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News -
Canada Arts News
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Written by Staff
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Wednesday, 24 June 2009 21:34 |
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MONTREAL, QUE. - A decade ago, North American audiences regarded electronic music with a mixture of apprehension and resistance. In 1999, two crucial developments helped shift public perception of the music.
The first was the release of Moby's album Play. Until then, Moby was best known for playing hardcore punk rock and creating obscure techno remixes of other artists' tracks. Play fused the pulsating rhythms of house music and sampled excerpts of traditional gospel and folk songs. Tunes like Porcelain and Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad became ubiquitous, thanks to a novel marketing deal in which Moby licensed every track on his album for use in TV shows, films and commercials.
The second key event in the history of North American electronic music happened in Montreal, where a whiz kid named Alain Mongeau - who had a PhD in interactivity - became the head of developing new media programs for Ex-Centris, a new cultural centre. Mongeau's inaugural project was MUTEK, a forward-thinking festival celebrating electronic music and the digital arts. Though similar events existed in Europe, MUTEK was the first of its kind on this side of the pond. ...more at CBC.CA |
