Welcome to the 24th edition of MUTEK Montreal! This year, we have prepared a playlist that showcases local and international artists from the electronic and digital scene, and we hope you will enjoy the diversity of the artists and musical styles it presents. Get ready to immerse yourself in a unique sonic experience as you await the live performances from August 22nd to 27th at the Quartier des Spectacles in Montreal.

MUTEK Édition 24

Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit returns with explorative new single Fernweh as a precursor for an Erased Tapes compilation titled Music for kō coming out on April 1.

Fernweh is a hymn for imaginary travel, allowing the music to take you on a journey. This self-produced piece, sung in a universal wordless language, sees Hatis Noit transcend boundaries through eerie, atmospheric sound explorations. Its German title, meaning a longing for exploring faraway places, captures the artist’s headspace at the time of recording.

“During the third UK lockdown in early 2021 I finally challenged myself to self-produce a whole song, which I hadn’t done before. Before, I wanted to focus on just using my voice rather than making music sitting in front of a computer, but the situation of lockdown challenged me to go on this new journey. Whilst making the piece, I felt a sense of missing going on physical journeys, and that sense of wonder that comes with travelling. So the song turned out to be a collage of memories of journeys I had so far as well as imaginary journeys I might have in the future. The whole process of making this healed the painful feeling of Fernweh for me somehow, and I hope it might have the same effect on others.” — Hatis Noit

The track is the opening piece to an upcoming Erased Tapes compilation featuring Rival Consoles, Masayoshi Fujita and Daniel Thorne, originally commissioned by Folie À Plusieurs in partnership with the Noguchi Museum in New York.

Music for kō

Fernweh

Hatis Noit — Fernweh

Animistic Beliefs - MERDEKA

With their profound take on electronic music, Animistic Beliefs have steadily solidified their spot in the global underground. Influenced by cultural concepts such as ancestry, animism and mythology, as well as the languages of political techno, punk, bubbling and IDM, Linh Luu and Marvin Lalihatu consistently translate their visions into sensitive productions as well as high-octane live performances. On their new record, MERDEKA, the artists explore and embrace their cultural heritage in all of its pride, pain and complexity. MERDEKA symbolizes Animistic Beliefs’ breaking free, coming to terms with their changing selves and letting go of external expectations. The record rethinks childhood memories, confronts the generational trauma left by (post-)colonialism, and re-connects Linh and Marvin – respectively of Vietnamese-Chinese and Dutch-Moluccan descent – with their formative cultures. 

MERDEKA marks their first step in an overall departure from western club music. For its layered sound, Animistic Beliefs once again draw from the past, present and future of global club music, creating a sonic space where fast techno, warped breakbeats and ambient soundscapes make way for the augmented influence of (Southeast Asian) tribal music. 
The record incorporates Indonesian scales and recordings of 
the Tahuri (a wind instrument made out of a conch shell), Totobuang (Gamelan-like gongs) and Tifa drums, known as ‘the Moluccan heartbeat’. 
There is no audible distinction between old and new, between organic and digital, between instrumentation and voice. 
It is through words that the artists further touch on their experience; To Dream About Water opens with a stirring spoken word fragment by Marvin, marking the first time his voice is recognizably featured, whereas Khi Minh Gap Lai (‘Until We Meet Again’) centres on a Vietnamese poem by Linh, in which she beseeches her ancestors and finds a safe haven for unanswered questions. 

In true Animistic Beliefs fashion, MERDEKA will set fire to sweltering clubs and (sleepless) dreams. Yet, for the artists, it is essential to amplify the stories that spark that flame and keep it burning. 
The release of MERDEKA follows CACHE/SPIRIT, their ongoing collaboration with visual artist Jeisson Drenth, which extensively explores the artists’ intersectional identities. As such, the latest album is the next step within a bigger, introspective investigation. More unapologetic than ever, MERDEKA embodies a turning point on Animistic Beliefs’ ongoing journey towards self-acceptance – fuelled by the sound of urgency. 
credits
released August 26, 2022 

Written and produced by: Marvin Lalihatu and Linh Luu 
Artwork by: Don Elektro 
Mastered by: Rashad Becker

