A quick preview of the MUTEK Montreal 20th anniversary lineup

This year marks a 20-year anniversary for MUTEK Montreal, one of the longest running  electronic festivals in the world.

The season’s lineup features over 50 artists, including the likes of Tim Hecker & Konoyo Ensemble, Deena Abdelwahed, Overmono, Rashad Becker & Ena, Matmos, and Domenique Dumont, just to call out a few.

As usual the schedule is divided across across a small set of venues that host curated programming: A/Visions, Nocturne, Play and Experience Series, two nights hosted by Red Bull Motion, and associated programming by Akousma, Piknic Electronik, and PY1.

What this all means is that for 6 days in August (20-25) Montreal will once again become a home to some of the world’s most innovative electronic artists and audiovisual experiences.

A/Visions, “festival’s signature, multi-sensorial series A/Visions moves into the stately and distinguished concert hall of the Maisonneuve Theatre in the Place des Arts.” Each night will offer a variation of audio visual experiences, some devoid of screens and projections and others with live “theatrical sights and sonics”. Each performance is unique to the artist. Kazuya Nagaya, for example, will perform “surrounded by over 200 traditional Japanese instrument bowls, whose sacred properties and resonances he distills through his laptop”.

Nocturne Series, as a later set of performances spread across 3 venues, is the foundation of MUTEK. This year’s Nocturne lineup will feature local producer CMD, Lucas Paris, Lotus Eater, Tamayugé, TM404 and Blawan, an all-improvised 6hr performance by Circle of Live at the glorious MTELUS, and the downtempo groove and analog A/V stylings of Expansys. And that is just a sample.

For full lineup details, schedule and tickets head over to mutek.org and here’s a neat playlist they organized that might help you make scheduling decisions.