While performances by Grimes, ODESZA and Son Lux might be capturing the excitement of some festival-goers, this year’s Moogfest is promising to be much more. Music is really just one aspect of this festival billed as “the synthesis between music, art and technology.” It explores all types of audio, from performance to podcasts.
In “Radio & the Radiophonic,” the series taking place on May 20 and 21, the history and future of radio are the topics of conversation. From Ira Glass’ “This American Life” to Marc Maron’s interview with President Obama in a garage, radio is an important tool in the world of communications today. With live podcast recordings and conversations with the movers and shakers reinventing radio, this series provides Moogfest attendees the chance to plumb the depths of new and exciting audio, away from Motorco Park.
The first day of the series will start with a Soundwalk, a chance for festival-goers to realize that the world around them is already full of interesting soundscapes; not all innovative sound comes from a Moog synthesizer.
Immediately following, a gathering of the most interesting minds in radio and podcasting are coming together to discuss how the traditions of radio have created the audio landscape we know today.
An artist of note in this session: Kaitlin Prest, host of Radiotopia’s “The Heart.” Her work innovates not only audio storytelling, but how women and men talk about sex, love and everything in between. A good primer on her work is an episode of the first season of “The Heart,” when she explores the life of one of the first recipients of sex reassignment surgery, Lili Elbe.
Friday afternoon, an audiophile’s dream becomes reality when Hrishikesh Hirway sits down with ODESZA to break down one of their songs. The acclaimed Song Exploder podcast sits down with artists and has them explain each bass line, each snare, each high hat, and all the odds and ends of a particular song. Check out Sylvan Esso explaining how “Coffee” came to be.
Saturday in the series begins with another live recording of a podcast, No Effects. Listen and learn as Jesse Holter talks with two artists about their lives, their work, what makes them tick and what makes them cry in his longform interview.
Innovation in audio is so much more than music; it’s also in the ways that we communicate and learn, and radio is at the forefront. This series promises to be one of the most interesting and human ones at Moogfest.
And who knows, maybe it’ll help you become the next Ira Glass.
Moogfest is an annual music, art, and technology festival held in May in honor of Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer and pioneer of electronic music. Previously, this festival has been held in Asheville, North Carolina, where Moog spent the last 30 years of his life, but this year will be held from May 19th-22nd in downtown Durham, North Carolina in 17 various locations. The festival will be headlined by such artists as Grimes, Miike Snow, and ODESZA. You can get tickets by going to moogfest.com/tickets.
Moog developed the first commercial voltage analog controlled synthesizer with Herbert Deutsch in 1964. While there were other synthesizers on the market at the time, Moog’s invention began to rapidly gain popularity after it was showcased at the International Pop Festival of 1967. After that, the sound of his machine gained popularity through the 1970’s and was used to create the sound of crucial albums of the 20th century, like the Beatles’ “Abbey Road.”
Moogfest officially began in 2004 when one of Moog Music’s New York representatives wanted to have a music festival to celebrate the 50th anniversary of electronic music. The first festival was held on May 18th, 2004 in B.B. King Blues Club in New York. It was a one night show that sold out in honor of Moog’s birthday. Unfortunately, Moog died the following year, but his friends and coworkers decided to keep the festival going in his honor.
In 2010, Moogfest was moved to Asheville, North Carolina after Moog Music partnered with AC Entertainment, a music promotions group that helps produce other big music festivals like Bonnaroo. That was also the year it changed from a one day to a three day event, multi-venue festival. It featured artists as Massive Attack, Sleigh Bells, Caribou, and MGMT.
Moogfest coming to the Triangle is an exciting prospect. It is big and important festival, and being in the Triangle will add to both scenes. Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill are all rapidly growing urban areas, with new night, social, and music scenes. Moogfest will find an excellent new home here.
As a Shakori Hills frequent flyer, Big Mean Sound Machine is clearly a crowd favorite at this point. Hailing from Ithaca, New York, this afrobeat powerhouse packs a pretty funky punch with their tight rhythm section, jazzy guitars, smooth keys, and prominent brass section (one trumpet, one trombone, and one baritone sax for this Spring Shakori).
