Iceland’s Yagya will deliver one of Mutek Montreal’s final sets. Before playing only his second North American show, the multi-genre producer told us about the busy year he’s had and how he describes his music.
Hey, Yagya! Thanks for taking some time to talk to us. It’s nice for us have the chance to interview you, because you’re musical output is a bit different to what we normally deal with. So hopefully we can add some nice balance to the artists we’re interviewing for Mutek Montreal 2018!Maybe you could start us off by talking about what 2018 has looked like for you so far and what you have planned for the rest of the year – not just musically, but anything noteworthy.
2018 has be very eventful for me, and it’s far from over. I finished my next album, which is more up beat then my usual stuff, and it’s currently being mastered. My old album Rigning was re-issued by Delsin this spring. I’ve worked on new music, although I’m still trying to figure out where I want to take that project exactly. I’ve had a rather busy summer playing at festivals, even though I don’t normally tour. I’m starting at a new job as a web developer and have been studying how to make computer games
Focusing more on your music style now, can you run us through how that’s changed in recent times and where you think it’s headed?
I usually try to alternate between two things, first make more of the same dub techno that I have been doing since I started releasing music as Yagya and secondly trying to step out of my comfort zone and try and create things I don’t know much about.
Will this be your first time performing at Mutek? Will you be doing anything else in North America while you’re here?
Mutek will be my only gig in North America this time. I’ve performed once before in USA (Substrata in Seattle in 2013) a few years ago. I mostly perform in Europe.
Considering you have one of the last sets of the festival, will you spend some time taking it all in as a spectator in the first four days? Perhaps your answer here might be similar to the previous couple of questions’, but do you have anything planned during this time?
I look very much forward to the festival as a whole and plan on seeing as much as I can. I have also never been to Montreal and hope to enjoy the city, do some jogging around the city and taste good food.
And now for your performance: can you give us a basic technical overview of what it will involve, in terms of gear and general setup?
I’m definitely a digital artist, as I don’t use hardware at all. So for my live gigs I have two controllers, audio interface and a laptop. I have concentrated on making my live setup fit in one backpack that I can take as carry on luggage, because I would absolutely hate it if my bags wouldn’t make it
Your live performances have featured some pretty hard-hitting, high-energy techno, but you’ve also produced some less beat-driven, more spacious and ambient music. Can you hint to what Mutek Montreal can expect from you this year?
I will be playing more of my usual dub techno rather than the hard hitting techno, so expect spacious ambient music. But I’m still working on my set and I’m not sure just how soft it will be.
Again, thanks for talking to us and we wish you all the best for your Mutek experience!
Interview by Jacob
