MUTEK Plots North American Mini-Tour

MUTEK already announced the dates for its annual multi-day event in Montreal, but given that 2009 marks the festival 10th anniversary, a little extra hoopla is entirely called for.

Ergo, the MUTEK crew is preparing a mini-tour for the month of April to, according to a recent press release, “whet appetite[s] for the upcoming Montreal festival.” A small selection of electronic music artists—most of them past performers at MUTEK—will travel across Canada for this short-but-sweet handful of dates.

The Mole and Montreal-based one-man show Guillaume & the Coutu-Dumonts will lead the pack and be joined by the likes of Chilean-born Pier Bucci, and Modern Lovers labelmates Claro Intelecto and Andy Stott along the way. Local artists will also perform in each city, and though we won’t be seeing much of this tour on U.S. soil, those lucky few in Brooklyn can catch a show at the newly re-opened Studio B.

“We decided that doing a tour this year, of all years, would be a good way to thank all those people who’ve made the trip up to Montreal over the last decade,” says Festival Content Manager Dimitri Nasrallah. “Especially this year, when times are rather tough for a lot of people, we decided it would be worthwhile to bring a little bit of the MUTEK experience to all those folks who’d maybe heard of the festival but, for whatever reason, never made it out. Giving people a taste of what five days in Montreal would sound like will hopefully get people excited for the main event in May.”

With that in mind, festival passports to the Montreal event will be available at each venue. Full lineup details for the May show will be announced on March 16.

MUTEK_10:
04/08 Montreal, QC – Agor Hydro Québec, Coeur des Sciences*
04/09 Toronto, ON – Drake Hotel*
04/10 Ottawa, ON – Heaven Nightclub^
04/11 Brooklyn, NY – Studio B#
04/17 Edmonton, AB – Avenue Theater%
04/18 Vancouver, BC – Lotus Sound Lounge%

* = w/ Guillaume & the Coutu-Dumonts, The Mole, Pier Bucci
^ = w/ Guillaume & the Coutu-Dumonts, The Mole, Andrew O’Malley (DJ set)
# = w/ Guillaume & the Coutu-Dumonts, Claro Intelecto, Andy Stott, MLZ, Pangaea, Ezekiel Honig
% = w/ The Mole, other artists TBA

Pictured: The many personalities of Guillaume & the Coutu-Dumonts. Photo by Janicke Morissette.

Get Crazy Feat. Mr. Slaughter

Ghislain Porier‘s latest video, which just arrived this morning, is for the track “Get Crazy” (featuring jungle MC Mr. Slaughter), and since the jarring camera angles here put any Oliver Stone film to shame, you might simultaneously get motion sickness while watching. Hold onto your lunch as the king of bounce’s head spins around and around.

“Get Crazy” is off the Soca Sound System, out now via Ninja Tune.

Au Revoir Simone Preps Third Full-Length

Au Revoir Simone‘s three lovely ladies—Heather D’Angelo, Erika Forster, and Annie Hart—haven’t seen five spare minutes of R&R put together, it seems, since their sophomore album, Bird of Music, dropped in 2007. The album’s critical success sent the girls through a flurry of tours, festivals, interviews, and the like, but despite a hectic schedule, they’ve managed to compile a third full-length, which will be released in just a couple of months.

Still Night, Still Light finds Au Revoir Simone further cultivating their synth-pop sound, but what was, according to D’Angelo, “a whirlwind of non-stop traveling,” has undeniably influenced the band.

“It’s almost hard to put into words how that affected us; I’m not even sure if I’ve even completely processed all that I went through in those two years,” she explains over email. “We shared the same experiences of being away from home, being lost, being found, being so stimulated, excited and happy, but then also so lonely, isolated, homesick, and melancholy. Still Light, Still Night is about all of those things—it’s our intimate tour diary which chronicles one of the most intense and fun times of our lives.”

Thom Monahan, who has also worked with Vetiver and Little Joy, produced the album, which the band recorded between Brooklyn and Los Angeles and will be released May 19 via their own label, Our Secret Record Company.

