Abstract
This chapter examines the MUTEK festival and Arbutus Records as two key infrastructures supporting the experimental electronic music scene in Montreal. Both institutions, in their own specific ways, showcase and support local electronic music talent and have become emblematic of the musical identity of the city. On one level MUTEK and Arbutus appear to exist within opposite the spatial and historical trends in the artistic development of Montreal in the late twentieth century/early twenty-first century. On another level, they are both embedded within wider developments of music policies in Montreal: MUTEK has grown increasingly connected to municipal planning for cultural tourism and Arbutus is connected to informal Do-It-Yourself underground music practices. Therefore, this chapter argues that MUTEK and Arbutus Records exemplify contrasting yet interlocked trends surrounding the policing of electronic music in the city.
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Notes
- 1.
As Will Straw has pointed out, there is a long history of dance clubs in Montreal.
- 2.
In a study on entertainment venues, Montreal’s municipal government in partnership with the ‘Quartier des Spectacles’ and the Tourisme Montréal agency reported that more than 1.7 million spectators attended events in the ‘Quartiers des Spectacles’ in 2016 (Ville de Montréal-Cabinet de la mairesse et du comité n.d.).
- 3.
For the better part of the 2000s, the festival’s “substantial debt” was carried by Mongeau personally.
- 4.
It is worth noting that, although the label earned its reputation for music that might be labelled ‘experimental rock’, its latest releases have embraced a variety of electronic music aesthetics.
- 5.
In 2014, cultural festivals alone attracted 7.5 million attendees, with 2.3 million ‘cultural tourists’ (visitors travelling to Montreal and attending cultural events) spending over 1.1 billion Canadian dollars.
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Mouillot, F. (2021). Arbutus Records and MUTEK: Two Models of Experimental Electronic Music Promotion in Montreal. In: Darchen, S., Charrieras, D., Willsteed, J. (eds) Electronic Cities. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4741-0_7
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