For the last 8 years MUTEK has brought together artists and lovers of electro-digital art. This 5-day event is a strident celebration of music and digital creativity. In 2000, Alain Mongeau created this festival because he felt Montreal — and North America — needed an event that would fairly represent the genre in its entirety. And it worked!

Despite its ongoing success and its international recognition, the festival remains relatively modest. Because the organizers want it to remain accessible for both the public and the artists, they choose not to schedule two artists in the same time slot.

This year’s line up is an eclectic combination of local talent and international artists. One of the event’s highlights will surely be Kid Koala’s performance at the Metropolis.

More info here.

Earlier this month, Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky almost gave me a heart attack. He’s been a mainstay on just about every iPod in circulation right now since his incredible, very smart and very addictive original spins and remixes first got bootlegged back in the 1990s.

With his second book, Sound Unbound, Miller made my brain explode — at least six times. A collections of writings about the ideas and practices of remix, digitalism, experimental arts and racialized culture, Spooky has nailed it: accessible and fascinating thoughts from the folks you want to hear them from.

Steve Reich breaks down his relationship with tech; Spooky theorizes sampling with precision and a word styling that reads like experimental electronica; Dick Hebdige un-images utopia; Ron Elgash eviscerates race and circuitry; Naeem Mohaiemen finds hip-hop’s Muslim roots; Brian Eno rants about bells; Saul Williams explores linguistics; and Chuck D’s in there too for good measure.

In all, there are 36 essays by some of the best and brightest wits and talents out there who work with remixes. Sound Unbound, in all likelihood, is destined to seen on taste-makers’ shelves and classrooms for a long time. And, it looks good.

There’s a CD in the back of the book that is probably the greatest mixtape sonic-scape of remix lore in history.

More here.