Quite recently — on 24 March, to be precise — Tomaz and I found ourselves back at Ljubljana's Orto Bar after more than two years. This time, we were lured there by the eccentric IAMX, the electro project of Chris Corner, who has been stirring spirits for over twenty years with his energetic performances and enigmatic persona. We had already interviewed Chris over Zoom a month before the show, as he supposedly wouldn't have time during the tour — if you haven't read it yet, you can find it HERE. Naturally, we were hoping to meet him in person as well, but that didn't happen. After the concert, we waited for quite a while by the club entrance, where he was meant to pass by, but eventually we gave up and headed home.
Now, to the actual event. We arrived at the venue about an hour before the show — probably because, for once, there was no noteworthy traffic — and treated ourselves to a drink first. At the beginning, it looked as though only a handful of people would show up, but then the crowd suddenly materialised. The hall could easily have accommodated a few dozen more, but there were enough of us to create a proper atmosphere.
Almost perfectly on schedule, shortly after 20:00, Gözde Düzer stepped onto the stage with her decade‑old project Aux Animaux — which, by the way, translates from French as "for the animals". Gözde, a Turkish artist based in Stockholm, describes Aux Animaux's music as "hauntwave", though it is essentially a blend of dark synths, theremin, bass guitar and horror‑inspired aesthetics. The ritualistic opening was somewhat expected, though given that the entire set lasted barely half an hour, it felt a touch excessive. What followed was, at least in my view, pure improvisation, more or less built on overt sexual seduction, and if even that left you cold, there wasn't much else to take from the performance. Well, I certainly didn't. Based on her performance at last year's Castle Party Festival, I expected far more. The first part of the show was practically identical, while the second part — where she played bass guitar in Poland and which was far more dynamic — was absent. It should be said that on this tour, Gözde was effectively doing double duty, playing her own Aux Animaux set before taking the stage again as IAMX's live bassist. She may well have been tired, or simply conserving her energy for the main act, where she proved far stronger.
Around 21:00, IAMX took the stage: Chris as the central figure, long‑time drummer Jon Siren, and the already‑mentioned bassist Gözde Düzer. From that moment on, everything went uphill. From the very first beat, it was clear this was going to be one hell of a show. Chris appeared with two little pigtails, like some schoolgirl, and appropriately opened with "Disciple", followed by "The X ID", "Sailor", "Aphrodisiac", and "After Every Party I Die". Luckily, he didn't die (well, the party was far from over at that point), but the sound did — twice. "Grass Before The Scythe" seemed cursed. First, there was an issue with a cable. Once that was fixed, only a few bars in, Chris — who had resumed splashing the audience with water from a bottle — managed to soak his own machinery, and once again everything went silent. While someone was busy wiping down the drenched equipment, a rather odd exchange unfolded between Chris and the audience, who declared themselves "wet" (?!). Just over five minutes later, IAMX were back in their element. We then heard "Break The Chain", "I Come With Knives", "Neurosymphony", "Exit", and of course, as the final song of the main set, my (for now) favourite "Happiness", during which many of us joined in with the singing. Throughout the roughly hour‑and‑a‑half‑long performance, a projection was running in the background on a zigzag‑folded screen. It looked interesting, but I doubt anyone managed to follow it with everything happening on stage. During all this, the barely‑clothed Chris also changed his headgear twice. First, he donned a sort of feathered crown (I'm genuinely curious which bird donated its feathers, and even more so whether it survived the process — or at least died of natural causes beforehand). At the end, a Milwaukee baseball cap appeared on his head, the very one we had discussed in the interview. Who knows — perhaps Chris has signed a sponsorship deal with Milwaukee in the meantime. ;)
In any case, IAMX delivered a fantastic show which — thanks also to excellent sound — left no one cold. Jon, sometimes masked and sometimes not, was superb on drums, the interactions between Chris and Gözde added a sensual layer to the performance, and Chris is, in himself, an "artistic‑energetic" entity who naturally draws the eye. After the main set, the audience cheered loudly and persistently for an encore — and got one. Four more songs — though still no "Artificial Innocence", despite the tour being named after it and despite its recent re‑release accompanied by a new video.
To sum up: the IAMX concert in Ljubljana was the first IAMX show I've ever attended, and one of the best concert experiences I've had. The tour wrapped up on 4 April, but new tours and performances will surely follow. Attendance highly recommended.
Until the next report — cheers! Jerneja
Live photos by Tomaz
Links: IAMX, Aux Animaux
