Here’s what to catch at this year’s Mutek electronic & art festival

The dawn of summer is upon Montreal, complete with lush mornings, tropical days, and steamy nights. The finest way to welcome this much-needed influx of warm weather is to explore one of the cities’ most innovative and illuminating festivals: Mutek.

Spanning over 5 days, Mutek is the embodiment of sensory experience. For its 16^th edition, the festival has booked artists and musicians from around the globe that are at the forefront of their field. They are artists who strive to showcase the harmonious meeting of technology, music and creativity.

From May 27^th to May 31^st, Montreal embraces all 110 artists from as close as Mexico and the United States, to as distant as France, Germany, the UK and Italy.

Mutek is centered on the experience of the live performance, and the magical relationship between audience and performer is at the crux of the festival. Artists debut original audiovisual creations that take shape in real-time, as Mutek focuses its energy on the ever-expanding realm of technology, art, music and the tight-knit relationship between their coexisting realms in everyday experience.

Bad Feeling Magazine’s Electronic music editor Amanda Harvey will be on hand to catch all 5 days of nonstop noise and excitement. Below are her top picks of this year’s bunch:

Wednesday May 27^th

Cabaal

NOCTURNE 1, Musée d’art contemporian

Canada’s own musician and producer Ben Globerman, also known as Cabaal, builds diverse, deep soundscapes that work to transport the listener to lush, post-industrial places. With a background in film sound design, he samples field recordings of quotidian noises, mixing them with rhythmic techno beats and gentle, silky synths.

His music is ambient, soft to the touch, yet full bodied and ominous. Suddenly, his songs grow dark, more haunting with each complex layer that is gradually peeled away.

Wednesday May 27^th

James Holden

NOCTURNE 1, Musée d’art contemporian

Hailing from the UK, this is producer James Holden’s solo Canadian debut. Holden has been making music since the ripe age of 19. In addition to his many remixes of infamous pop and electro bangers, he has built a cult following since the premiere of his innovative record label Border Community. His music is sensual and severe, as he assembles psychedelic, supple beats that are easy to move to. Anyone could get lost in the ever-expanding music of Holden. But don’t be fooled by its accessibility, as there is nothing clear-cut about his sound. Appearing at Mutek playing a custom built modular synth, alongside live musicians, Holden’s show will be one for the books.

Thursday May 28^th

Dasha Rush

NOCTURNE 2, Musée d’art contemporian

Russian born Dasha Ptitsyna Van Celst is a strong and sultry producer. Her electronic roving is part techno, part ambient; but altogether, her music is a gorgeous cacophony of thorough and wholly unique noises. Her most recent LP. Sleepstep, is a sonic portrait that glides through the air and paints the listener a vivid, downtempo dreamscape of noise and rhythm. She does this using a combination of poetry, piano and atmosphere.

She will be collaborating with videographer Stanislav Glazov for her Mutek premier, calling the collaborative piece: ANTARTIC TAKT. The piece will create a minimal, monochromatic land/soundscape that should evoke the feeling of being in an isolated and mythical reality.

Thursday May 28^th

ATOM™ & Robin Fox

NOCTURNE 2, Musée d’art Contemporian

After debuting their collaboration at Unsound Krakow last fall, the Australian intermedia artist Robin Fox and German producer ATOM™ bring their audio-visual extravaganza DOUBLE VISION to Montréal. Robin Fox is concerned with vibrations and resonance, exploring how sound looks when converted to light. His experimental performance style is interested in analogue noises when combined with refined sounds produced by digital technologies. Uwe Schmidt, the man behind ATOM™, is a long-time resident in the electronic music scene. His musical style is hard to map, as he has over a dozen monikers that range in tone, fashion and flavour. The two bring a free falling spectacle to this year’s festival, as they perform with a curious collection of videos, sounds, lasers and lights.

You can catch ATOM™ with Tobias on Saturday May 30^th at Métropolis 2 as well.

Our picks continue on page 2 below.

Friday May 29th

Lucy

MÉTROPOLIS 1, Métropolis

Born in Italy, but currently based in Berlin, Luca Montellaro produces ambitious and refined techno. Under the name Lucy, he accomplishes a profound and driven sound that arrives neatly packaged and dance-floor ready. Lucy has collaborated with a number of big names and has become a mainstay at internationally respected festivals including Sonar, ADE, Time Warp and Club2Club. In addition, he runs his own label, Strobscopic Artefacts, building a personal discography that has helped to establish his polished persona.

For a chilled out vibe, catch Lucy’s ambient set on Thursday May 27th at Nocturne 2 instead.

Friday May 29^th

Project Pablo

EXPERIENCE 2, Parterre du Quartier des Spectacles

After relocating from Vancouver last year, Project Pablo has been making his way around Montréal venues for the months leading up to Mutek. Patrick Holland crafts forward thinking, fanciful house music. His sound has a sheen that reminds the listener of warm weather, the reflection of sun off the water. His rhythms and synth lines seem to glitter, and his beats bounce happily through space.

To top it all off, this event is free.

Friday May 29^th

Ramzi

PLAY 1, Musée d’art Contemporian

Phoebe Guillemot produces under the moniker Ramzi: her divine dub beats and transcendent, discordant melodies are at once simply pleasurable and also elevated and complex. Originally from Montréal, Ramzi experiments with animal sounds, polyrhythms, distorted vocal tracks and free jazz. Working alongside videographer Kyle Bowman, she will unveil a live set never before seen. Hopefully, it’s as hallucinatory and warped as her usual beats.

Saturday, May 30^th

Martin Messier

A/VISIONS 2, Théatre Maisonneuve

Martin Messier works to explore and expand the imaginary realms of everyday life. Using contact mics and amplification, he refocuses the aural experience to analyze specific sounds and their relationship to the wider cultural landscape. His multidisciplinary work Field sets out to create a dialogue between sound and the body in motion. He has collaborated with Thomas Payette on the 30-minute performance, looking to uncover the voids we cease to recognize in our daily lives: the invisible and inaudible electronic waves.

Sunday, May 31^st

Pole & MFO

NOCTURNE 5, Musée d’art contemporian

As one of the pioneers of dub techno Stefan Betke, or Pole, operates at the intersection of sparse dub reggae and minimal, abstracted techno. His sound fluctuates between genres, touching on jazz, house, techno, dub and hip-hop. His music is texturally complex and intricately crafted, each noise driven by intent and purpose.

Pole returns to Mutek, this time with visual artist and designer Marcel Weber (MFO) in tow. MFO will look to translate the mosaic that is Pole’s music into a choreographed visual language.

Mutek runs from May 27 – 31 at various venues throughout the city. For tickets and the complete schedule, visit www.mutek.org.