround for the stage and opened with their most popular song, ‘Typical’. It was a daring move to place that song where they did in their set and spoke to their knowledge of their audience; that dumbing down a set and playing to the popular was not what they were there for–it was for something else entirely.

There were two beautiful facts about the concert; if you were intimately familiar with the songs, they were no where near the form that were on the record. In that respect, Mute Math came off as an accomplished, electronic, Jam Band without the baggage carried by most of that genre. Solo’s were done, improvisation was rampant throughout the songs, and the band really stepped away the from Jam Band stigma by providing a visually stunning performance, almost reminiscent of performance art, to match their equally stunning sound.

The second beautiful part of the concert came from the back story. The band came out of the ashes of Earthsuit whose only mark was that they failed as a band and had a very, very small following. Made up of primarily Christians, Mute Math found their market in the secular marketplace. Ditching the whole CCM stigma, the band has created a unique sound that escapes being pigeoned into a specific genre.

The thing I appreciate about the artistry is that it is done really well. It seems that there is experimental music that is really code for guys that don’t know how to play their instruments and want to just make noise for an evening, but this was experimental music that was something else entirely; well crafted songs, meaningful lyrics and a whole ton of fun visuals.

With regard to the music, there were a few standout performances. Like I said earlier, the band came out and challenged the formula for a typical show by playing their radio hit ‘Typical’ first, followed by the second most radio friendly song on the CD ‘Chaos’; both of which were very well done live. I wondered really where they were going to go from there. Surprisingly it went all the way up. What would happen is that they’d play a song and go into a number of minutes of improvisation. I could go on about the definition given that there was an electronic track to most of the songs and really how could one improv with a set track and a time, but I digress.

There were chaotic moments in the set where members would get up from their chairs and look around and decide what to play next to keep the rhythm going mixed with wonderfully worshipful moments that were quiet like the song ‘You are mine’. Another favorite for me was ‘Plan B’ off of their ep released a couple of years ago.

The encore was a very dynamic version of ‘Reset’. Randy commented that they were the only band that could pull off an instrumental as an encore. It seemed to also be a statement on their art; at the end of a few minutes of various drumming on pretty much anything on the stage with the guitarist droning by picking up his effects board and twisting knobs, they essentially wrecked their set by busting up pretty much everything. Looking past the typical rock star bravado, I think it was an interesting statement on their art. Art is less about the technology and more about the message. Destroy the tools and the end product remains and is more important. What a strong statement in our world where artists are produced and sold like produce at the grocery store.

In short, it was the best concert I’ve ever seen put on by a perfect band; there was electronics, well crafted songs, and wonderful performance art that left me thinking as the ringing in my ears died down.

The flickr gallery is up now too.