With the festival right around the corner, our guys in Montreal have MUTEK 2015 locked in sight; a massive sight to behold that is, how exciting! Since a festival of this magnitude is far too much for one person to try and wrap their single head around, we’ve decided to increase the task force’s power by 100%. This year we have two people on the ground, bringing you their experience and perspective of what this 5 day event has to offer.
The two cats we’re about to introduce come from quite different music backgrounds, which will inevitably produce radically diverging perspectives for this festival’s coverage. Their names are Noah and Colin. Now, without further preamble, Colin’s Picks for Mutek 2015.
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Day 1
Waveshaper – MAC (Salle BWR)
Why I’m excited:
Waveshaper is Toronto-born Jakob Thiesen. He makes dreamy ambient riffs laden with emotion, and deep, groovy minimal dubtechno. Accompanied by trippy hypnotic visuals, this will be the perfect way to start off the festival. As an added bonus for the music producers out there, he has made available multiple packs of pristine sound recordings and drum loops on his bandcamp page.
https://jakobthiesen.bandcamp.com/music
Ten Walls – MAC (Salle principale)
Why I’m excited:
This is a huge booking. Ten Walls is a super popular, in-demand artist at the moment, making massive melodic techno/house anthems played by DJs all across the world. Coming from a classical and jazz background, he plays bassoon in his productions and his melodies and chord structure are both top notch. I’m super excited to see his live set.
https://soundcloud.com/tenwallsmusic
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Day 2
Fake_Electronics – MAC (Salle principale)
Fake_Electronics is the brainchild of Jesse Morrison, who is known in Montreal’s underground minimal scene as Ana+one and as one half of Yes Ma’am with Alicia Hush. Jesse is a strong proponent of modular synthesis and will be presenting the results of his forays into the electronic wilderness with a custom built modular synth rig and accompanied by visuals from Ewerx. This will be the first time I’ve ever seen a live modular performance, and I have no doubt that it’s going to amaze and astound.
https://soundcloud.com/fake_electronics
Reflections – MAC (Salle principale)
Reflections is simultaneously an in-your-face art installation and live electronic act. Conceptualized by Parisian artist and musician Takami Nakamoto and featuring drummer Sébastien Benoits, Reflections includes lit-up drums, a row of dazzling tempo-synced LED bars, laser lights, smoke, darkness and over-the-top performances. I mean, just look at the video! Totally awesome.
Richard Devine – MAC (Salle BWR)
Richard Divine is an extremely prolific producer, composer, and sound designer from Atlanta. His studio is pretty much the ultimate collection of synths, analog gear and flashing lights. His music is full of glitchy textures and mind-melting robot mating sounds. This is his first live modular performance in Canada and it will be a privilege to see a master at work.
https://vimeo.com/richarddevine
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Day 3
Andy Stott – Métropolis
Bring on the techno! Andy Stott is coming from Manchester to lay down some deep, dark, heavy dancefloor goodness. His more recent productions involve breathy pop vocals from Alison Skidmore contained within a cave of industrial distortion at a slower, booty-shaking tempo.
https://soundcloud.com/modernlove/sets/andy-stott-faith-in-strangers
Kiasmos – MAC (Salle principale)
I fell in love with these guys after hearing their track ‘Burnt’ on Erased Tapes Records. This Icelandic duo is known for a slow, drawn-out emotional release that envelops you in orchestral glory, while still retaining a clean groove. Their sound textures are amazing. I’m stoked to see their first Canadian performance.
https://soundcloud.com/erasedtapes/kiasmos-burnt-edit
Lucy – Métropolis
Lucy is head of the Stroboscopic Artefacts label in Berlin, and one of the rare techno artists who consistently releases music that is both accessible and cutting edge. He’s headlining the stage at Métropolis, and will no doubt destroy the dancefloor. This is where I’ll be dancing hardest on this particular evening.
https://soundcloud.com/lucy
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Day 4
Gunnar Haslam – MAC (Salle principale)
Gunnar Haslam is a particle physicist from New York. His techno productions are delightfully weird and drenched in resonance. Active in the scene for only two years, he’s released a small number of well-received vinyls and podcasts and will be unveiling his first live set ever at Mutek this year.
https://soundcloud.com/gunnar_haslam
Fumiya Tanaka – Métropolis
It takes someone special to be asked to perform a DJ set at Mutek: a festival with a strong emphasis on live performance. Fumiya Tanaka has a long history of sparse, minimal techno to his name, working alongside industry giants such as Jeff Mills, Ricardo Villalobos, Zip and Sammy Dee and releasing with labels Perlon and Tresor. With over 20 years of knowledge and experience at his fingertips, and a funky, minimal style that I’m personally fond of at the moment, this is sure to be a set to remember.
Fumiya Tanaka Live
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Day 5
Perfume Advert – MAC (Salle BWR)
I’ll be honest; by Sunday I fully expect my legs to want to detach from my body and go settle down on a farm somewhere. But if I do make it out this night, I’ll be checking out Perfume Advert: a UK duo with trendy tape releases, marrying retro synth textures and field recordings over thick smudgy analog beats. It would certainly be nice!
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