The Staff Share Their Treasures and Discoveries

We asked the MUTEK team which artists they couldn’t wait to see at the festival’s 18th edition. Reflecting their personality and tastes, everybody dug deep into the program to share their personal treasures and discoveries.

Alain Mongeau - Director and Programmer

• Driftmachine: I have seen them perform 3 times already and each time was an hypnotic experience that makes perfect sense in a live context, as they build on the inspiration of the moment, layer by layer, aligning pieces that sail between the peaks that modulate their performances. For fans of Jan Jelinek.
• Michela Pelusio & Glenn Vervliet present SpaceTime Helix: A mysterious A/V performance where Michela handles a device of luminous filaments that dance in space. I saw the performance on several occasions and it is necessary to live it to capture it well - the recordings do not portray the essence of the project. In the artist's relationship with her device, which allows her to sculpt the light (and sound) live, one sometimes has the impression of attending a performance of digital sorcery.
• Robert Henke présente Lumière III: I have the greatest respect for Robert Henke. He is not only a leading electronic music artist (better known as Monolake for his musical production), but also a mad inventor (co-creator of the influential Live/Ableton software, an engineer/designer of Its own composition and performance interfaces, such as the Monodeck). In recent years, he has become interested in laser technology, exploring its both expressive and aesthetic potential. We had already introduced Lumière I in 2014 and are pleased to welcome Lumiere III in an exclusive North American event, which will allow us to see the evolution of his work.
• In the category of artists I have not seen, I have high expectations for the following, whose music I listened to/appreciated a lot in the past year: Aurora Halal, Reginald Omas Mamode IV and Africaine 808.
• In terms of local artists I look forward to seeing the world premieres of Artificiel's two projects, including the one between Jimmy Lakatos and the Mexican artist Murcof, A/V performances by Automatisme, Racine & Wolski and Christian Olsen.

Patti Schmidt - Programmer

• Beatrice Dillon: a rarified aesthetic that crosses into avant-garde and contemporary forms; fascinating, mesmerizing, unique, I’ve been trying to bring her to MUTEK for a few years now. We get a live set and a DJ set!
• Bambooman: a young new producer who’s recombinant style sucks in the musical codes of bass music, hip hop, IDM and experimental forms and spits them back out in singular and extremely hooky ways; bit of a protégé of Matthew Herbert’s with releases on Accidental.
• Kuniyuki: ostensibly an artist working in dance music, but he’s so much more; meticulous musicianship and technological talent that moves effortlessly through jazz, world, ambient, disco, acid, house and techno. An improviser, a performer, a king.
• Harvey Sutherland: a brilliant keyboard player with a dynamic jazz-esque sense of hook, house and disco; charisma for miles. It’s taken a couple of tries to get him at the festival too.
• Sculpture: ditto everyone else.
• Graham Dunning: my chase list fascination of the year; excited to share his extreme ingenuity and musicality with audiences. Raw, bespoke, kinetically-machined, wonky “techno.” Turntablism run amok!
• Sarah Davachi: can’t wait to hear her rich, harmonic, drone-tastic sound world on the enormous PA at Metropolis. Her compositions are deep listening trips into exquisite timbre, tone, and feels and feels and feels.
• Demora: locals making their world premiere with careful, engrossing, trippy and immaculate techno. Devon Hansen (aka Stefan Jós) is one half of the duo and among my favourite rhythm and noise artists.
• Shout out to: Space Afrika, Helm, Fred P, Reginald Omas Mamode IV, Sensate Focus, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Murcof, You’re Me Band, buffalo MRI, Aurora Halal, OSB, Loose Excursions, revlux. OK I’ll stop.

Vincent Lemieux - Programmer

• Sculpture: For their psychedelica, and the perfect fusion between music and visual.
• rRoxymore: An artist that I have been interested in for a few years, a beautiful mix between the organic and the cerebral, between rhythm and experimentation.
• Imaginary Landscape: A very short performance that is likely to be very interesting.