Before then, the girls will head to Austin for SXSW, and a U.S. tour is set to follow this spring.

Still Night, Still Light
01 Another Likely Story
02 Shadows
03 All or Nothing
04 Knight of Wands
05 The Last One
06 Trace a Line
07 Only You Can Make You Happy
08 Take Me as I Am
09 Anywhere You Looked
10 Organized Scenery
11 We Are Here
12 Tell Me

Photo by Inma Varandela.

Platinum Pied Pipers “Pigeon Hole”

Platinum Pied Pipers (PPP) may have established their place on the musical map with hip-hop, but Abundance, Saddiq and Wajeed’s sophomore full-length, finds the duo in decidedly more R&B/soul territory. Only check the grooving rhythms and robust horn section on this track for proof of the duo’s new musical direction.

Bay Area fans can catch them at S.F. venue Mighty on March 27 to see just how this new sound translates into the live setting. For everyone else, Abundance is out now.

Platinum Pied Pipers – Pigeon Hole

Zombie Nation Zombielicious

There’s a good chance that Zombie Nation will never live down the infamous “Kernkraft 400,” which, 10 years after its release, is just as likely to be heard at your local sports arena as it is the club. Nevertheless, albums like Zombielicious do help prove that the Munich-based artist is more than a one-hit wonder. This is actually his fourth full-length; and, as expected, it’s loaded with propulsive, synth-driven, post-electroclash dance cuts. While Zombielicious doesn’t have any real anthems and definitely runs long, it has a cheeky sense of humor throughout. Plus, songs like “Supercake 53,” “Worth It Pt1,” and “Forza” are bassy slices of filtered electro that will undoubtedly be slurped up by your local blog house DJ.

Various Artists Tigerbeat6 Presents Tigerbass Vol. 1

Much like their counterparts from Trouble & Bass, Tigerbass makes its home where the sounds of old-school rave, hard-edged techno, and bass-heavy electro collide. The son of Tigerbeat’s first compilation is loaded with tracks that literally assault the dancefloor—there’s certainly nothing subtle about the speaker-rattling bass thump and ear-splitting synths of songs like Genuine Guy’s “Bad People Get Laid” or Dolby Anol’s “Heil Mary.” Black Rabbit’s “1992” is a punishing tribute to the days of rave gone by, while “Canteloupe” demonstrates C.L.A.W.S.‘ unquestionable love of squelchy acid house. Although Tigerbass Vol. 1 rarely takes its foot off the throttle, the ride is well worth taking. Think of it as new rave, minus the embarrassing parts.

SelfSays “Parting Gifts”

Following the growing handful of artists who are flipping old-school music distribution the figurative bird and releasing music themselves is Detroit-based hip-hopper SelfSays, and the dusty hip-hop beats on his new EP, Something Out of Nothing, will call to mind artists like Flying Lotus and Samiyam. Here’s the track “Parting Gifts,” and you can download the entire release at here. It will only cost you an email address.

SelfSays – Parting Gifts

The Presets Plan Another U.S. Tour

Returning to the road again this Spring are The Presets, who just can’t seem to get enough of trekking through North America. The Australian duo spent the better part of last year on tour, including several dates with Modular labelmates Cut Copy, playing in support of their Apocalypso release. For fans who still haven’t caught Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes playing tracks off the album live, now is the last chance to do so.

03/27 Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder
03/28 Miami, FL – Ultra Music Festival @ WMC
03/29 Gainesville, FL – Common Grounds
03/30 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
03/31 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
04/01 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
04/03 New York, NY – Webster Hall
04/04 Boston, MA – Paradise
04/05 Montreal, QC – Studio Juste Pour Ripe
04/06 Toronto, ON – The Mod Club
04/07 Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
04/08 Chicago, IL – Metro
04/10 Denver, Co – Bluebird Theater
04/11 Murray, UT – Murray Theater
04/13 Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
04/14 Seattle, WA – Neumos
04/15 Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theater
04/16 San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine
04/17 Indio, CA – Coachella
04/20 Pomona, CA – The Glass House

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