Red Bull Music Academy has traveled the world for nearly two decades, bringing a jam-packed program of events, exhibitions, workshops, talks and studio sessions wherever it goes. The 18th edition of the Academy kicked off in Montréal on September 24 and goes through October 28, and has already hosted a number of noteworthy lectures.
See more on the recently released lectures below, and check out additional Red Bull Music Academy lectures at win.gs/1Wq61kR.
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop was punk before punk even existed. Channeling rock & roll and Chicago blues influences with his band The Stooges in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Michigan native created some of the most potent rock music the world had ever heard, influencing virtually every generation of punk, garage rock and grunge artists that was to come. Pops high-wire collaborations with David Bowie in the latter half of the 70s are the stuff of legend and spawned some of both artists most enduring hits. In 2016, he affirmed his position in the pantheon of rock music with his celebrated Post Pop Depression LP.
Win Butler (Arcade Fire)
Edwin Win Butler III is the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter for Canadian band Arcade Fire, known for their symphonic pop-dance-rock-noise arrangements, surrealist music arena performances and a savvy approach to the music industry. Arcade Fire have received several Juno and Brit awards. Combining a sense of grandeur, political awareness, and a gleefully poetic approach, he found a prominent fan in David Bowie, with whom he collaborated often, and in whose honor he recently led a parade of thousands through the streets of New Orleans.
Kaytranada
Montréal’s own production star and 2016 Polaris Prize winner Kaytranada joined Anupa Mistry on the lecture couch for a wide-ranging conversation on his musical upbringing and synthesis of diverse tastes into a sound thats entirely his own. This lecture coincided with the debut of a new episode of The Junction, an animated tale of Kaytranada and 2016 Academy participant River Tibers creative encounters.
Suzanne Cianis
A true synthesizer pioneer, Suzanne Cianis love of electronic music began in 1968 during a field trip to MIT, but it was her decade-long adventure mastering the Buchla 200 that would define her career. She worked in commercials and in the late 80s and 90s redefined herself again as a five-time Grammy-nominated new age artist.
Alex Tumay
Nobody knows prolific and mercurial Atlanta rapper Young Thug quite like audio engineer Alex Tumay. The Queens, NY, native has been the only professional able to keep up with the talented rapper, harnessing his abilities on the Slime Season trilogy of mixtapes, Im Up and JEFFERY. An unheralded yet essential presence on a number of pivotal Atlanta hip-hop albums, Tumay has also worked with Travis Scott on Rodeo and lent his ear to the track Highlights from Kanye Wests The Life of Pablo. In his lecture at the 2016 Red Bull Music Academy, Tumay discusses how he stumbled into engineering, working with one of the brightest and weirdest talents in rap, and how Atlantas new generation achieved a unique sound.
Tanya Tagaq
A powerful, visceral voice from Nunavut, in Canadas north, Tanya Tagaq is rooted in traditional Inuk throat singing but it barely scratches the surface of her fiercely innovative fusion of old and new. In 2014, she won the prestigious Polaris Music Prize for the genre-transcending album Animism. Whether its an unforgettable performance dedicated to the murdered and missing aboriginal women in Canada, a hip-hop collaboration with Canadian MC Shad on her new album, Retribution, or her stunning work on Bjorks Medúlla, Tagaq never ceases to push boundaries.
