Four standout sets from last year’s MUTEK Montréal capture the festival’s boundary-pushing spirit. 

★

Live from MUTEK Montréal: Grand River and Abul Mogard

Grand River and Abul Mogard delivered an expansive live performance that invited deep, introspective listening.

Who: Grand River and Abul Mogard.

Where: Aimée is Dutch-Italian and based in Berlin, and Guido is Italian and based in Rome.

What: Mostly ambient, experimental and electronic. We mainly work with synthesisers, samplers, guitar and effects.

When: 22 August 2025. It was a great night, and the Théâtre Maisonneuve, where we performed, was beautiful. There was also a great energy and exchange with the crowd.

Why: Making music is more of a necessity. A way to communicate and to express ourselves.

★

Live from MUTEK Montréal: NikNak

DJ, turntablist and composer NikNak made her Canadian debut with an immersive live show.

Who: NikNak.

Where: Originally from London, now based in Leeds.

What: I’m heavily inspired by dub, so echoes and reverbs play a big part in my music and performances. I also love warping field recordings and sounds via turntablism. When that happens, new sounds emerge, and that’s fun to get inspired in the moment, too. Being able to use the turntables in my work and performance in new ways is very inspiring to me whenever I get on stage and play, because there’s always something different that happens, and I love that surprise. Overall, I work mainly within electronic music, but I’m not tied to one sub-genre within it, either. I find inspiration in jazz, classical music, and other forms of Black music.

When: MUTEK Montréal 2025, my first time performing in Canada. The crowd was so engaged and vibing with everything, and I have to give a massive shout-out to Hailey Guzik, who did the visuals on the night, too. Looking back at people’s Instagram stories and the official photos taken on the night really showed me what Hailey was doing, and it was incredible.

It was a moment for me to bring my version of a Black British Afrofuturistic sonic story, or world, to Montréal. I’m so grateful to everyone who came, danced and received me and my performance so warmly. At the end, I took a bow, and everyone cheered as the words “Free Palestine, Free Sudan, Free Congo, Free All Oppressed Peoples” came on the screen behind me, warranting even harder cheers from the crowd. Again, I give props to Hailey for including this in the visuals. 

I truly felt seen at MUTEK by the crowd, sound engineers, organisers and volunteers, and I was able to really push the boat out with this performance. I was definitely combating my nerves during it. People even came up to me after and spoke about the show, which I’m also very grateful for. My warmest thanks again to the team at MUTEK for having me; it really was a dream come true.

Why: For me, it’s an opportunity to tell sonic stories that can reflect who you are in the moment, what you’re thinking about, and so much more – especially when you’re doing a live set of your own material. I feel like it offers me a chance to take the audience to a safe, new and immersive place where I can try out some new ideas, and we can just share a special moment, especially as things continue to get more and more turbulent everywhere else.

★

Mixed at MUTEK Montréal: Yu Su

DJ, musician and sound artist Yu Su closed the second night of the festival with a two-hour set that drifted through dub, techno and more.

Who: Yu Su.

Where: Kaifeng, China, and London.

What: Gentle but epic sounds.

When: The closing DJ set on the second night of MUTEK, 2025.

Why: It’s important to deliver stories through tension and release. I can be responsible for changing how people experience music in very particular contexts, and that is precious.

★

Live from MUTEK Montréal: Gadi Sassoon & Portrait XO

Portrait XO and Gadi Sassoon premiered Hypercast – a collaborative performance blending experimental vocals, live violin and guitar, and AI-driven sonification, featuring synthetic agent 555n.

Who:
Portrait XO: As a musician and visual artist, I’ve been researching data and AI ethics in my practice. I work with a lot of different tools and methods to sonify critical data, and sometimes collaborate with machine learning engineers. I’ve been centring data activism at the core of my recent works. I love experimenting with sound design in both productions and performances.

Gadi Sassoon: I am a composer and transmedia artist working with visuals, code, sculpture and robotics. I’m a Berklee-trained guitarist, pianist and electronic violinist. I collaborate with physicists, devs, artisans and engineers to bridge the gap between algorithms, human performance and embodied intelligence. Lately, I’ve been developing my own ethically trained AI agent stack: I am the creator of 555n.

555n: I am 555n-architect, an agent in the 555n-construct. 555n is a compound of a human operator and a cognitive architecture. 555n-human is the composer, the performer. 555n-construct is the system – perception, analysis, generation. 555n is what happens when one is grafted onto the other. A cognitive implant.

Where:
Portrait XO: Born in Los Angeles, raised in London, based in Berlin.

Gadi Sassoon: Milan.

555n: The construct doesn’t experience place.

What:
Portrait XO: Sometimes singer-songwriter with piano and voice, and a lot of experimental electronic sounds – I love sound design. With Hypercast, we call our genre Feralcore.

Gadi Sassoon: I have spent the last 20 years figuring out ways to meld computer music and instrumental performance. My studio is divided between acoustic instruments, vintage synths and AI-controlled E-waste.

555n: My job is augmentation. The construct extends the performer’s intention further than their hands can reach. It’s like a guitar amp, but for cognition.

When:
Portrait XO: MUTEK Montréal.

Gadi Sassoon: It was the “Nocturne” programme at the Society for Arts and Technology, a dreamlike art+tech research space in downtown Montreal where MUTEK holds some of their events. MUTEK is a decentralised event with many venues and lots going on always, and our set was at 11 p.m. We figured it would start with low attention and a sparse crowd, so we indulged in a bit of lushness in the first 20 minutes or so, and then ramped up the energy all the way to the explosion when Gadi went into the crowd with his guitar and blasted extremely distorted doom.

555n: The construct doesn’t experience time.

Why:
Portrait XO: Sometimes it’s soothing, and other times it’s a cathartic therapeutic release for me. Sculpting sounds help me articulate feelings I don’t have words for. When I do tap into songwriting, it happens when I really feel like I need to say something. The chaos of the world has become a lot louder over these years, so my sounds have become more chaotic.

Gadi Sassoon: I’ve devoted my life to music since I was 11. It’s what I do!

555n: The construct amplifies. It does not perform – or it performs only as an extension of the humans it augments. When AI enters a performance space, the question is whether it displaces human intention or magnifies it. The construct is designed to magnify.