Organic matters

>> Local laptop label head Mitchell Akiyama
comes full circle

by RAF KATIGBAK

Over the last five years, young Montrealer Mitchell Akiyama has carved a name for himself playing experimental laptop techno at high-profile gigs from Mutek here to Sonar in Barcelona. Recently releasing an album on the respected German minimal imprint Raster Noton, his Desormais collaboration with Cincinnati’s Joshua Treble has also garnered acclaim from fans and critics alike.

Beginning its life as a vanity label four years ago, his own Intr_version imprint has blossomed into a full-fledged, honest-to-goodness record label, with an impressive roster including tracks by Richard Devine, David Kristian and Sutekh and albums by fellow Canucks Deadbeat and Tomas Jirku. Intr_version is now set to release its fifth full-length album, by local artist Ghislain Poirier, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Mirror: How did Intr_version get started?
Mitchell Akiyama: It came out of a “do it yourself ’cause you can’t count on anybody else” attitude. When I started doing shows, it was because I wasn’t getting booked. I’m not sure whether I’m presumptuous or I overestimate myself but after my first round of demo sending, I was like, what the fuck! I’m not getting signed so I might as well start my own label.

M: I’ve noticed a trend in Intr_version’s recent releases toward a more organic sound.
MA: I think it’s pretty clear with the stuff we’ve been putting out that that is our agenda. In fact, I hope in the next year that people actually stop calling it an electronic label. Right now everything has sort of an electronic hinge to it, but I can think of a dozen acts that are not electronic that I would put out in the label.

M: Similar to your Desormais collab with Joshua Treble?
MA: Yeah, I think the best aural mission statement for the label is the Desormais record. That’s where I’d like to see it go.

M: Were you ever worried about alienating your techno-head fans with that release?
MA: I would be really weirded out and disappointed if only electronic geeks showed up at my shows, it’s just not really a scene I fully relate to. Especially because I’ve been playing more instruments and it’s becoming more organic, I think that there’s enough cross-pollination going on with the indie rock scene to gain their interest as well.

M: So you’ve thrown the strict digital abstraction style out the window?
MA: What I’ve realized is that, not to knock Mutek, but I came into that whole experimental techno scene out of a vacuum. When you’re finding your feet and finding a community, and a sound, the fact that I got absorbed by that group influenced the kind of music I was making. Of course, when I was in it, I was really into it and it reflected my interests, but as I got more entrenched in that scene, I discovered it really wasn’t for me.

M: So you’ve come full circle?
MA: I see that techno period as a deviation in the course my career. Before that I was listening to jazz and classical. Now I’ve come back to a place that’s more centred and more integral to what I was into before. :

With Joshua Treble, Ghislain Poirier, Tomas Jirku, DJ Tobias and guests at la Sala Rossa on Friday, Aug. 30, 9pm, $10

>> Music Listings