Big Mean Sound Machine’s Saturday afternoon set took place on Shakori’s biggest stage, the Meadow Stage, and with constant calls for people to dance along, definitely got the crowd bumpin’ and grindin’ as one happy group of campers. They began with a track off of their new(ish) album, “Contraband,” that really got everybody out of their seats, followed by another tight jam with a wicked Santana-like keyboard solo that sounded like it could have been coming from a double-humbucker guitar. With the bassist acting as the front man and vocalist, the whole band worked together to trade off solos and rhythm breaks, but never letting the audience forget how the brass section was really leading the groove.
The Big Mean crew continued with a slow, spacey, dub jam with some duet guitar solos laid gently, yet powerfully over the backing rhythm set by the rest of the band and the fast hands of the man on congas. After a loud, sustaining ovation from the crowd, they led on with more of their traditional, hip shakin’, afrobeat jams that really got everybody dancing their hearts out. Then as the set was coming to a close, they decided to pay homage to the homeland, and origin of their sound and style, Africa. They skillfully and respectfully rode on with a slow, smooth song from the great Ethiopian musician, Mulatu Astatke, the father of Ethio-jazz.
After saluting the great Astatke, Big Mean Sound Machine finished off with another track from their new album, thanked everybody in the audience for joining them for a beautiful Saturday afternoon jam, and invited everyone to come say hey over in the merch tent. The brass-led afrobeat always seems to get the people moving, and Big Mean Sound Machine are some of the greatest promoters of this sound in modern day music. It was one funky, soulful set that the Shakori people enjoyed once again, and hopefully will experience for many Shakoris to come.
Temple5 is one very smooth, 7-piece, organic hip-hop jazz group out of Wilmington, North Carolina. After rockin’ the Pour House for the April 14 edition of Local Band Local Beer with Durham natives The Beast and Zoocru, one could only expect more sweet vibes from them at the always beautiful Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music & Dance. And after performing at the fall edition of Shakori last October, Temple5 knew what a great audience would be waiting to jam with them.
Temple5 was scheduled to play the intimate Cabaret Tent on Saturday night, and after setting up all the mics and instruments, including drums, bass, guitar, saxophone, trumpet, keyboards, and Moog synthesizer, they jumped right into the first track. However, not without playin’ the crowd a little first. Left wondering where their front man MC was, saxophone player Malik Rae introduced him after some soulful intro jams.
Their set was filled with rhythmically driven hip-hop swing with layers of talk box guitar licks, jazzy piano measures, and powerful brass melodies. On top of all this head bumpin’ goodness was some quick paced, intelligent bars from MC Louis. And even though the MC took center stage, they all took turns playing lead roles, dealing out solos, and bouncing with the audience that came to pack out the little tent in the mud.
They jammed on some of their own tracks like “Drop The Mic,” but also played some great covers including The Roots’ “Get Busy,” Missy Elliott’s “Sock It 2 Me,” Digable Planets’ “Rebirth of Slick (Coole Like Dat),” A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” and a little tease of The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Warning” and “Machine Gun Funk.” These weren’t just normal covers either. Temple5 was always keen on adding their own lyrical and rhythmic flairs to these hip-hop classics that definitely got the crowd goin’ wild. After confirmation with the man behind the soundboard, they even gave in to the audience’s plea for “ONE MORE SONG!” and finished the night strong.
Temple5 is an extremely talented group of musicians, gratefully supporting the local hip-hop jazz scene. Definitely somebody to check out.
Moogfest is an an art, technology and music festival taking place in Durham May 19-May 22.
This is the first year that Moogfest is happening in Durham. From 2010 until now, Moogfest has taken place in Asheville, N.C. Before that, New York City was the birthplace and home for Moogfest. For Durham to be the host city of Moogfest signifies its burgeoning arts and music scene.
Durham is locally known for being home to talented and musically diverse artists such as Sylvan Esso, The Mountain Goats, Bombadil, Xiu Xiu, and Professor Toon. Moogfest is a great opportunity for local artists to perform, and is a great addition to festivals such as Hopscotch (set in Raleigh) and Art of Cool (which took place May 6-8 in Durham) that are helping to promote the Triangle’s ever-growing arts and music culture.
Earthly and Professor Toon are two local artists that are performing in Moogfest (you can check the full lineup here). Earthly is an electronic music duo (brothers!) from Carrboro, N.C. Their sound is hard to deny dancing to, with claps and beats that are often hectic yet rhythmic. Their style is reminiscent of artists like Eric Copeland and Dan Deacon. To hear more of Earthly, check their Soundcloud.
