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Music

Abandoned Venues and Groundbreaking Electronic Music: Behind-the-Scenes of Unsound

Ahead of the upcoming Toronto edition June 10-11, we talk to festival co-founder and artistic director Matt Schulz.
Photo by David Leyes, courtesy of Luminato Festival

After a string of successful events in global cities including Adelaide, New York, and Prague, Unsound Festival threw its Canadian debut last year. For the Toronto edition, the experimental festival—which started in Krakow, Poland in 2003—featured performances from Canadian and international artists including Tim Hecker, Stars of the Lid, Helena Hauff, Orphx, and more.

The reaction was so positive that they've decided to up the ante for 2016, taking over the abandoned Hearn Generating Station once again in the city's Port Lands area, with an absolutely stacked lineup including Hecker, Sunn O))), Evian Christ, The Bug, Jlin, Lotic, and others.

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THUMP spoke to festival co-founder and artistic director Matt Schulz via email to find out what it takes to put together these diverse events around the world, and what Toronto concertgoers can expect this year.

THUMP: Why did you decide to launch the first Canadian edition of Unsound Festival in Toronto?
Matt Schulz: Luminato Festival artistic director Jorn Weisbrodt had attended Unsound Adelaide, and loved the music and atmosphere, as well as the idea of producing Unsound within the framework of an arts festival. When he showed us the Hearn Generating Station, we immediately said yes. The venue is so fantastic—connecting with one of the core ideas of Unsound, which is to present events in unusual, adapted spaces. This makes the experience of live sound and music so much more special than just a show in a club.

How many people does it take to put together the festival?
We have a few people who work all year round in the Krakow HQ. That number multiplies when the Krakow event approaches—with up to 20 people working in the office, and a team of more than 100 volunteers—not to mention the production crew. But when we connect with an arts festival, such as Luminato, or Adelaide Festival in Australia, we work with their team and production crew to make Unsound a reality.

The lineup is very carefully curated; tell me a little about how you select artists.
Unsound puts together artists and even genres that contrast, yet have a shared desire to push boundaries or be adventurous. So the Unsound program takes in everything from extremely experimental sounds to post-classical, dance music, and more, but in ways that are very carefully considered and feel coherent. We also present many new names, labels and forms of music, rather than just headliners, which is something we've focused on even more this year in Toronto.

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What do you look for with these spaces?
Adapting unique and untraditional venues is a huge part of what Unsound is about, as well as thinking about the way that architecture intersects with music and live visuals. Unsound Krakow had nineteen different venues last year—from post-industrial spaces to a 19th century synagogue to an abandoned communist era hotel.

Finally, what would you say to convince electronic music fans that have never been to Unsound to come?
Unsound has a very specific atmosphere. It grew out of a DIY world, and although an event like Unsound Toronto is much bigger than its origins, the program remains uncompromising. That doesn't mean the atmosphere will exclude anyone, Unsound is a very inclusive event. So don't worry if there are names you don't know in the program, or if you have no idea about this music. Come hear it on an excellent sound system, in a unique space, and let yourself be taken on an adventure. Unsound Toronto will be overwhelming, in the best possible way.

A condensed version of this interview appears in this year's Luminato Festival 2016 guide. Unsound Toronto runs June 10-11, get tickets here and watch a teaser video below.