Poetry In Earthly Whispers

Fresh off the back of her recent DJ Kicks compilation release and an EP for Shall Not Fade in 2021, Cinthie returns to Will Saul’s Aus imprint for her first EP release of 2022, once again delivering her raw, energetic House sound to the world. Title-cut ‘Light A Fire’ leads the way and lays down organic drums, hypnotic vocal lines and choppy stab sequences alongside bumpy bass tones, intricately unfolding synth swells, resonant bleeps, and dynamic delays, resulting in a big sun-drenched anthem to perfectly set the tone. ‘Keeping Strong’ follows next and employs classic House tropes via gritty string stabs, plucked bass notes and dubbed out vocal cuts, running atop skippy, swinging drums for six and a half minutes. ‘Everything’ then rounds out the release, diving deeper this time as Cinthie employs dubbed out chords, weighty subs, crunchy percussion, and cinematic, elongated strings swells, concluding the release with a smooth, emotive feel.
BUY:
https://www.decks.de/track/cinthie-light_a_fire/ck3-sd
https://www.juno.co.uk/products/cinthie-light-a-fire/896635-01/
https://www.phonicarecords.com/product/view/182704

PREMIERE: Cinthie - Keeping Strong [Aus Music]

Taken from: .VRIL - Animist - Delsin Records - 152dsr

pre-order
vinyl: https://www.delsinrecords.com/release/7286/vril/animist
digital: https://vrilofficial.bandcamp.com/album/animist

Channelling his own explorations in search of the soul inside the machine, VRIL draws from the deep well of his live performances to present his third LP for Delsin, Animist. Inside lie 12 pieces which seem to probe at the unknowable distance between tangible consciousness and the astral plane, imbuing even the most seemingly synthetic of materials with a living essence. Given his illustrious back catalogue, it’s no surprise to hear VRIL conjure explicitly electronic music with such loaded emotional impact and seemingly organic animus, but in the process he also toys with the idea of how far the technology’s spiritual potential can reach.

Artwork by Daniel M. Diaz.

Buy @ Delsin Shop

.VRIL - Zūkunftsstrāße (taken from 152DSR)

She looked underneath her bed. Her parents were snoring from across the hall. From beneath her bed, two iridescent eyeballs peered back at her. The monster was awake. She reached into her nightgown pocket and pulled out a packet of BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF: SENSATIONAL STRAWBERRY BUBBLEGUM and slid it across the floorboards.

The monster seized the packet, and emptied the entire packet of gum into his cave-like mouth. The flavours erupted on his taste buds, his eyes widened and his fur stood static. Taking a deep inhale of breath, he blew a bubble bigger than his head. The girl reached out, popping it with her finger. The gum ruptured, showering the monster’s fur with a blanket of pink.

Based in the Netherlands, Carmen Jaci is a French-Canadian producer exploring the fragmented nature of memories from the frivolous days of childhood. On her newest album ‘Happy Child’, Jaci continues to surprise and provoke with her nostalgic loop-based sonic elements. Out this spring on Noumenal Loom, the LP reflects on childlike wonder and welcomes listeners into a surreal universe through Jaci’s eccentrically layered synthesizers and vocal recordings.

PREMIERE: Carmen Jaci - oh ah eh ih ah oh [Noumenal Loom]

Recorded on July 30 2014 in Budapest Hungary @ Mygar Radio Studio #22 with the Budapest Art Orchestra. 
Conducted by Peter Pejtsik....

https://adambryanbaumwiltzie.bandcamp.com/releases

The Endless Battle Of The Maudlin Ballade Part 3

Immense collection of sixty orchestral tracks set in frozen and glacial environments, covering a wide range of moods, intensities, and focuses, and serving as the perfect companion for documentaries and any other content set in Arctic or glacial regions. Whether for playful moments on the ice, majestic views of icy panoramas, adventurous expeditions among glaciers, or capturing the beauty of wildlife in extreme cold, this album provides a vast array of soundscapes to bring frozen worlds to life, helping to shape narratives, enhance visuals, and capture the many sides of the planet's coldest realms.

Call Of The North

SPICE - IN CONTEMPLATION

lost in translation

Preorder CD | Digital: https://futuresequence.bandcamp.com/album/earthworks 

'Earthworks' is Thom Brookes' debut album as Drombeg, following his acclaimed EP ‘Notes From The Ocean Floor’ in 2015. A soundtrack for the middle-of-nowhere, the wild landscapes of Brookes' native Southern Ireland are littered with historic (Tumulus), and geological (Béarra) structures hardened under the relentless elements. Sinuous string melodies, and tender piano phrases reach like sunlight breaking through heavy clouds, blended with electronics and field recordings in careful balance to produce a rich cinematic sound.



