MUTEK 10 2009

Now that the artistic program is complete and the festival's five days have taken on a fuller shape, we are eager to share the brand-new festival website with everyone. This showcase of all matters MUTEK_10, appears as a new and expanded section of MUTEK.ORG. There, viewers will be able to find all sorts of information about this year’s artists and performers, including schedules, travel and accommodations deals, as well as an array of ticket packages suited to all budgets and tastes.

>> GO TO FESTIVAL SITE NOW <<

So give us a visit and check back often, as we'll be updating regularly as we get closer to the festival!

Today, MUTEK reveals the full extent of this year’s core showcases and performers. The five days of the festival are a careful balance of diversity and thematic unity, and for this reason MUTEK can be enjoyed in its entirety or à la carte – a characteristic reflected in our passes and packages. 54 performances and 100 artists make up the core MUTEK_10 line-up, including two world premieres, nine North American premieres, nine Canadian premieres, and many exclusives. The trajectory of MUTEK’s programming has always been completed with an eye toward cultural exploration, and the artistic program continues to showcase the many currents of digital creation from a rich international scene in constant mutation. In the coming weeks, we will reveal all the panels, workshops, and special projects that will accompany this central trajectory.

To commemorate the singular nature of this tenth edition, MUTEK is raising its profile in the heart of Montreal's Quartier des Spectacles to better present more world-class showcases in style and grace. Most notably, the festival this year gains the ability to double up showcases and reprise the Sunday night closing event. The festival is proud to announce that the historic Monument-National Theatre (1182 St. Laurent Blvd), as well as the Maisonneuve Theatre at Place des Arts (175 Ste. Catherine St. W.), will both join the festival’s cadre of venues. These two prestigious Montreal stages, both part of the city’s Quartier des Spectacles, underline MUTEK’s growth as a burgeoning summer tradition for cultural tourism. They join the Metropolis (59 Ste. Catherine East), the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), and Parc Jean Drapeau as the festival’s main venues.

If some of the acts are returning to help us celebrate this tenth birthday, the MUTEK team is especially proud to be able to present them in entirely new collaborations – projects that often germinated when the individuals first met at MUTEK events over the past nine years. The festival has long encouraged the cross-pollination of art forms and creativity, and this year’s program pays special attention to these unique artists who find their vitality through constant evolution and re-contextualization. They return because they’ve evolved with the festival, since 2000.

As a result, MUTEK_10’s five days rank among the most thorough overviews of all strains of digital creativity available. More than ever, this anniversary edition confirms MUTEK’s status as a trailblazing organization in the innovative arts, a position that is fast becoming recognized across North America. It’s no wonder that just last week, at the New York stop of MUTEK’s first-ever North American tour, Time Out New York called MUTEK “North America’s leading electronic-music event.”

THE MUTEK_10 PERFORMERS:

ADAM MARSHALL (CA)
AKUFEN (CA/World Exclusive)
ALVA NOTO (DE)
APPLEBLIM (UK/Canadian Premiere)
ARTIFICIEL (CA/World Premiere)
ATOM TM (DE/North American Exclusive)
AUN (CA)
BRENDON MOELLER (US)
BYETONE (DE)
CARL CRAIG (US)
CLINKER (CA)
DEADBEAT & PAUL ST HILAIRE (CA/DE/North American Exclusive)
dOP (FR/North American Premiere)
ERNESTO FERREYRA (AR)
EZEKIEL HONIG (US)
GAS (DE/Canadian Premiere)
GHISLAIN POIRIER (CA)
HERMAN KOLGEN (CA/World Premiere)
I8U (CA)
JAHCOOZI (DE/Canadian Premiere)
JAKI LIEBEZEIT & BURNT FRIEDMAN (DE/North American Exclusive)
JEREMY ELLIS (US)
LUSINE (US)
MALA of DIGITAL MYSTIKZ (UK)
MARTIN TÉTREAULT & MICHEL LANGEVIN of VOIVOD (CA)
MATEO & PHEEK (CA)
MATHEW JONSON VS DANDY JACK (CA/CL/North American Exclusive)
MATT THIBIDEAU (CA)
MIKE SHANNON (CA)
MODERAT = MODESELEKTOR + APPARAT (DE/Canadian Premiere)
MOONSTARR (CA)
NORTEC COLLECTIVE PRESENTS BOSTICH + FUSSIBLE (MX)
NOVI_SAD (GR/North American Premiere)
NSI. (DE/North American Premiere)
ORIGINAL HAMSTER vs NEGO MOÇAMBIQUE (CL/BR/North American Exclusive)
ORGAN MOOD (CA)
PAX KINGZ (CA)
PEZZNER (US)
PILOOSKI (FR/North American Premiere)
RICARDO VILLALOBOS & ZIP (CL/DE) – Marathon DJ set/North American Exclusive
ROBERT HENKE & CHRISTOPHER BAUDER present ATOM (DE/North American Premiere)
RYOJI IKEDA + CARSTEN NICOLAI – CYCLO. (JP/DE/North American Premiere)
SND (UK/North American Exclusive)
STEPHEN BEAUPRÉ (CA)
THE FUN YEARS (US/Canadian Premiere)
THE MODERN DEEP LEFT QUARTET (CA)
THE MOLE (CA)
THE SIGHT BELOW (US/Canadian Premiere)
THOMAS FEHLMANN (DE/Canadian Premiere)
tobias. (DE/North American Premiere)
TRUS'ME (UK/Canadian Premiere)
TURZI ELECTRONIC EXPERIENCE (FR/Canadian Premiere)
ZOMBIE ZOMBIE (FR)

