Siete Catorce (MX)
Wednesday June 1, 2016 - Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MAC)
Mastered by Pheek.

WHO: Mexico City-based producer Marco Polo Gutierrez also known as den5hion, Sin Amigos

STYLE: A tripped out cumbia, tropical and tribal undertow meets IDM, bass music and ominous atmospherics

LATEST: Paisajes (2015)

LABELS: Cocobass, Naafi, Enchufada

MORE: Siete Catorce is associated with ruidosón, a politically imbued Mex-Latin-electronic music

MUTEKs: Mexico: 2014

A product of border living from both sides, Gutierrez was born in Mexicali but brought up in Oakland before his family was forced back to Mexico when he was 15. His music reflects the urban sounds of inner city California and the musical conditions of a northern Mexican frontier town, flipping between traditional influences and contemporary electronic culture – not to mention the effects of the tumultuous socio-economic and political situation colouring the region.

With classical piano in his background and Ableton on his laptop, Gutierrez began exploring a universe of hybridizations, crossbreeding tripped out cumbia, pre-Hispanic tribal music, field recordings, dubstep, glitch-hop, IDM, techno, electro and house, which culminated in several aliases: den5hion for mournful bass and dubstep, Sin Amigos for upbeat tech house, and Siete Catorce. The latter has blossomed into an example of ruidosón, a politically imbued Mex-Latin-electronic sound considered something of a successor to northern Mexico’s nortec movement, a mix of traditional Mexican band music (norteña) and electronic styles. Ruidosón however, expresses with disquieting, edgy, angry and melancholy emotional undertones – feelings associated with the violence and helplessness generated by the narco-wars and general malaise with the economy and politics.

Presented in collaboration with MUTEK.MX.