Tumulus by Drombeg

Played piano on this bonus track from the debut album from Orcas (Benoît Pioulard and Rafael Anton Irisarri)


Burnt Away(Orcas)

Pre-order the album here: https://smarturl.it/volumemassimo

Amore Amaro is taken from the forthcoming studio album VOLUME MASSIMO. 
Released on Mute 27 September 2019.

Volume Massimo Live-AV tour includes:

30 August - Atonal, Berlin
8 September - Up to Date Festival, Białystok
14 September - Draaimolen, Tilburg
22 September - TBA, Japan
28 September - Sonica, Ljubljana
19 October - Barbican, London
20 October -  LEV Matadero, Madrid
21 October - St Paul`s Sessions, Athens
25 October - Semibreve, Braga
6 November - Slaktkyrkan, Stockholm
8 November - Mira Digital Arts Festival, Barcelona
30 November - KoncertKirken, Copenhagen
6 December - Monk, Rome
7 December - Argo 16, Venice
11 December - Bozar Electronic Series, Brussels
11 April -  Concertgebouw, Bruges

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/alessandrocortiniofficial/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alehan/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blindoldfreak 
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/blindoldfreak

AMORE AMARO

from 'Cycle and Reveal' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den319
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/mariodiazdeleon

Denovali is pleased to present Cycle and Reveal, the fourth full length LP of contemporary classical works by acclaimed composer Mario Diaz de Leon. Featuring bold performances by a cast of longtime collaborators, this compilation is an essential chapter in his celebrated series of recordings for acoustic instruments and electronics.
 
The output of Mario Diaz de Leon defies easy categorization, spanning the worlds of contemporary classical composition, experimental electronic music, extreme metal, and creative improvised music. Working extensively with an inner circle of close collaborators (ICE, Talea, and TAK Ensemble, among others) his classical works have been celebrated over the last decade for their “hallucinatory intensity” (New York Times), “snarling exuberance” (Pitchfork), “helter-skelter, electronically enhanced cadenzas” (New Yorker Magazine), and coupling of “crystalline clarity with the disorienting turbulence of a sonic vortex” (Wire Magazine). 
 
The A-side features two works written in early 2017, which colorfully embrace hypnotic repetition alongside dynamic contrasts and distinctly embody the electrifying post-minimalism that Diaz de Leon is known for. Opener Sacrament is written for a trio of musicians from Talea Ensemble and features the composer’s shimmering, bass heavy electronic production. This energetic piece, driven by the virtuosity of marimba player and Talea executive director Alex Lipowski, makes use of rapid-fire arpeggiations and heavy rhythmic unisons. These are starkly contrasted with moments of reverberant echo, bursts of noise in the flute and electronics, and ecstatic rhythms. Labrys, written for ICE bassoonist Rebekah Heller, builds on the celebrated legacy of solo + electronic works heard on his 2015 album The Soul is the Arena. Built around virtuosic interplay between bassoon and synthesizer, Labrys features shifting and hypnotic repetition alongside expansive melodies and sub-bass frequencies.
 
The B-side consists of two works composed in July of 2016 which draw from primal, incantatory, and improvisatory sonic landscapes. Irradiance, a collaboration with cellist Mariel Roberts, begins with a series of spacious riffs exploring the extremes of the cello’s register and transforms over time into a climactic frenzy of noise loops. Tuning the cello’s low C down to a growling G, Roberts interpreted the sounds of each pre-recorded loop by ear.  The piece gradually builds from cavernous depths into an ecstatic climax of anarchic noise. Concluding track Mysterium is written for the ICE trio of flutist and ensemble founder Claire Chase, clarinetist and artistic director emeritus Joshua Rubin, and bassoonist and current artistic director Rebekah Heller. Archaic melodies, improvised heterophony, spectral transformations, echoes of Klang-era Stockhausen, and the colorful noise of Moog and Ciat-Lonbarde synthesizers combine to create an expansive and wildly ritualistic atmosphere.
 
Cycle and Reveal was recorded in vivid detail by Marc Urselli (John Zorn, Laurie Anderson) at East Side Sound, Stephen McLaughlin at EMPAC, and mastered by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio. Diaz de Leon invited Melbourne-based visual artist Yuria Okamura to design the cover image and inner sleeve symbols. Sharing Diaz de Leon’s interest in the reinterpretation of spiritual art, Okamura’s cover “maps and reconfigures geometric patterns and symbols that reference esoteric symbolism, occult diagrams, religious architecture and decoration.”

