Recharge Your Energy at MUTEK: Feel-Good Performances You Don’t Want to Miss

Dance has always been an act of communion, liberation, and celebration. As the heirs to this universal need to move together, electronic music constantly reinvents itself—blending sounds, rhythms, and influences from every culture across the globe. This deeply human, celebratory essence has long shaped its story and continues to fuel its collective energy. Like all vibrant, multicultural cities, Montréal pulses to the rhythm of these fusions—a place where aesthetics and practices converge and evolve, forging the city’s singular sonic identity on the dancefloor.

Each year at MUTEK, that feel-good spirit radiates from performances by artists from Montréal and around the world. Whether it’s euphoric house, organic broken beats, thrilling live sets, or irresistible grooves, this energy lights up the program..

Here’s a selection of those radiant moments—ones to experience fully, feel deeply, and dance to without holding back. Everyone’s invited!

Cassy leads the way to a universal party

A longtime resident of Berlin’s legendary Panorama Bar, UK-born DJ and producer Cassy has built a remarkable career defined by hypnotic deep house, organic grooves, and refined mixing. Shaped by decades immersed in clubs across Vienna, Berlin, Ibiza, and New York, her style balances technique with raw emotion. On stage, she favours connection and surrender, crafting sensual, ever-evolving sets that pulse through the night. For Cassy, music is about sincere connection and pure pleasure—something she delivers with honesty and intensity.

Gayance: From Chaos to Celebration

Now based in Lisbon, Haitian-Montréal DJ and producer Aïsha Vertus—aka Gayance—explores electronic music as a space for deep emotion and radiant groove. Her sets, weaving jazzy house, London broken beat, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, carry a transformative joy reflected in her name, derived from Haitian Creole.

Returning to Montréal, Gayance presents the world premiere of Roaming in Chaos, alongside an all-star ensemble: vocalist-performer Magi Merlin, producer funkywhat, virtuoso drummer Harvey Drumz, introspective rapper Hua Li, musical director and singer Judith Little-D, iconoclast Narcy, and Creole rapper-activist Waahli.

Kyle Hall: Detroit in Real Time

Detroit native Kyle Hall represents the new house-techno wave emerging from his hometown. Since his teens, he’s crafted an intuitive, textured sound rooted in soul, funk, and lo-fi experimentation. Closely aligned with pioneers like Theo Parrish and Moodymann, his music blends rough edges with elegance—always groove-forward.

Martyn Bootyspoon: Club Energy, Reimagined

A standout from Montréal’s scene, Martyn “M.” Bootyspoon crafts club tracks that twist genre codes with sharp humour and an internet-soaked aesthetic. His music channels the raw spirit of excess, driven by precise rhythms and detailed sound design. Fusing ghettotech, electro, and club music, his performances are physical, cheeky, and radically live—no laptop, just synths, samplers, and warped vocals.

DELAVELOUR: Dancing in the Mist

Montréal electronic pioneer François Lebaron unveils DELAVELOUR, his solo project merging deep house, minimal, and richly textured ambient. Active since the ‘90s and co-founder of Trigger Recording, he returns with Paranoid Fantasies, an introspective and cinematic album.

On stage, DELAVELOUR invites us into a hushed realm—soul in motion. Drawing on decades of underground culture, he reshapes his tracks live with surgical precision.

ROLROLROL: Mutant Jazz

Formed by Dutch musicians Jameszoo and Niels Broos, the duo ROLROLROL blurs the lines between experimental electronics, playful improvisation, and contemporary jazz. Drawing inspiration from free music, glitch culture, and video game scores, their live sets are intricate yet exuberant—turning dissonance into delight.

Safia Nihil: A Multisensory Voyage

Safia Nihil is the new project from Samuel Ricciuti (D.B.Y.) and Salima Bouaraour (SHADYA), collaborators under the Montréal-based label Chez.Kito.Kat.

D.B.Y.—a queer neo-Canadian artist of Franco-Italian origin—has been active since the late '90s, first as a hip-hop beatmaker before shifting toward electro, influenced by UK bass and European minimal techno. He’s released multiple albums internationally, including La Science du langage, praised by The Wire. A regular on N10.as, he also composes for dance, documentary, and contemporary art. SHADYA is a DJ, producer, and music journalist at PAN M 360. A former electroclash singer-performer and MTL 24/24 collaborator, she’s a vocal advocate for Montréal nightlife. Her recent release with SHIZUKA made Underscope’s 2024 Top Tracks.

TUSH: A Queer Celebration

Hailing from Toronto, TUSH combines Kamilah Apong’s powerful vocals with Jamie Kidd’s polished production to create a lush world of disco, house, soul, and electronic funk. Embodying a queer, feminist, and joy-fueled vision of dance music, TUSH channels political energy through pure, magnetic rhythm.

This musical journey is perfect for anyone seeking the beauty of shared experience through music. Uplifting rhythms, soulful grooves, and deeply inhabited performances offer moments of connection, catharsis, and joy. At MUTEK, bodies and spirits are invited to move in unison—in celebration, communion, and release. Whether you’re here to feel, to move, or simply to be together, these artists open a window into a shared sonic world.

This piece was written by Barbara Philip. The MUTEK Montréal team was not involved in its production.