MAY 27TH TO MAY 31ST: THE DESIGN OF MUTEK’S FIVE DAYS

DAY 1 – WEDNESDAY, MAY 27

A\VISIONS 1: Monument-National Theatre – $25 CDN // 8pm
MUTEK officially gets underway with a showcase that presents two venerated artists whose work seeks to technologically alter the shape and sound of our relationship with nature. Cologne’s Wolfgang Voigt, roundly regarded as one of the greatest sonic experimenters of the 90s, delivers the Canadian premiere of his GAS project, a 90-minute audio-visual dreamscape that invites listeners into the Black Forest of Southern Germany, accompanied only by the haunting manipulations of Mahler and Wagner compositions. Afterward, HERMAN KOLGEN (one half of the multimedia duo Skoltz_Kolgen) will present the world premiere of his new piece “IN/JECT”, which takes as its inspiration the prolonged submersion of the human body into a cistern of water and waits for nature’s pressing hands to alter the balance of the brain and, in turn, produce an internal music.

NOCTURNE 1: Society for Arts and Technology – $25 CDN // 10pm
MUTEK’s first-ever CLUB TRANSMEDIALE showcase focuses on the hazy lights of the retro-futuristic French psychotronic scene. The night begins with Montreal’s ORGAN MOOD, before giving way to the ultra-mysterious ZOMBIE ZOMBIE. The French duo rev up their otherworldly fusion of psychedelic rock and electronics that raises the ghosts of bands like Suicide and The Residents. Equally mysterious but no less formidable is TURZI ELECTRONIC EXPERIENCE, the solo project of the eccentric Romain Turzi, who fuses krautrock and commune psychedelics while surrounded by a cavalry of vintage synthesizers that brings to mind the heyday of Jean-Michel Jarre. The night wraps up with the D.I.R.T.Y. space disco of Paris’ PILOOSKI, who will take Turzi’s synthetic propulsions and embed them with the irresistibly carnal handclaps that drive the artist’s sought-after disco re-edits.

DAY 2 – THURSDAY, MAY 28TH
A\VISIONS 2: Monument-National Theatre – $25 CDN // 8pm
A showcase dedicated to the control and composition of human collaboration, in which generations of musical masters meet on stage to experiment through an eclectic mix of jazz, metal, krautrock, turntablisms, and of course electronics. Starting off the evening, an American group still unknown to these parts, THE FUN YEARS, one of the discoveries MUTEK has the pleasure of introducing to Montreal. Former CAN drummer JAKI LIEBEZEIT returns to MUTEK with frequent collaborator BURNT FRIEDMAN to perform an exclusive North American show that warps together over five decade’s of experience into one singular presentation. Afterward, the corrosive pairing of two of Quebec’s most uncompromised figures takes the stage. With his mutant turntable in tow, MARTIN TÉTREAULT plays the mad composer who fiercely controls the spastic and irrepressible drumming of his monstrous subject, Voivod’s MICHEL LANGEVIN.

NOCTURNE 2: Metropolis – $30 CDN // 10pm // presented by 33mag
The many factions of dub converge onto one large stage to showcase just how far Jamaica’s roots reggae templates have evolved toward new genres in the hands of some of today’s hottest names. None other than Skull Disco co-founder APPLEBLIM comes to Montreal for his Canadian debut and a DJ set that showcases the many points of fusion between UK dubstep and Berlin techno. A seamless blend of echoes, bass, and delays leads us to the heavily anticipated collaboration between Canadian dub-don DEADBEAT and Berlin’s master vocalist of all things dub, PAUL ST. HILAIRE. Next up, MODESELEKTOR and APPARAT join forces for the Canadian premiere of MODERAT, a stunning live audio-visual production accompanied by the striking video work of PFADFINDEREI. And finally, the night winds to a tailspin with the breakneck dubstep assault of the Digital Mystiks’ MALA, in town for a Canadian debut DJ set.

