MUTEK 2008 FESTIVAL ROUNDUP
Friday, August 8th, 2008
Now that we've taken a couple of months to reflect upon the 9th edition of MUTEK, we are pleased to announce our immense satisfaction with this year's presentation of the festival. The 2008 festival was swept by a refreshing wind of renewed purpose and direction, a characteristic of its high-caliber artists, its diverse and international programming, and the general consensus that this year's events resulted in a decisive evolution over past editions. This year's results significantly surpassed expectations; the heightened interest in each of the venues was palpable, coinciding with a remarkable increase of 50% of the public in the evening venues. Festival-goers came out in greater numbers than ever before to participate in both daytime and evening events, and sales of the MUTEK_PASSPORT hit an all-time record this year.
We would like to take this occasion to send out a warm thank you to everyone who helped make 2008 such an exhilarating edition. In terms of production value, talent, programming, and presence within our hometown of Montreal and around the world, this year's festival ranks among the most gratifying undertakings this organization has ever mounted. None of it would have been possible without the massively talented artists currently at work in all corners of electronic music, and the dedicated fans, media, partnerships and professionals who support them.
The most significant achievement of this year's edition, without doubt, was the festival's confirmation as a powerful draw for cultural tourists. According to figures provided by the market-research firm CROP, MUTEK has surpassed its previous results with an astounding 47% of festival attendees coming from outside Montreal and a full 42% arriving from outside Quebec. Records for indoor venue attendance were shattered across the board, without exception, confirming MUTEK's growing status as an engine of Montreal's cultural tourism. For those of you who traveled to our city for the festival, we were glad to see you once again - our recurring cast of international guests have become part of the MUTEK family. Whether you arrived at MUTEK from Berlin, Paris, Mexico City, Toronto, or New York, you helped make this a record-breaking year for the festival's internationalism: that makes you the lifeblood of our efforts.
MUTEK 2008 proved to be a pivotal year in which eclecticism took the festival to new heights. The sheer diversity of performances tells the story, from the rigorous turntable science of Martin Tétreault to the stadium-sized beat-carvings of Kid Koala, from the wonky hip-hop of Flying Lotus to the bass friction of Kode 9 & the Spaceape, from highlight live performances by Underground Resistance, The Field, and Modeselektor to brilliant international discoveries like Ben Frost, Danton Eeprom, and Chloe. This year's acts single-handedly shattered the stale and perception that a live performance of electronic music has to be austere and disengaged. Murcof, Morgan Packard, Németh & Hess, Rechenzentrum, Tim Hecker, and Christian Fennesz all delivered disarming performances brimming with artistry, individuality, and passion. Furthermore, the visual mastery of Lillevan, Pfadfinderei, Joshue Ott, Artificiel, and many of our local videographers turned MUTEK 2008 into one of the most visually stunning environments we've ever showcased. Next year's programming will continue the fine balance of developing new audiences while maintaining a high standard of credibility. Our ears are to the ground, and we intend to branch out within the numerous international pools of talent.
An increasingly influential factor of MUTEK's continued success is the online community that consistently supports us. We've spent the past three months rolling out a new and refurbished internet presence, with more music and features from the acts we find relevant, and the blogging and online magazine communities have responded in kind by getting behind the festival and carrying us into those pockets of fans all across the world. The virtual community made this festival the international success story it was this year.
Established online sources like Last.FM, XLR8R, Beatportal, Resident Advisor, Earplug, Baltimore City Paper's Noise Blog, and Pitchfork Media, not to mention the ever-extended support of the CBC and Radio-Canada, played an important role in this year's events. An important creative and compelling support also came from independent blogging networks like Create Digital Music, Basic Sounds, Brightest Young Things, Serial Consign, and the numerous individuals who took the time and effort to deliver considered and lengthy reviews, photo galleries, and videos of this year's events.
