To see in MUTEK | The Press

The 23^e electronic music and digital art festival MUTEK closes the summer season with an international program for fans of the genre and the curious. Overview of some upcoming highlights, from August 23 to 28.

Marissa Groguhe
The Press

Nicola Cruz in DJ set and performance live

A stage in the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles, on the new Esplanade Tranquille, will allow Montrealers and tourists to enjoy free shows throughout the festival. To kick off the series of performances, popular Ecuadorian DJ and producer Nicola Cruz will bring his fusion of contemporary electro and ancestral Andean music to a DJ set format. Just before, from 6:30 p.m., Ramzilla and AGUMA will be on stage. Cruz, who released the mini-album in early July Self Oscillation, incorporates Afro-Latin rhythms and instruments into his productions for a complex and rich sound experience. The free Experience Series performances will continue on the outdoor stage, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., until August 28. Nicola Cruz will be performing again (this time as a live and paying show) at the MTelus on August 24th.

Tuesday, August 23, 9 p.m., at the Esplanade Tranquille

Max Cooper and the Architecture Social Club

Another launch event will mark the first day of MUTEK. The MTelus will be the scene of a summit meeting as the result of the collaboration between world-renowned techno artist Max Cooper and the multidisciplinary design studio Architecture Social Club will be presented. Their 3D audiovisual installation, Aether, is an immersive musical work plunging the public into a multisensory experience where light and sound dominate. Presented worldwide since 2015 after a premiere at New York Fashion Week, Aether will settle down for one evening in Montreal.

Tuesday, August 23, 9 p.m., at the MTelus

Myriam Bleau presents Hypermobility

Quebecer Myriam Bleau, composer, digital artist and performer based in Montreal, will take part in the fourth Nocturne evening. These events are dedicated to more rhythmic and bewitching forms of electronic music, combining an immersive scenography. Myriam Bleau’s most recent work, Hypermobilitycombines dance music and laser projections to reference the “sometimes addictive concept of hypermobile travel [et son] alarming environmental impact”. The Montreal artist will kick off the evening, which will continue until the performance of DJ Powder at 3 a.m., preceded in particular by British sensation Loraine James (11:50 p.m.).

Saturday, August 27, 10 p.m., at the MTelus

Azu Tiwaline at the SAT

The Nocturne evenings also take place at the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT). This is the case of Nocturne 5, presented on the last evening of the festival. Espace SAT will host five performances during the evening. Azu Tiwaline is one of the new artists of the electronic scene that MUTEK puts forward. The Franco-Tunisian producer appeared this year with her first album Draw Me A Silence. Inspired by the exploration of her North African roots, Tiwaline offers an organic sound uniting Berber music with dub, trance and hypnotic techno. She will be bringing her Canadian premiere set to MUTEK.

Sunday, August 28, 12:40 a.m., at the SAT

Tarta Relena and Ambre Ciel (in the first part)

MUTEK offers an eclectic program, where genres sometimes rub shoulders during the same evening. On Friday at the SAT, the Catalan folk duo Tarta Relena, made up of Marta Torrella and Helena Ros, will perform their modern canticles inspired by ancient songs during the second evening of the Play series. These evenings allow the discovery of artists known to the MUTEK festival (which, let us recall, has sections in Chile, Mexico, Spain and Japan), unveiling for the most part world or North American premiere projects. The two singers of Tarta Relena, equipped mainly with their voices, will follow the emerging Montreal artist Ambre Ciel who, at the start of the evening, will present his impressionist and pop music during his first appearance at the MUTEK festival. Will follow the French rRoxymore, whose techno music will close this diversified evening.

Friday, August 26, 10 p.m., at the SAT