Meanwhile, the SAVOY ROOM fills with the ambient soundscapes of EZEKIEL HONIG, CLINKER, I8U, NOVI_SAD, and AUN.

DAY 3 – FRIDAY, MAY 29

ATOM 1: Théâtre Maisonneuve – $15 CDN // 7pm
MUTEK is especially proud to be bringing ROBERT HENKE & CHRISTOPHER BAUDER’s monumental ATOM installation to Montreal for three showings, a North American exclusive. This project is among the most ambitious undertakings of Henke’s long and distinguished career, in which he has already seen many high points as MONOLAKE and as one of the inventors of Ableton Live. ATOM features a series of compositions played on a matrix of 64 illuminated helium balloons that will be presented at the prestigious Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts. ATOM will be staged three times throughout the festival, once Friday evening, and then two more times on Saturday.

A\VISIONS 3: Monument-National Theatre – $25 CDN // 8pm
Building on the first two A\VISIONS showcases, this Friday evening set delivers a line-up of artists whose main impulse is to capture currents of electricity and compose them into rhythm. The detached, austere electric neuro-funk of Sheffield’s highly regarded SND gets the ball rolling, following up on their last MUTEK performance in 2002. Following suit is the first of two appearances by Berlin’s Tobias Freund, who here appears alongside Max Loderbauer as the magnificent, enigmatic NSI, a duo whose adventurous spirit and vast musical knowledge allows them to experiment with electricity from perspectives that incorporate a broad swathe of influences, from industrial to European jazz and everything in between. Visuals for this showcase will be provided by JIMMY LAKATOS (GEODEZIK). Finally, Montreal electricity-tamers ARTIFICIEL take the stage for the world premiere of their new piece entitled POWER, which creates its own lightning and pulls from those bright, fiery lights the brittle, halcyon sounds of power at its purest.

NOCTURNE 3: Metropolis – $30 CDN // 10pm // presented by MusiquePlus
Friday night begins with a showcase that emphasizes the sheer internationalism of rhythmic attraction and all its regional manifestations. After a set by Montreal's PAX KINGZ, Chile’s ORIGINAL HAMSTER meets Brazil’s NEGO MOÇAMBIQUE on stage to inaugurate this soirée of global funkiness, with the former’s Latinized techno brushing up against the latter’s infectious baile funk. Montreal’s favourite son, GHISLAIN POIRIER, who is ever-interested in evolving the hip-hop template, introduces his new soca soundsystem, while Berlin-based JAHCOOZI, a group that pulls M.I.A. into Modeselektor, pump up the bass even further. Finally, Mexico’s BOSTICH + FUSSIBLE, members of NORTEC COLLECTIVE, lead a five-piece norteño band that threatens to be one of the most festive live spectacles at this year’s festival.

Meanwhile in the Savoy Room, Canadian techno veteran MIKE SHANNON heads up a 10th anniversary bash for his Cynosure label, a label that has taken part in many MUTEK events over the years. To celebrate the two anniversaries together, Shannon brings along ERNESTO FERREYRA, MATT THIBIDEAU, and ADAM MARSHALL.

DAY 4 – SATURDAY, MAY 30TH

MUTEK//PIKNIC 1: Parc Jean- Drapeau – $10 CDN // 2pm
Saturday afternoon promises to be a showcase for those softer, subtler textures of electronic music: dub-techno, deep house, funk, and disco. The day starts off at a relaxed pace, ideal for lying back in the sun, with the Canadian premiere of Berlin’s THOMAS FEHLMANN, who presents his hypnotic brand of dub-techno to early-afternoon revelers. New York’s BRENDON MOELLER is up next, delivering a premiere of his upcoming Third Ear album called “Jazz Junk Safari”. Manchester’s TRUS’ME follows suit with a set of rarefied Northern soul feeding the foundation of deep house that has made him an international favourite. The day in the park wraps up with THE MOLE on the decks, spinning a set of disco-fuelled techno.

ATOM 2 & 3: Théâtre Maisonneuve – $15 CDN // 5pm & 7pm
ROBERT HENKE & CHRISTOPHER BAUDER’s monumental ATOM installation continues its residency at the prestigious Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts with two showings on Saturday, once in the early afternoon and again in the early evening.

