PLUGGING INTO MUTEK
Acts to see at electronic music fest
When you want the real deal, you go to the source. Faced with the annual adventure that is deciphering the roster of Mutek, our city’s Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music, the Montreal Gazette asked programmers to provide the inside scoop on the event’s 17th edition, which runs Wednesday, June 1, to Sunday, June 5.
Programmers are not journalists, they’re enthusiasts; and so a request for a top 10 yielded a top 12, which including honourable mentions turned into a nice, round top 20.
(Note: answers were sent by email, so formats varied, prompting this reporter to add some initial background for festival founder Alain Mongeau’s selections.)
The results are in and they’re entirely subjective, non-comprehensive and, thus, uniquely informative. Drum (machine) roll, please:
ALAIN MONGEAU
British jazz-hip-hop-house producer and Ninja Tune/Black Acre artist Romare (June 3 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 3 lineup, 9:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.) “Every time his record played in the office people would go out of their way to find out what was on. Very happy to be able to allow everyone to check him out first hand.”
Swedish tech-house producer Sonja Moonear (June 4 as part of Metropolis 2 lineup, 11 p.m.
to 6 a.m.) “Very talented DJ who’s been around since the first Muteks, but lately she’s been getting more well-deserved attention playing alongside (Chilean German techno star) Ricardo Villalobos.”
Germany’s techno- dubjazzman Burnt Friedman (June 3 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 3 lineup, 9:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.; June 4 as part of the panel Interstitial Song: Between Bodies, Strings, Air and Electronics, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., at the Phi Centre) “The master of complex and hypnotizing rhythms. I’m very excited about this one, as I remember seeing him play solo years ago for what remains one of the best live musical experience I’ve ever had.”
Montreal dub-techno adventurer Tim Hecker (June 2 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 2 lineup, 9 p.m. to 1:45 a.m.) “Tim is now undeniably in the major leagues with his new record (Love Streams) on 4 AD. And when he performs live, he continues to mesmerize with his very intense and focused wall of drone, with musical touches here and there. Often imitated, yet never equalled.” Honourable mentions:
Herman Kolgen’s Seismik (Nocturne 2, June 2 at the MAC)
Atom’s solo live set (Nocturne 1, June 1 at the MAC) T’ien Lai (Nocturne 4, June 4 at the MAC)
PATTI SCHMIDT
Flanger (June 5 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 5 lineup, 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.) “Masters of rhythm, groove and pristine sound-worlds: Uwe Schmidt and Burnt Friedman. Their new, deconstructed future-jazz album (Lollopy Dripper) is behind their latest live performance.”
Frits Wentink (June 2 at the Parterre du Quartier des spectacles, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.; June 5 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 5 lineup, 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.) “Amsterdam-based soul-jazz wonky groove producer and DJ.”
Off World (June 3 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 3, 9:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.) “Sandro Perri from Toronto is one of my favourite lyricists and delicate acoustic song producers — with a foot in the electronic side of the equation dating to (his ’90s project) Polmo Polpo, his new instrumental project sounds like folk music from the moon.”
Francesco Tristano (June 4 as part of Metropolis 2 lineup, 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.) “Luxembourg Deutsche Grammophon meets Detroit techno artist with serious keyboard chops and a refined sense of machine rhythms — honed-in projects with Carl Craig and Mortiz von Oswald, as well as in his own non-classical practice.” Lakker (June 3 as part of Metropolis 1 lineup, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.) “Pure, unadulterated, widescreen dub-inflected techno from this Irish duo.” Honourable mentions:
Lee Gamble & Dave Gaskarth (June 1 at the MAC, Nocturne 1)
Jlin (June 3 at the MAC, Nocturne 3; June 3 at the Parterre du Quartier des spectacles as part of Experience 3)
Jackson (June 2 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 2)
Lawrence Le Doux (June 5 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 5)
Dasha Rush (June 2 at the Phi Centre as part of Mutek_Talks; June 3 as part of Metropolis 1)
VINCENT LEMIEUX
Paul Jebanasam & Tarek Barri (June 4 at the Phi Centre as part of Sensoria, a panel on audio-visual collaborations, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.; June 4 at Salle Pierre-Mercure as part of A/ Visions 2 lineup, 7:30 p.m. to 9:50 p.m.) “Paul Jebanasam is a Sri Lankan artist based in London, who makes very powerful ambient music in the style of (Montreal’s) Tim Hecker. His project comprises a visual accompaniment by Tarek Barri, who recently worked with Radiohead.”
Dawn of Midi (June 5 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 5 lineup, 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.) “A New York trio (upright bass, piano, drums) that creates songs using the rhythms and codes of electronic music.”
Powell (June 4 at the MAC as part of Nocturne 4 lineup, 9:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.) “A British artist who flouts convention and produces really raw music, without compromise.”