MUTEK have unveiled the final additions to their 2013 line-up including Lee Gamble, Tokimonsta and Henrik Schwarz.
MUTEK, the premiere festival of digital creativity and electronic music kicked off its 13th edition with a carefully curated programme including 130 performers including 3 world premieres and 15 North American Premieres. We sent Toronto native Steve Phillips on a road trip to Montreal to witness, among other things, Jeff Mills’ new project, Minilogue and Mathew Jonson’s live show, Clark’s unpredictable mayhem and memorable DJ sets galore.
Shackleton, Blondes, Jimmy Edgar and Jeff Mills are among the artists set to perform at this year’s MUTEK festival in Montreal.
Perhaps the thing to admire most about FaltyDL’s music is the sense of surprise that accompanies each release. Despite his finely crafted signature style, you can never be quite sure what you’re gonna get with a Falty production. This is partly due to the use of intriguing samples – listen carefully and you’ll hear everything from old funk to 90s house snippets chopped up – as well as the producer’s passion for a plethora of musical styles. There’s also his location; based in Brooklyn, New York, he has an entirely different perspective on the many strands of UK dance music that inform much of his work.
His sophomore album, You Stand Uncertain, touched on everything from afrobeat to 2-step and garage via dubstep and old fashioned rave, while his recent single for Irish imprint All City reinvented a late 90s house jam from Shena with the help of crazed overlapping drums and a sparkling bassline. Prior to that was one of our favourite 12″s of 2011 – the Mean Streets EP for Swamp 81 – in which the New Yorker laughed in the face of genre obsessives who throw around the post-whatever phrase all too easily.
This followed a particularly impressive 2010 with killer drops on Rush Hour – the back scratching Cosmin TRG split release in particular – and Planet Mu, the label that has released both of his albums to date, along with a slew of remixes which further established him as one of this generation’s most distinctive and forward-thinking talents. Juno Plus scribe Helen Luu caught up with the producer (real name Drew Lustman) to discuss early plans for his third album, his dream of discovering a vocalist in Brooklyn and how 14 hour shifts as a sushi chef instilled some much needed discipline.
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Musician, DJ and all round smart cookie Sam Shepherd – aka Floating Points – entered the world of production in 2009 with a flurry of releases including Love Me Like This, J&W Beat and perhaps best of all, the Vacuum EP. These revealed a signature style that breezily combined deep house, soul, hip-hop and jazzy textures into dubby, undulating joints characterised by a hypnotic sense of movement. As a co-founder and central member of the tight knit Eglo Records family, Shepherd now juggles his time between DJing (he holds a residency at London’s Plastic People), producing his own music and studying for a PhD in neuroscience. As far as life commitments go, it’s a diverse and eclectic stew that shines through every time he DJs, with sets that regularly veer from jagged IDM to heaving techno and classic disco and funk.
Since that initial slew of releases, solo Floating Points material has been relatively scarce – unsurprising considering Shepherd’s hectic lifestyle – yet amazingly he admits to having 30 tracks finished and ready for release. The rightly lauded “Shark Chase/People’s Potential” 12″ emerged from the shadow of the Vacuum EP in early 2010, and in more recent times we’ve seen the much-discussed “Marilyn” and equally delicious “Sais” dub. Then there’s his production work for Eglo chanteuse Fatima and his pride and joy, the Floating Points Ensemble, which debuted with the “Post Suite” single on venerable London imprint Ninja Tune. Juno Plus scribe Helen Luu caught up with Shepherd after his vinyl-only set at the recent MUTEK festival in Montreal to chat about why he doesn’t want to make a solo album, his scientific alter ego and his audiophile passion for the EMT German broadcast turntable.
Hailing from Montreal, Jacques Greene is a name already well known to those of you who follow the neon-tinged end of the underground music spectrum, with releases on Glasgow’s LuckyMe and London’s Night Slugs in 2010. Breaking through with The Look EP – which earned him fans from the UK’s go-to men and women on the tastemaking front – Greene showcased a unique style that was rooted in house – with deep Chicago hooks and acid synths – but also incorporated a garage swing and undisguised love for R&B. “(Baby I Don’t Know) What You Want” meanwhile was one of the standout tracks on the Night Slugs All-Stars Vol.1 compilation, capping a fine year for artist and label alike. The fact he’s been chosen to remix Radiohead’s “Lotus Flower” as part of a series that also sees Caribou and – probably – Flying Lotus retweaking the UK band’s new album highlights the esteem in which he is currently held. Juno Plus writer Helen Luu caught up with him before his live set at the recent MUTEK festival in Montreal to talk about his hometown, R&B and his new live show.
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April 2, 2011 @ The Drake Underground, Toronto, Canada.
MUTEK, North America’s most respected festival of digital creativity and electronic music, takes place annually in Montreal. The Avant_MUTEK series serves as an appetite whetting prelude to the main event, giving other lucky cities on the continent – namely Toronto, Vancouver, Chicago and New York – a glimpse of what the MUTEK vibe is all about.
Dave Aju is Marc Barrite, a producer whose music definitely defies categorization. His 2008 album, Open Wide, aptly released on the eclectic French imprint Circus Company, was constructed entirely of his own mouth samples. The album garnered much praise by dance music aficionados, and earned a coveted spot on Resident Advisor’s Top 20 Albums list for that year (it placed at #17). MUTEK called him “a fan favourite and highlight discovery” when he performed at the Montreal festival in 2008, and invited him to return in 2010 where Juno Plus contributor Helen Luu caught up with him. In this interview, Dave Aju tells us about how his hip-hop past influenced his present day music, why he likes to use his voice, and the concept for his upcoming full-length album.