Cycle and Reveal

Mario Diaz de Leon & Talea Ensemble - Sacrament

With Bird Ambience coming out on May 28, Masayoshi Fujita makes a lateral leap from his signature instrument the vibraphone to the marimba, which takes centre stage on his new album alongside drums, percussion, synths, effects and tape recorder. The balletic arabesques of his third single ‘Morocco’ show both instruments unite and dance from twinkling filigree, to a cascading crescendo.

“The way of playing the marimba is similar to the vibraphone, so it was kind of a natural development for me and easier to start with, yet it sounds very different”, explains Masayoshi. “The marimba bars are made with wood and it has a wider range than the vibraphone, which gives me a bigger sound palette with more possibilities. I play the instrument with bows and mallets, and sometimes manipulate it with effects.”

Bird Ambience brings several fresh changes for the artist. Until now, Fujita would separate his acoustic solo recordings, the electronic dub made under his El Fog alias, and his experimental improvisations with contemporaries such as Jan Jelinek. The new album sees him unite all these different facets for the first time into one singular vision.

Arranged with a perfect Kanso-like balance, the unhurried pace of Bird Ambience allows each sound and phrase enough time to be mindfully absorbed and savoured. This subtle but affective work carries ethereal remnants of Midori Takada’s minimalism, the static atmospheres of Mika Vainio, To Rococo Rot’s organics and the bucolic electronics of Minotaur Shock. Fujita vaporises contemporary and classical, ambient and dismantled dub, controlled noise and fragments of jazz into an atmospheric, static mist, which he skilfully coerces into new forms.

Bird Ambience will be released on Erased Tapes in 2LP, CD and digital formats on May 28.

Bird Ambience

Morocco

Stream & pre-order

Masayoshi Fujita - Morocco

To mark this year’s 88th day and as an acknowledgement to these unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in, Piano Day founder, pianist and producer Nils Frahm releases a collection of eight solo piano pieces titled 'Empty'. 

Stream and download 'Empty': https://idol.lnk.to/nils-frahm-empty

Conceived of just before Nils broke his thumb and composed the similarly intimate solo piano album 'Screws', 'Empty' is a soothing vessel of eight simple and serene pieces originally recorded as the music to a short art film he shot with his friend and film director Benoit Toulemonde. Drifting through emotions from the stark and sobering opener 'First Defeat', to the gently euphoric 'No Step On Wing' and the contemplative but hopeful closer 'Black Notes', with its poignant minute of silence, 'Empty' is a comforting score for these turbulent times.

“When I came back from the hospital with a broken thumb and listened to the recordings, I felt they were unfinished. I decided to put them aside and started to work on my small album, 'Screws'. 

Many many other notes of the piano have been struck since these days, and before we all forget about this, I thought it would be a good moment to share these lullabies with you. I hope they help you stay all strong and calm in these days of solitude – despite the hardship, we can discover introspection and reflection unexpectedly. Who knows what it is good for.  
 
Much love, Nils”

Empty

No Step On Wing

Stream & order LP · CD

Nils Frahm - No Step On Wing

My Remix for the wonderful Keith / Helios.
Available here: http://unseen.bigcartel.com/product/helios-remixed

Helios - Every Hair On Your Head (Ben Lukas Boysen Remix)

Next Edition: 19_24.08.25 | International Festival of Digital Creativity & Electronic Music

Founded by sonic architect and explorer Robert Raths aka ghostworker in 2007, Erased Tapes is a truly independent record label that has disrupted the industry and rejuvenated the musical landscape. The London-based label has consistently nurtured genre-defying artists from all around the world without losing its avant-garde ethos.

2015 saw BBC 6 Music radio presenter Mary Anne Hobbs stage an Erased Tapes evening featuring Nils Frahm and A Winged Victory For The Sullen at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the prestigious BBC Prom. It was the fastest selling ticket of the entire season. Shortly after Erased Tapes was awarded Best Small Label 2015 at the AIM Awards.

On February 5th 2017 Erased Tapes opened the doors to its new East London home, marking the 10th anniversary by introducing fans and the public to the new Erased Tapes Sound Gallery.

“Ten years of one of the most important record labels of the last few years“ — Gilles Peterson

"Over the last decade, Robert Raths’ label Erased Tapes has developed a sonic profile perfectly in step with the growing taste for quiet, meditative works on the cusp of ambient and chamber music" — The Independent

“The heart-string-tugging London label that floats gently between 20th century composition and ambient music” — Rolling Stone

Hatis Noit — Fernweh

Erased Tapes

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