UTO is the French duo comprised of Émile & Neysa May who were recently signed to PAIN SURPRISES RECORDS, music home of Jacques. They already caught our attention some months ago with the release of “The Beast” which was opening their freshly released “Shelter For The Broken” EP. They have now shared new self-directed visuals for another track: “That Itch”. For this one, they compiled astonishing images of storms and the result is just as intense as you can imagine. The video perfectly depicts the darkness and the electric atmospheres that UTO are able to create with their music.

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“That Itch” is taken from UTO‘s “Shelter For The Broken” EP out now via PAIN SURPRISES

UTO are also going to tour through France in 2018:

02/02 Stereolux, Nantes

02/22 : 824H, Paris

04/05 : Gaité Lyrique, Paris (w/ Kazy Lambist)

04/23 : Casino de Paris (w/ Isaac Delusion)

06/30 : Hello Birds Festival

More dates TBA

Stay connected to UTO via Facebook.

As a blog based in Brussels, we pay special attention to the acts coming from our country, as you can see it in our column “Belgitunes“. In our last playlist, “20 songs from artists based in Belgium, you can already find songs from Warhaus that will be playing at Cirque Royal on the 20th, Wuman that will be opening for Fishbach on the 14th and Robbing Millions that will be playing with BRNS at Cirque Royal on the 17th.

Brussels-based trio Pale Grey will be celebrating the release of their EP on the 15th and our favorite duo Rive will play their debut EP “Vermillon” on the 18th. Electronic acts Monolithe Noir and Le Motel will be playing on the 13th and the 15th, and Lubiana and Hydrogen Sea on the 19th at the Grand Salon De Concert. And to end our Belgian selection, the hip hop collaborators Caballero and JeanJass will be playing on the 19th at the Orangerie.

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Our French neighbors are also very represented on this edition with the concert of the French Björk called Camille that will be presentating, on the 12th, her new album “Ouï” set to be released in June. One of our favorite newcomers and selected in our promising list for this year, Agar Agar, will be opening for Magnus, on the 15th and Jacques, one of our favorite gigs of 2016, will be back on the 17th at the Cirque Royal.

French songstress Juliette Armanet will be presenting her perfect combination of piano and beautiful texts on the 18th and Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains their combination of indie with catchy pop on the 20th. One explosive night is preparing itself on the 20th with three of the most exciting pop acts that France has to offer: Bagarre, L’Impératrice and Her.

This year, the Nuits Bota 2017 will definitely not disappoint you with their innovative selection of the best artists.

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As party goers and people who like to dance, we couldn’t let the electronic genre on the side. With acts as Romare (13th), FKJ (13th), Hercules & Love Affair (14th) and Youngr (14th), we are ready to party! It’s not a big surprise that we are huge fans of Kelly Lee Owens, specially after the release of her debut self-titled album. With her pure techno release, she will for sure make travel into the unknown. The Nuits Bota are also preparing for you an afterparty on the 22th where artists such as Babyfather and Zebra Katz will be ready to burn down the house.

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As is it important for us to promote female acts, as you can see in our Homocore section, we also are going to pay a lot of attention to all of the rock and folk singers represented during the Nuits Bota. Artists such as Chantal Acda and Angel Olsen have been liked by many of our writers as they know how to show emotions thoughout their music.

Quartet The Big Moon will be opening for the incredible Jesca Hoop, on the 12th, being one of most expected nights of the entire festival. And last but not least, we couldn’t miss to mention the trio, that is comprised of two women, Cherry Glazerr that will be playing on the 17th.

As boys are not forgotten, we made a little selection of a few of them. Thomas Azier will be playing on the 18th with our friends of Rive, Ulrika Spacek will be playing on the 16th as an opening act for Communions and Asgeir on the same day at the Cirque Royal. And we finish our (very extensive) selection with Alex Cameron that will be playing on the 19th and Kele Okereke that will be playing on the last days of the Nuits on the 21th.

You can go check the entire program for the Nuits Bota by clicking here, check the playlist of our selection and the official trailer below.

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Before explaining how the live experience was, you need to detail a bit more about this atypic character. You don’t need a lot of research about Jacques Auberger to realize that this young guy is eccentric, in a good way. First, he decided to shave the center of his head because everybody was doing the opposite (trimming the sides). The result, as you can see, looks like a very early baldness. The idea was to face the glance of others and to eventually develop a stronger self-confidence. At 22, while you were reading books at the college’s library (It’s the official version. Everybody knows you were actually drunk in shady parties), Jacques was already giving TEDx Talks‘ conferences on what he learnt by living in some squats near Paris instead of going to school [Check his French talks here and there].

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His approach, that one can judge as a failure, is actually well-thought and his different speeches demonstrate that he has lived his program at the school of life with a desire to learn in a different way. His most outlandish discoveries are probably the ones he made as part of his studies about the vortex. In a documentary available on YouTube, Jacques Auberger and Alexandre Gain document with scientific rigour their conclusions on experiments like painting a brush, cleaning up a vacuum, or hydrating some water.

Jacques, or most likely Jacque(s) (the plural -s of French, as if several “Jacque” were living inside himself), and some of his fellas, started an artistic collective named Pain Surprises. It’s through this organization, which is notably a music label, that the producer released his first beautifully noisist EP “Tout Est Magnifique” back in 2014. His transversal techno was a surprising success for the artist himself and it was a turning point in his career. It’s at that time that the artist decided to focus on his music career.

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His latest track, “Dans La Radio” [In The Radio], was made in the studios of Radio France, with noises from the radio, and in order to be broadcasted on the radio… (Do you follow?). Here is the style of Jacques on stage: he records, samples, and turns into technoid loops, all the noises that you can produce with daily life items. Scissors, paper, boiler, and other handyman’s tool kits are part of his orchestra. In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, the producer and DJ turned some sounds of spoons, forks, and knives into a rave anthem that had nothing to envy of Daft Punk‘s “Rollin’ and Scratchin'”. Obviously, the crowd was very receptive to it! While the French robots were hidden, Jacques‘ funny face was projected on a screen thanks to a photo booth. The charisma of the artist and his impressive ease to manage synthesizers, samplers, guitars, and mixing desk at the same time were both amusing and shocking. Jacques, who is now actively touring to share his offbeat universe, is like a crazy and innovative troubadour of the modern times.

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During a non-stop wild and unbridled set, the artist highlighted all the sub-genres of electronic music, including deep house, tribal house, techno, trance, and French touch. His improvisation was really impressive and also proved that you don’t need to follow the established path to make music! At the opposite of The Chainsmokers, who are just releasing canned and radio-formated tracks, the artist is adopting an original, organic, and authentic approach to bring back the public to the original roots of club music. Fuck being number one or on the cover of the magazines! The artist was not on stage to sound like all the artists that we hear on the radio!

The audience was invaded by a justified madness to the extent that my concert-hall neighbor, a young girl probably high on MDMA, was dancing while executing all the Kamasutra position at the same time. The transversal and diagonal techno of Jacques offered her an eargasmic miracle and while watching the people all around me, she was probably not the only one.

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If you wonder what a Jacques‘ gig looks/sounds like, you should definetly watch the video below!

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