A\VISIONS 4: SAT – $25 CDN // 8pm
A very special Raster-Noton showcase, featuring the label’s most durable attractions in their most bristling and conceptual post-industrial guises. The evening begins with the North American premiere of RYOJI IKEDA and CARSTEN NICOLAI’s reunion as CYCLO., the pairing that wowed audiences last in the early 2000’s and has been silent ever since. Uwe Schmidt, the German expatriate currently living in Chile, reprises his role as ATOM TM. Next, Carsten Nicolai returns to the stage solo to present his much-heralded ALVA NOTO compositions. Finally, Olaf Bender brings the mighty BYETONE to life with the rock-driven Teutonic beats that have made his recent records so collectible.

NOCTURNE 4: Metropolis – $35 CDN // 10pm // Resident Advisor Night
The festival’s marquee all-night event, and for this 10th anniversary we’re pulling out all the stops! MUTEK and RESIDENT ADVISOR join forces to present a line-up featuring some of the most revered names in electronic music today. Local jazz and funk sample-maven MOONSTARR gets things underway in the main room, followed by the inimitable antics of French cabaret-house trio dOP. Next up sees the tantalizing pairing of two of techno’s most sought-after names – MATHEW JONSON and DANDY JACK – coming together for a heart-pounding live performance. Berlin’s Tobias Freund return for his second MUTEK_10 appearance, this time in his tobias. moniker and ready to keep the late-night crowds moving. Finally, Detroit techno pioneer CARL CRAIG takes the stage for a 3-hour DJ set that will take audiences well into the morning.

Meanwhile in the Savoy Room, MUTEK pays tribute to Seattle’s Decibel Festival with a showcase of that city’s finest electronic offerings. The breezy ambience of THE SIGHT BELOW gets the evening underway, followed by the dark tones of LUSINE’s contemplative techno. PEZZNER and JEREMY ELLIS pick up the pace and follow through till dawn.

DAY 5 – SUNDAY, MAY 31ST

MUTEK//PIKNIC 2: Parc Jean-Drapeau – $10 CDN // 2pm
The final day starts off in the park with a very special reunion between MUTEK and two of its most beloved contributors over the years. This afternoon picnic features a rare North American appearance by RICARDO VILLALOBOS, who will be tagteaming on the decks for a marathon DJ set with none other than Perlon founder and manager ZIP.

NOCTURNE 5: SAT – $20 CDN // 10pm // presented by Bande à part
The return of the festival finale! For this tenth edition, MUTEK could think of no better way to cap off its decade of growth and innovation than to salute the Canadian artists who have provided the backbone of this festival all this time. Two longtime Montreal collaborators, MATEO & PHEEK, get the finale underway, followed by fellow Montrealer STEPHEN BEAUPRÉ. Next up, the highly anticipated return of AKUFEN, in his first live showcase of completely new material since 2004. The festival draws to a close with the impossibly talented live improvisation of MODERN DEEP LEFT QUARTET.

INDIVIDUAL TICKETS & PASSPORTS NOW ON SALE

MUTEK PASSPORTS, WEEKEND PASSES, DAY PASSES, INDIVIDUAL TICKETS and other packages are now on sale through www.mutek.org. This year’s passes grant attendees the flexibility to catch more showcases and live acts than ever before, in a number of different packages:

MUTEK PASSPORT - $215 CDN + taxes & service charges
WEEKEND PASS - $135 CDN + taxes & service charges
WEEKEND “LIGHT” PASS – $100 CDN + taxes & service charges
A\VISIONS PASS – $75 CDN + taxes & service charges
METROPOLIS TRIO – $70 CDN + taxes & service charges

>> GO TO FESTIVAL BOX OFFICE NOW <<

MUTEK_10 TRAVEL & ACCOMMODATIONS

Given the size and scope of this year's festivities, we've arranged more travel and lodging packages than ever before, to make it all that much easier to come to MUTEK and to enjoy your stay in Montreal - on a budget, in style, or however you like it.

Over at the tourism section of the festival site, you'll be able to find train deals courtesy of VIA Rail and Amtrak for those arriving from anywhere as far as Detroit, Quebec City, or New York; car rental and ride-share offers; and even discounts on the Montreal subway for MUTEK_10 passholders.

We've also arranged for accommodations in a variety of hotels, bed & breakfasts, hostels, and residences, allowing festivalgoers to shape their trips to Montreal as conveniently as possible.

>> CLICK HERE TO GO TO TOURISM DEALS <<