Professor Toon is a hip-hop artist from Durham, NC who released his album Taking Notes this January. He performed at the second night of WKNC’s own Double Barrel Benefit 13 that took place this February at Cat’s Cradle. He has a unique style, with beats that often sound distorted. He has songs that are super hype such as “Professor (You Know it)” and songs that are more downtempo like “Who Gon (Stop Me)”. To listen to Taking Notes, go to his bandcamp.
Moogfest taking place in Durham will be a great way for locals and visitors alike to explore all of the venues, restaurants, and general goodness that Durham has to offer. To learn more about Moogfest, go to their website and keep checking our blog for more updates.
Durham, NC –
Urban music festivals have a tendency to descend upon their host cities and act
like a really bad flu bug. Every ounce of unused space is grabbed up by
corporate sponsors, and the flashy events, while cool for the foreign agents
that come in for the show, are a bane on the existence of the locals. Ask the
people of Austin, Texas what they think when SXSW starts. However, Durham,
North Carolina seems to have found the vaccination to the urban music festival
bug with Art of Cool Fest.
The event was hosted by the Art of
Cool Project, a local non-profit that aims to “present, promote, and preserve
jazz-influenced music,” and was held this past weekend from May 6-8. Some would scoff at a jazz-centric music festival as an
event reserved for people of a certain age, or just plain boring. AOC was quite
the opposite, with an assorted lineup ranging from big brass jazz to hip hop.
Not only was the artist lineup
artistically diverse, it was appealing to people of all ages, and had
formidable star power. Traditionalists could go see the Jim Ferris Trio, Hip-Hop Heads could go see Pete Rock at The
Art of Turntables showcase, the younger crowd was treated to the likes of Anderson
.Paak and The Internet, and everyone was graced with an
electric performance by Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy winning “secret weapon,” Thundercat.
AOC did a perfect job at
creating a lineup that brought people of different tastes together. It wasn’t
scary to try something new, which is a big problem at other urban festivals.
Sometimes as a badge or wristband holder, you’re faced with checking out an
obscure artist or missing out on one of your favorites. It’s profoundly
irresponsible to force these kinds of decisions on music nerds, but AOC made everything accessible. Lines weren’t that long at venues, and the impact
on Durham as a city was relatively non-invasive.
Another refreshing change of pace
about AOC was the absence of big industry presence. No “Universal Music
Presents…” or a “McDonald’s House of Jazz and Rap” type venue could be found in
Durham. When festivals do stuff like that it can be fun, but it takes away from
the event’s personality. AOC was all about chillin’ and enjoying really good
music, so multimillion dollar stages reserved for only the most famous of
artists would certainly have been out of place.
The day
parties were a major factor in keeping AOC’s vibe going throughout the weekend,
and put a deserved spotlight on local hip hop artists. One of the Friday day
parties was hosted by 97.5’s (and WKNC’s!) Mir.I.Am, and showcased local heat makers Will
Wildfire, Lil Bob Doe, and Defacto Thezpian. The most exciting day party of all
was JRowdy & The Night Shift’s Cypher University showcase on Saturday
afternoon. This party wasn’t just cool because JRowdy is an amazing lyricist,
but because the essence of the Cypher University movement is based on organic
collaboration and involvement. Anyone in attendance was welcome to join in on
the music and they did. There were contributions
from some of the most talented local MCs like Tuscon and Konvo the Mutant,
singing from Will Wildfire, and even an unplanned contribution from Masego
wailing on his sax. To say it was epic, would be a gross understatement.
Art of Cool Fest was just cool in
general, and if you were in attendance you were pretty damn cool yourself. It
says a lot about the vibe of a festival when you can nonchalantly rub shoulders
with a Grammy Award winning producer like 9th Wonder, and just
exchange a casual, “wussup fam?” After this year’s immense success, it will be
interesting to see what comes of AOC Fest in the years to come. Will it remain
an unflappable collection of artists, enthusiasts, and media professionals? Or
will it succumb to big corporate temptations? Hopefully it will remain the
former.
DJ Whatsherface and DJ Sparrovv sat down with Ancient Cities before their show on May 5 at The Pour House Music Hall for Local Band Local Beer. Click to listen.
