A trained pianist who grew up playing Rachmaninov and Mozart, Valentin Stip was recently turned on to the compositional possibilities of computers, and in doing so, to electronic music. Having moved to Montreal two years ago, he signed his first EP, Anytime Will Do, in spring 2011 on Nicolas Jaar’s imprint Clown & Sunset. His musical output doesn’t rush to the finish line, embracing space while crafting woolly atmospheres. After a summer tour that will take him to New York, London, and Berlin, he’ll premiere his latest collaborative project later this year.

• Read more →

Born in New York and raised in Santiago, Nicolas Jaar began his production life at the very tender age of 14. Now 22, Jaar has caused a sensation in house music with his cascading piano lines, folk leaning melodies, cool vocals and deep house undertow. Turned on by equal parts afro-beat, Satie and Villalobos, Jaar’s tracks have appeared on Wolf + Lamb, Circus Company and his own label, Clown and Sunset. 

• Read more →

 

The D.C./Berlin-based pair tells thrillingly pulsing electronic stories that are equal parts sultry, humorous, and melancholy. Since releasing their first EP, What I’ve Lost on Bruno Pronsato’s thesongsays imprint in 2009, the refined melody makers have been racking up massive critical praise for the mature lyricism and romantic pop sensibilities they bring to the genre. Their subsequent outings on Ghostly’s Spectral Sound, vanguard Detroit/Berlin upstart Visionquest, and James Murphy’s DFA have only echoed the sentiment. They’ll be supplying their warm, visceral grooves, languorous croons, and bulging synth love for their debut MUTEK @ Piknic performance.

• Listen

• Read more →

 

Wearing an assortment of hats comes easy to Zev Eisenberg and Gadi Mizrahi: label heads, producers, DJs, and party promoters operating under the Wolf+Lamb banner. Since making a name for themselves with their legendary underground bashes at New York’s Marcy Hotel, the duo has opened a club, begun producing their own sultry house grooves, and founded their acclaimed leftfield imprint, easily one of the most buzzed-about labels in the electronic arena. Part of a new generation of exciting, in-demand American producers, their W+L stable of artists (Deniz Kurtel, Nicolas Jaar, Soul Clap, Tanner Ross) churns out an uninterrupted stream of forward-thinking house, techno, and disco gems, while the label maestros pack up their funky, wandering bass lines to headline events around the globe.

• Read more →

 

Wagon Repair label co-founder Mathew Jonson has long been at the forefront of the Canadian scene with his moody, exquisitely layered compositions. His forays into jazz, house, fusion, and techno, along with his thrilling live performances, have brought broad international attention. 

• Read more →

 

Victoria native Colin de la Plante, aka The Mole, has the uncanny ability to drive the most complacent crowds into a frenzy of looped grooves. Since releasing debut album As High as the Sky on Wagon Repair (2008), he has leaped from success to success, injecting fired-up disco grooves into the techno machine.

• Read more →