To get an idea of what the festival felt like and how it has been covered this year, here's a selection of links:
* Expert free-lancer Philip Sherburne reviews MUTEK 08 at Pitchfork
* Baltimore City Paper’s Noise blog delivers in-depth day-by-day coverage, courtesy of Michael Byrne: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4
* Beatportal runs a series of interviews with MUTEK 08 artists Danton Eeprom, Noah Pred, Nôze and Deadbeat, courtesy of Amanda Connon-Unda
* Resident Advisor features a podcast of Nôze’s live set on Sunday
* XLR8R’s Ken Taylor breaks down this year’s events in two installments: Part 1 & Part 2
* Brightest Young Things features a detailed review and photo & video gallery of MUTEK 2008
* Basic Sounds blog features an extensive photo gallery
* Serial Consign has a long, considered review
* And in perhaps the most in-depth coverage of the fest, Create Digital Music’s Peter Dines and Liz McLean Knight provide reviews, interviews, photos, and video of everything MUTEK-related
Of course, such large-scale and richly textured undertakings would not even be possible without the crucial support of our many dedicated partners, both in the public and private sectors. The unwavering support of the municipal, provincial, and federal government prove to us that MUTEK is an integral part of both Quebec and Canada's cultural fabric, while the assistance of the many foreign embassies highlight the strong network of cross-cultural interest in the work we do. But what helps MUTEK excel beyond this foundation is the generous and oftentimes creative partnerships with likeminded organizations from the private sector, all of whom see the artistic uses of technology as the way of the future.
Furthermore, this year MUTEK undertook an initiative to gather almost twenty international festival programmers from Europe, North America, and South America in Montreal for a pioneering dialogue regarding the creation of an unprecedented global network of cultural exchange. Festivals present included:
*Club Transmediale - Berlin/Germany
*Dis-Patch – Belgrade/Serbia
*Futuresonic – Manchester/UK
*Musikprotokoll - Graz/Austria
*Numusic Festival – Stavanger/Norway
*Skanu Mezs – Riga/Latvia
*Today's Art - Den Haag/Netherlands
*Les Siestes Électroniques - Toulouse/France
*Unsound Festival - Cracow/Poland
*New Forms – Vancouver/Canada
*Communikey – Boulder/USA
*Decibel – Seattle/USA
*MUTEK.AR - Buenos Aires/ Argentina
*MUTEK.CL – Santiago/Chile
*MUTEK.MX – Mexico
The result of these sessions was the formation of ICAS (International Cities of Advanced Sound), a new network of international not-for-profit events dedicated to promoting emerging forms of media to new audiences and regions. This endeavour will be formally introduced in the fall of 2008, and take on more definitive and effective shape throughout 2009.
Speaking of next year, in 2009 MUTEK celebrates its tenth anniversary. You can bet we're planning something special, and we hope to see you all here for what is expected to be the exciting and memorable climax of our first decade. Mark your calendars: Montreal, May 27th to May 31st, 2009. More details to come.
We would like to take this occasion to send out a warm thank you to everyone who helped make 2008 such an exhilarating edition. In terms of production value, talent, programming, and presence within our hometown of Montreal and around the world, this year's festival ranks among the most gratifying undertakings this organization has ever mounted. None of it would have been possible without the massively talented artists currently at work in all corners of electronic music, and the dedicated fans, media, partnerships and professionals who support them.
The most significant achievement of this year's edition, without doubt, was the festival's confirmation as a powerful draw for cultural tourists. According to figures provided by the market-research firm CROP, MUTEK has surpassed its previous results with an astounding 47% of festival attendees coming from outside Montreal and a full 42% arriving from outside Quebec. Records for indoor venue attendance were shattered across the board, without exception, confirming MUTEK's growing status as an engine of Montreal's cultural tourism. For those of you who traveled to our city for the festival, we were glad to see you once again - our recurring cast of international guests have become part of the MUTEK family. Whether you arrived at MUTEK from Berlin, Paris, Mexico City, Toronto, or New York, you helped make this a record-breaking year for the festival's internationalism: that makes you the lifeblood of our efforts.
MUTEK 2008 proved to be a pivotal year in which eclecticism took the festival to new heights. The sheer diversity of performances tells the story, from the rigorous turntable science of Martin Tétreault to the stadium-sized beat-carvings of Kid Koala, from the wonky hip-hop of Flying Lotus to the bass friction of Kode 9 & the Spaceape, from highlight live performances by Underground Resistance, The Field, and Modeselektor to brilliant international discoveries like Ben Frost, Danton Eeprom, and Chloe. This year's acts single-handedly shattered the stale and perception that a live performance of electronic music has to be austere and disengaged. Murcof, Morgan Packard, Németh & Hess, Rechenzentrum, Tim Hecker, and Christian Fennesz all delivered disarming performances brimming with artistry, individuality, and passion. Furthermore, the visual mastery of Lillevan, Pfadfinderei, Joshue Ott, Artificiel, and many of our local videographers turned MUTEK 2008 into one of the most visually stunning environments we've ever showcased. Next year's programming will continue the fine balance of developing new audiences while maintaining a high standard of credibility. Our ears are to the ground, and we intend to branch out within the numerous international pools of talent.
