Ayesha’s 2024 MUTEK Montréal set was an important one. Made up of unreleased original music, it represents a time of healing and exploration for the Brooklyn-based artist, who, after suffering a serious brain injury, turned to music and creation to navigate recovery.
“I built my approach to performing live at MUTEK while recovering from a severe brain injury. The accident paused my life for many months but it also gave me the gift of creative time,” Ayesha explains. “Exploring a new style of performance was an anchor amidst a lot of personal turbulence. I really believe this process helped me get my mind agile again. I’m curious what making music can do for generating new neural pathways, especially after brain trauma.”
Drawing from the techno sounds you might find Ayesha playing in a Brooklyn club but bending them into new shapes, this mix feels exploratory, at times intense, and impossible to pull away from.
“I’m excited to finally share this set because it documents my healing journey,” she adds. “You could also see it as a 100 percent production mix, or an hour of unreleased original music. I might choose to release a track or two in the indefinite future, but I don’t necessarily know yet. I want the experience of my live set to have that mystery and be a curious testing ground for new musical directions. Looking forward to going deeper this year.” Lock in.
Who: Ayesha.
What: Body-hitting percussive rhythms with trippy moments. Not quite techno. Drums were the bones of this set but time-based effects became a surprising focal point by adding a lot of colour and motion to the experience.
When: 1am, ish.
Where: At Society for Arts and Technology [at MUTEK Montréal 2024]. This was a spacious room that felt especially large at soundcheck. There were definitely nerves – I’ll never forget what it felt like waiting for the legendary Kode9 to finish up so that I could play live for the very first time. Once the show started, the vibe immediately shifted into something exciting and almost primal. I didn’t expect people to dance to this set but many did.
Why: I DJ because I really enjoy the feeling of helping human bodies move. It gives me an encouraging sense of connectedness. In a self-involved society DJing feels like a rare opportunity to lose myself [to] other people’s joy. DJing also helps me feel truly present in the moment, almost as if I were meditating. This state of being locked into the creative flow is very healing.
Initially I started producing music to create and share sounds that I wasn’t hearing enough of on dance floors — playful, visceral rhythms that really speak to the body. More recently, though, I’ve been dealing with a lot of brain fog. In this state, I’ve struggled to feel moved by a lot of the music I’d otherwise love. So right now I mostly make music to feel more vivid emotions to challenge the numbness. I hope my listeners will somehow sense this new intention.
Live from MUTEK Montréal: Ayesha
Live from MUTEK Montréal: Ayesha
Ayesha’s 2024 MUTEK Montréal set was an important one. Made up of unreleased original music, it represents a time of healing and exploration for the Brooklyn-based artist, who, after suffering a serious brain injury, turned to music and creation to navigate recovery.
“I built my approach to performing live at MUTEK while recovering from a severe brain injury. The accident paused my life for many months but it also gave me the gift of creative time,” Ayesha explains. “Exploring a new style of performance was an anchor amidst a lot of personal turbulence. I really believe this process helped me get my mind agile again. I’m curious what making music can do for generating new neural pathways, especially after brain trauma.”
Drawing from the techno sounds you might find Ayesha playing in a Brooklyn club but bending them into new shapes, this mix feels exploratory, at times intense, and impossible to pull away from.
“I’m excited to finally share this set because it documents my healing journey,” she adds. “You could also see it as a 100 percent production mix, or an hour of unreleased original music. I might choose to release a track or two in the indefinite future, but I don’t necessarily know yet. I want the experience of my live set to have that mystery and be a curious testing ground for new musical directions. Looking forward to going deeper this year.” Lock in.
Who: Ayesha.
What: Body-hitting percussive rhythms with trippy moments. Not quite techno. Drums were the bones of this set but time-based effects became a surprising focal point by adding a lot of colour and motion to the experience.
When: 1am, ish.
Where: At Society for Arts and Technology [at MUTEK Montréal 2024]. This was a spacious room that felt especially large at soundcheck. There were definitely nerves – I’ll never forget what it felt like waiting for the legendary Kode9 to finish up so that I could play live for the very first time. Once the show started, the vibe immediately shifted into something exciting and almost primal. I didn’t expect people to dance to this set but many did.
Why: I DJ because I really enjoy the feeling of helping human bodies move. It gives me an encouraging sense of connectedness. In a self-involved society DJing feels like a rare opportunity to lose myself [to] other people’s joy. DJing also helps me feel truly present in the moment, almost as if I were meditating. This state of being locked into the creative flow is very healing.
Initially I started producing music to create and share sounds that I wasn’t hearing enough of on dance floors — playful, visceral rhythms that really speak to the body. More recently, though, I’ve been dealing with a lot of brain fog. In this state, I’ve struggled to feel moved by a lot of the music I’d otherwise love. So right now I mostly make music to feel more vivid emotions to challenge the numbness. I hope my listeners will somehow sense this new intention.
