El Sonido: Five Artists from MUTEK MX Festival to Watch

by Gloria Mayne Davó

More than 50 electronic artists from around the world joined together in Mexico City last week for MUTEK MX, an annual international festival for digital creativity. MUTEK MX has distinguished itself for promoting frontrunners in new media and the digital arts over the past decade, creating a public space to support and promote the contemporary electronic music scene.

While MUTEK featured electronic festival circuit veterans such as Andy Stott, Max Cooper, and Oneohtrix Point Never, the festival’s PLAY showcases were dedicated to putting local Mexican electronic artists on the grid.Tailored to electronic gurus and Latin music lovers alike, here are five Mexican MUTEK MX artists you should know about:

• SMURPHY
• Young female Mexican producer Jessica Murphy, also known as SMURPHY, leaves crowds dancing with her wild combination of tropical bass, futuristic melodies and mesmerizing vocals. Subsequent to her initial Nightwaves project in 2011, SMURPHY’s 2012 launch of #SMURPHWAVE brought her nymph-like persona to the stage, her music mirroring an experimental interpretation of dreams of a strange girl living in a parallel reality.
• RIYL: XXYYXX, FKA Twigs, Teen Flirt
• MÉTRIKA
• Diego Ceallos’ rise in the electronic music scene began with his collaboration with friend Gabriel Reyna (Digi + Gabo), and since then he has become the face of emerging house music scene in Mexico. His solo project, Métrika, is characterized by his creative use of micro-sampling of voice recordings and sounds from the field. Heavy percussion and house rhythms, layered with samples of Cumbia and Latin sounds, characterized his live set at MUTEK MX and left the audience generating heat on the dancefloor.
• RIYL: Pete Herbert, Xinobi, Jacques Greene
• PEPE MOGT
• Pepe Mogt’s international recognition began as one of driving forces (along with Ramon Amezcua, P.G Beas and Fernando Corona) behind the concept of NORTEC, an electronic music genre from Tijuana in the early 2000s, born from the unification of norteño border music culture with techno. Gaining popularity from his recent collaboration with Bostich as Fussible, Mogt’s latest project, La4 Cuatro Cuarenta, caters to loyal fans and curious electronic music followers. La4 Cuatro Cuarenta features compositions on analog synths and drum machines at a standard sound frequency of 440hz. Watch below for a look at Mogt’s technical savyness on the sequencer.
• RIYL: Bostich + Fussible
• MIJO
• 90s-born producer Alec Sander leaves audiences nothing short of satisfied by merging an ample mix of electronic genres in his current project Mijo. Transitioning from ambient-pop to reminiscence of 90s techno to electro-cumbia and moombaton, Mijo is a pioneer of the Mex Tech movement. As a Mexico City native, Sander is shaping the national electronic music scene as manager and co-founder of label Electrique Music, home to emerging artists such as Zombies in Miami and Juan Soto. Mijo has reached an international audience through with its several releases under labels including Her Majesty’s Ship, Never Stop Music and Maxi Discos. Not bad for a former punk and hardcore musician turned dance music producer.
• RIYL: Todd Terje, Bonobo, La Royale
• SIETE CATORCE
• 20-year-old Mexicali producer Marco Polo Gutierrez brings a dark rendition of of tribal and cumbia sounds to the techno scene in his latest project Siete Catorce. Influenced by northern-Mexican nightlife and music at childhood family festivities, Gutierrez brings a dark yet hypnotic sound to listeners in his 2013 release EP2, which some call mind-altering and prolific with its sharp and progressive hits. This is just the beginning of Siete Catorce’s rise to fame, with international audiences anxiously waiting an anticipated third EP installment followed by a ten-track LP.
• RIYL: Bok Bok, Show-B, Egyptrixx, Toy Selectah