World News (AKA World News 808909) is the live electronic hardware project of Bill Cutbill and Qu Mi, established in downtown Toronto in 2017. They’re known in the scene for their dawless live sets, facing-off with six tiers of hardware and NO computers. They command a pyramid of synthesizers, drum machines, modular, and samplers, all woven together and given life by a tapestry of vocal and effects loops. The duo melt elements of techno, house and alternative to create a unique music with improvisation at its core, influenced by electronica from the late 90s and early 2000s, with analogue sounds creating arrangements both nostalgic and hypermodern. The debut album, ON STEROIDS, released October 2025 by Toronto imprint Safe Sounds, represents a point in time that saw World News experiment with their recording process and production in the studio. The album reads as a field study in texture: analogue synths purr and gnash, drum machines stutter into muscle memory, and vocals appear as silhouettes—human signals folded into the circuitry. The project’s power lies in how it reconciles opposites: rave mechanics with ambient patience, house gravity with techno grit, and a reflective core that refuses to flatten into pure function.
