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Music

The Creators Project At Nuits Sonores: Day 1

The day leading up to the opening of the French electronic music festival was full of good omens.

The Nuits sonores festival officially opened on Wednesday night in its most remarkable venue, the Marché Gare, a giant post-industrial ruin turned futuristic open-air nightclub. More than 10,000 people converged in the beautiful French city of Lyon for a four day extravagaza of music, art, and partying. For our team, the lyonnaise escapade began somewhat earlier, around 7:30 AM, somewhere in the halls of the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris. Let’s rewind for a moment.

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It only took us a two hour high-speed train ride and some café et croissants to feel our old festival routine coming back to us like a natural reflex—annotated maps of the party spots, programs highlighted with a splashing rainbow of yellow-orange-purple and cutthroat debates on the "acts we can't miss," "restaurants we should definitely check out" and "secret parties with awesome underground DJs we should attend." Everyone was excited about a dozen different gigs that pave the way of Nuits sonores until Saturday. We all agreed to disagree and eventually made up on one consensual point: This will be one hell of a party. But there’s still work to be done.

At lunch time, when I climb the stairs to the Superscript² office, located on a lively street in the Cordeliers neighborhood in the historical heart of Lyon, The Creators Project's film crew has already set up. We are about to shoot the last sequence of our mini-documentary on the graphic design and multimedia collective, our new Creators and long-time partners of the Nuits sonores festival. We briefly discuss the technical challenge of their new installation, Modular Ship, which reinvents the main scene of the Marché Gare. We talk about the parties we will attend, and after a spicy Thai lunch, we start the interview. They tell me about their peculiar story, which started with graphic design a couple of years ago, their many projects, and a groundbreaking review on typography which eventually led them to veer into multimedia sound and light works, as well as a fruitful collaboration with Nuits sonores. They even show me the whole creative process behind Modular Ship on their computers, from the preliminary sketches to the construction of the structure. (But no more teasing, you’ll find our Creator profile on Superscript² here in due time.)

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When I leave, the Hôtel de Ville [City Hall] is in walking distance. I heard a growing rumor about an unconventional DJ Set by Laurent Garnier right below the windows of the Mayor's office. As I enter the interior courtyard, I immediately understand the meaning of the event, called "Mini Sonores"—the place is filled with tiny and cheerful people running about screaming and laughing really hard at the sound of Garnier's electro and techno. The legendary French DJ and producer, who helped build the techno scene and culture in France at the Rex Club in Paris throughout the 1990s, is performing before a crowd between the ages of four to ten years old, accompanied by their parents, of course. The whole place is filled with a family-friendly atmosphere, and it feels like the first Wednesday of the French Tennis Open, when the court seats are traditionally filled with kids (Wednesdays are off in French schools).

At night, the threatening sky slowly brightens, and the fear of rain is definitively swept away. Now, the serious business can start. People begin gathering at the Marché Gare, huge crowds form, and when I finally meet with The Creators Project team, Nuits sonores is about to rock. Night falls on the United Visual Artists installation. The collective transformed their gigantic installation for Coachella into a new set-up specifically designed for the French festival. This futuristic light and sound gate stands 16 meters high at the entrance of the main site and the people passing by it stop and stare in awe. Some gaze from a distance, others surround it, intrigued and fascinated by the monolithic structure. Eventually everyone walks right trough it to reach the scene. Here, UVA's digital artwork serves as a kind of totem of sorts, heralding the symbolic ritual passage from normal life into the charged Nuits sonores atmosphere. It transforms those who pass through it while simultaneously transforming itself.

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Night has fallen, the Marché Gare is packed, animated, noisy, colorful and ecstatic. It is time to hear some music.

United Visual Artists; Music by Scanner; Main entrance of Marché Gare

Four stages, more than 20 acts in a single night, and the issue raised in the train is raised again—we have to make decisions. I head to Stage 1 where the legendary DJ Shadow is performing. I had loved him years back, at the time of his groundbreaking album Endtroducing, but since then, I have to say I left the whole trip-hop scene, the turntablism and the vinyl fetish behind me to embrace other styles. I'm waiting impatiently for Battles, who should play their new album, released a couple of days ago. I've never been a big fan of Math Rock, but I have to say that their act was very much like their last album: powerful, masterful, direct and efficient. It might have been the first awesome performance of the festival, and when I look at my watch and realize it's only 2:00 AM, it’s clear that this year's edition is going to be really promising.

At this point I decide to go to Stage 2 to see The Sonics. The garage pioneers have aged a bit since the 1960s, but they displayed a fair amount of energy on stage. Even the younger members of the audience, who cherish electro music more than rock, appeared to be impressed. The show was really good and, truthfully, even if it had been bad, I wouldn't have said so. I made a promise years ago to never say anything bad about the band who released the incredible album The Sonics Boom.

As testified by this great opening night, Nuits sonores seems to be under good omens. Our Creators Project events kick off tomorrow at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) with artworks and music. But for now, it's time to get some sleep and get ready for the first full day of the festival.

All photos by Oram Dannreutner