An increasingly influential factor of MUTEK's continued success is the online community that consistently supports us. We've spent the past three months rolling out a new and refurbished internet presence, with more music and features from the acts we find relevant, and the blogging and online magazine communities have responded in kind by getting behind the festival and carrying us into those pockets of fans all across the world. The virtual community made this festival the international success story it was this year.
Established online sources like Last.FM, XLR8R, Beatportal, Resident Advisor, Earplug, Baltimore City Paper's Noise Blog, and Pitchfork Media, not to mention the ever-extended support of the CBC and Radio-Canada, played an important role in this year's events. An important creative and compelling support also came from independent blogging networks like Create Digital Music, Basic Sounds, Brightest Young Things, Serial Consign, and the numerous individuals who took the time and effort to deliver considered and lengthy reviews, photo galleries, and videos of this year's events.
To get an idea of what the festival felt like and how it has been covered this year, here's a selection of links:
* Expert free-lancer Philip Sherburne reviews MUTEK 08 at Pitchfork
* Baltimore City Paper’s Noise blog delivers in-depth day-by-day coverage, courtesy of Michael Byrne: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4
* Beatportal runs a series of interviews with MUTEK 08 artists Danton Eeprom, Noah Pred, Nôze and Deadbeat, courtesy of Amanda Connon-Unda
* Resident Advisor features a podcast of Nôze’s live set on Sunday
* XLR8R’s Ken Taylor breaks down this year’s events in two installments: Part 1 & Part 2
* Brightest Young Things features a detailed review and photo & video gallery of MUTEK 2008
* Basic Sounds blog features an extensive photo gallery
* Serial Consign has a long, considered review
* And in perhaps the most in-depth coverage of the fest, Create Digital Music’s Peter Dines and Liz McLean Knight provide reviews, interviews, photos, and video of everything MUTEK-related
Of course, such large-scale and richly textured undertakings would not even be possible without the crucial support of our many dedicated partners, both in the public and private sectors. The unwavering support of the municipal, provincial, and federal government prove to us that MUTEK is an integral part of both Quebec and Canada's cultural fabric, while the assistance of the many foreign embassies highlight the strong network of cross-cultural interest in the work we do. But what helps MUTEK excel beyond this foundation is the generous and oftentimes creative partnerships with likeminded organizations from the private sector, all of whom see the artistic uses of technology as the way of the future.
Furthermore, this year MUTEK undertook an initiative to gather almost twenty international festival programmers from Europe, North America, and South America in Montreal for a pioneering dialogue regarding the creation of an unprecedented global network of cultural exchange. Festivals present included:
*Club Transmediale - Berlin/Germany
*Dis-Patch – Belgrade/Serbia
*Futuresonic – Manchester/UK
*Musikprotokoll - Graz/Austria
*Numusic Festival – Stavanger/Norway
*Skanu Mezs – Riga/Latvia
*Today's Art - Den Haag/Netherlands
*Les Siestes Électroniques - Toulouse/France
*Unsound Festival - Cracow/Poland
*New Forms – Vancouver/Canada
*Communikey – Boulder/USA
*Decibel – Seattle/USA
*MUTEK.AR - Buenos Aires/ Argentina
*MUTEK.CL – Santiago/Chile
*MUTEK.MX – Mexico
The result of these sessions was the formation of ICAS (International Cities of Advanced Sound), a new network of international not-for-profit events dedicated to promoting emerging forms of media to new audiences and regions. This endeavour will be formally introduced in the fall of 2008, and take on more definitive and effective shape throughout 2009.
Speaking of next year, in 2009 MUTEK celebrates its tenth anniversary. You can bet we're planning something special, and we hope to see you all here for what is expected to be the exciting and memorable climax of our first decade. Mark your calendars: Montreal, May 27th to May 31st, 2009. More details to come.