Katharina - Development Coordinator

• Driftmachine: What they do is simply awesome and their music is really mesmerizing!
• Anchorsong: This song this song I have it in my head, where do I know it from, where did I hear it last, why do I remember it so well, what happened ??

Bertrand - Production Director

• Deathprod: It evokes for me the soundtrack of kittens lost in the bottom of a cave.
• Sculpture: Their performance in 2011 is one the my best MUTEK memories ever.

Oriane - Volunteers Manager

• Anchorsong: I had a crush. Varied, fluid and exotic melodies, which make you travel in totally different places with each new piece.
• Bambooman: I liked it from the first listen, to a certain extent it reminded me of Mount Kimbie. I like the way his songs evolve surprisingly and unexpectedly.

Déborah - Box Office Manager

• Filastine: Oriental and rhythmic sounds, it's stunning, captivating, and political — add on top of that, incredible live performance and visuals; I'm already impatient.
• Harvey Sutherland: A concentrate of everything I love. It’s disco, it's jazzy, it's sunny, perfect to finish MUTEK on a boogie note.
• Detroit Swindle: Insanely groovy, I’ve been wanting to see them live for a while now, for the all-nighter at Metropolis it's just essential.

Chloé - Communications Director

• The opening of the free outdoor stage on Wednesday is all pearls and diamonds with the exquisite Beatrice Dillon, Bambooman, Reginald Omas Mamode IV and revlux. Experimental techno, garage, hip hop, downtempo enhanced by a fresh MUTEK Pale Ale brewed by local Brasserie Harricana. It’s ON! And sunny inchallah

Sarah - Hospitality Assistant

• Loose Excursions: A nice discovery, seems really chill from what I’ve heard!
• Africaine 808: I like their bold rhythms

Tommy - Technological Partnerships

• Nicolas Cruz: For his unique fusion sound.
• Beatrice Dillon: Because I just missed her collaboration with one of my favourite artists Kassem Mosse in Bergen.
• Deathprod - to physically connect and feel the darkness within the sound and myself.
• Lumiere III

Gabrielle - Web Content Manager

Fis, Helm and Murcof because of the extreme sensations, the density of the sounds and the chaotic emotions they generate and because they manage the feat of making music that is at once raw and refined. Shivers guaranteed!

Chloé Magdelaine - Communications and Digi Lab Assistant

• Graham Dunning: for his 'mechanical techno' and his astonishing setup of machines and objects triggered in real time. Plus: his personal and bold use of ping-pong balls to create rhythms.
• Polar Inertia: for the complexity of the project that goes beyond the musical aspect, with contemporary artistic direction and the works of photographers, authors, videographers; for the post-apocalyptic universe of their immersive live techno and the quality of their EP "Kinematic Optics" which oscillates between ambient and techno.

Alexandra - Promotion Assistant

• Jonathan Kawchuk: I love the transcendent and organic music of this young Canadian artist who studied with the Icelanders Valgeir Sigursson and Ben Frost (it's something!). Inspired by the different places he visited, his music really makes us float in these universes that he knows how to capture.
• JMII: a mix of sounds that blends perfectly between techno, bass, synthesizer and vocals. In his North American premiere, JMII will undoubtedly know how to charm the public, but especially to make us dance non stop!

Aurélie Vial - Web Content Assistant

• Lucas Paris: He is part of a new wave of Montreal artists. Prolific and attentive not only in sound but also in his visuals. His music is captivating and his installations, entirely conceived by him, give a simple, effective and elegant atmosphere.
• Sculpture: I love their visual universe filled with colourful graphics of uncontrolled movements and trippy, psychedelic sound deconstruction. They remind me of dirty kids who have fun and do not take anything seriously.
• Polar Inertia: The refinement of their aesthetic and their minimalist, intoxicating music. It’s like a film, a story, a sensation that is told delicately.

Eloïse - Graphic Designer, Nouvelle Administration

• Nicola Cruz, Ben Shemie, Marie Davidson and Zip!