Lab Synthèse

Lab Synthèse logo photographed at a party on February 9th, 2008.

Lab Synthèse was an arts collective and venue space in Montreal, Quebec during the late '00s. It was located at 435 Beaubien Ouest.[1]

Sebastian Cowan, Yan Basque, David Peet and Carlos Chancellor founded the space in 2007 after discovering a 4600 square foot loft in an abandoned textile manufacturing warehouse. One year after its inception David Peet committed suicide, resulting in the departure of Basque and Chancellor from the collective.[2] They were replaced by the painter Ezra Gray, musician Jeff Boyd, film director Emily Kai Bock and musician Alexander Cowan (who later founded Blue Hawaii).[3]

The collective hosted a series of live music concerts, art exhibitions and free weekly film screenings, and grew to become a hub for artists living around the Mile End neighbourhood. The community and concerts surrounding Lab Synthèse led to the founding of Arbutus Records, and helped launch the career of several notable musicians including Grimes, Blue Hawaii, Majical Cloudz, Sean Nicholas Savage, TOPS and BRAIDS. After becoming the focus of heavy police attention, which resulted in a series of municipal fines, Sebastian Cowan closed Lab Synthèse in November 2009 to focus full-time on Arbutus Records. [4]

References

  1. ↑ "Lab Synthèse". Travel Muse. 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
  2. ↑ "Visions Of The Future". Maisonneuve. 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
  3. ↑ "The Warehouse Pop of Arbutus Records Exclusive sounds and pics from the Montreal underground pop powerhouse that made Grimes". Dazed Digital. 2013-07-19. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
  4. ↑ "Loft Envy". Chart Attack. 2013-10-09. Retrieved 2013-10-09.