First Wave: Humans & The Machine

Five electronic music premieres for MUTEK MX Edition 18.

The diversity of sounds and technical approaches that fit into the electronic music label is part of the constantly evolving identity of MUTEK MX. For Edition 18, the live sets that result from the complex creative link between humans, machines, digital spaces and physicality will take us through a fascinating labyrinth of possibilities.

Artificial intelligence as a medium for ancestral sounds, modular composition to access different states of consciousness or digital transmutation of voice and acoustic instruments: these are some of the unmissable live sets that await us this November.

DEBIT ^MX

“A deliciously strange listening experience (...) an original and enveloping sound that leaves us with an ineffable feeling: the past unearthed and made new once again,” describes The Guardian to The Long Count (Modern Love, 2022) the album that Debit will present this Edition, which has already been adapted into a dance performance and immersive installation for the Memorial of the Center for Digital Culture. Through AI software, Debit gives breath to whistles, ocarinas, flutes and different wind instruments of the Mayan court, as part of a mysterious dark ambient ritual that gives contemporary timbres and textures to sound vestiges protected by the Institute of UNAM Mayan Studies.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith ^US

Electrical connection and modular philosophy: Kaytlin Aurelia Smith has forged her own dialectic with the legendary Buchla synthesizers, her tool for interpreting existence on multiple planes and possibilities. Ten years after her debut, Kaitlyn comes to MUTEK MX for the first time with Let's turn it into sound (Ghostly, 2022), a window to sculpt electricity and transform it into sound during Nocturne ³⁶⁰.

Koreless ^UK

"I have a tendency to think of music in a rather sculptural way: building big blocks of sound to be inhabited by people". The live experience of Agor (Young, 2021), the brutal debut album by Koreless, will transform the Nocturne ³⁶⁰ space into a sonic cathedral full of corners as minimalist as they are intricate. Lewis Roberts' drive to enhance with volume the complex sound palette that he obsessively developed for almost ten years will make this performance in Mexico one of the most exciting sound and physicality experiences of this Edition.

Loraine James ^UK

"I like to take little snippets of a song, and just change them up and surprise listeners". Under that simple statement and her constant experimentation with software and hardware, Loraine James delivers one of the most eclectic live sets of contemporary electronica: a sound kaleidoscope capable of capturing both adventurous ears and bodies that want to get lost in the middle of beats. This summer Loraine put on terrific sets for iconic tracks like the Dekmantel festival and Sustain Release party, while this fall it's for cutting-edge festivals like Unsound, MIRA and MUTEK MX.

Tristan Arp ^US

Whether from the minimalism of software and CDJs or from the complexities of modular and cello composition, Tristan Arp puts the team at the service of ideas. Thus, the creativity and emotions of the moment flourish in the fertile space of his setup: samples and electroacoustic execution that blend in like organic sounds with synthetic ones, and abstraction with the unmistakable desire of dancefloor. A performance "risky and asymmetrical, as expected from an artist always innovative".

Yamila ^ES/BE

If from his studio version Visions (Umor Rex, 2022) is already a powerful and overwhelming listening experience, prepare to surrender to the magnetic intensity of his live performance. "Sometimes during concerts I start playing things that I don't even know where they come from, it's as if someone possessed me"; Electronic media, cello and voice, for a ritual of energy and invocations that will make our bodies emotional resonance boxes. With Visions' live, Yamila will connect the sonic avant-garde spirit of MUTEK MX with the mysticism of its baroque influences and Spanish folklore.