Entering its 14th year on May 29, Montreal’s MUTEK is one of those electronic music festivals where you’re not likely to see bare-chested, muscle-bound guys with their shirts tied around their waists or girls making out with trees à la Ultra Miami. Attendees are much more likely to be clad in stylish gear and glasses — IT workers or graphic designers by day, festivalgoers by night.
MUTEK is amongst the brainy festivals that offer something for the mind as well as the body: seminars, panels and artist interviews during the day, followed by the seated early evening A-Visions program, with its experimental collaborations of sound and visuals. Later in the evening and well into the night are the nocturnes, which are oriented to the dance floor.
The theme this year is "you never forget your first time," and the programming promises that, if this is your first time, you won't forget it. MUTEK continues its trendsetting history, and this year it boasts 13 world premieres, 14 North American and four Canadian.
Among the firsts this year are the debut of techno dream team Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald, a joining of iconic energies from Detroit and Berlin. Their performance at MUTEK precedes the June release of their new album, Borderland.
Graze, a collaboration between New Kanada labelhead Adam Marshall and beat-smith Christian Andersen’s (XI), also makes its first live appearance. The two hatched the project in Berlin, where both had relocated from Toronto.
Amongst the North American premieres, U.K. experimenter Matthew Herbert presents his work, One Pig, which distills the sounds Herbert recorded during the life of a pig and its eventual demise. Montreal chef Martin Juneau will apparently cook a pig during the performance, adding a visceral element. Have to say I am intrigued by this one — but will the vegans boycott?
Then there are artists like Dan Gardner, a.k.a. Frivolous, who debuted his first live set at MUTEK in 2004. This will be his first MUTEK performance since, and he confesses to being just as excited and nervous as he was then.
American artist Laurel Halo will make her first MUTEK appearance, as well as the hotly tipped German trio Dictaphone, which employs electronics, live violin, clarinet and sax to create its cinematic compositions. Dictaphone was the first unanimous selection for inclusion in this year's festival by MUTEK’s curators.
This year we’ll also have a chance to see the first MUTEK appearances by techno veterans John Tejada, who brings his spare, elegant style to the opening night Nocturne, and Robert Hood, another Detroit legend, who plays on the Friday. His Underground Resistance cohort, Jeff Mills, made his long overdue MUTEK debut last year and was the highlight of the festival for many of us.
At MUTEK there is always that excitement of seeing new work, an artist you’ve never had the chance to see or perhaps someone you’ve never heard of who completely blows you away. In 2011 it was Amon Tobin’s incredible Isam, with its 3D mapping, and from that same year Austria’s Elektro Guzzi, who played live techno with guitar, bass and drums — they had everyone talking the next days. Last year, the artist that had all my friends buzzing was Kink from Bulgaria. For me, it was the chance to see '80s U.K. acid house legend, A Guy Called Gerald.
Who will it be this year? Are you planning on attending this year's MUTEK? Who are you most excited to see? Let us know in the comments below, on via Twitter or Facebook.
by Joanne Thompson via Electronic RSS
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