Booma Collective (CA)
Friday June 3, 2016 - Outdoor stage
Mastered by Pheek.

WHO: Lorenzo Belli, Oren Ratowsky, Paul Sara, Hugo Bocca
STYLE: Oscillations between dreamy ambient and kinetic beatwork, live sampling, modulars and machines
LATEST WORK: The Furnace Series (2015); Solpara – Vestibule (2016); Unnamed artist – Ghosts/Spirits (2016)
LABELS: Booma Collective, Other People, Temple
MORE: As a collective, members swap in and out under this name and also include: Valentin Stip, Arabie 79', Sector Y
MUTEKs: Paul Sara as Solpara, Montréal: 2015; Valentin Stip, Montréal: 2013, 2015; Barcelona: 2016, Mexico: 2015

Coalescing around an expandable group of international expats in Montréal, the Booma Collective was born as a force for their particular takes on underground house and techno in 2010, with Oren Ratowsky, Lorenzo Belli, Hugo Bocca and Valentin Stip all present at the moment of inception. The collective has functioned as an incubator for a range of musical ideas, many of them coloured by a certain austere aesthetic, possibly informed by Canadian weather, and a platform that has since launched careers beyond itself. While some members have dispersed elsewhere, returning periodically, their energy continues to contribute to the local Montréal scene in the form of parties and events as well as releases – and can take some credit for establishing the city’s reputation as a cosmopolitan afterhours hotbed.

Coming from east and west coast America, Italy and France, Booma represents various flavours of an underground global perspective. Ratowsky, originally from San Francisco, brings a palette brimming with slow, hip-hop inspired keyboard lines. Lorenzo Belli, from Italy adds to the collective’s austere versions of house and techno. Paul Sara works the experimental and textural edges of techno. And Valentin Stip's refined acoustic sensibility found a patron with Nicolas Jaar and his Other People label, as has Paul Sara’s work.

Booma occupied the Parterre on Friday afternoon, performing an improvised set using live sampling, live percussion, drum machines, contact mics and modular synths as well as voice and sounds from the environment itself.