You may have noticed that the music festival landscape is a bit crowded these days. Loads of would-be destination festivals vye for the same audience with (often times) many of the same acts. What makes Moogfest—happening May 18–22 in Durham, North Carolina—stand out is the ways it avoids that middle-of-the-road sameness. Yes, there are broadly appealing headliners, some of which you can catch at other music festivals—pop mastermind Grimes, Wu-Tang rapper GZA, indie songwriter Blood Orange—but there are also one-off performances, site-specific installations, and loads of panels and workshops about the future of technology and music. Moog isn't alone in focusing its energy on crafting a one-of-a-kind happening: Other gatherings mining some of the same ground include Knoxville's Big Ears and Form Arcosanti in the desert in Arizona. But its futuristic aesthetic and tech-connected, intersectional approach sets Moogfest apart. Here's the best of what you can see at the fest and nowhere else.
Realiti: Inside the Music of Grimes
In addition to having Grimes perform, the fest is hosting an interactive installation built around Claire Boucher’s song "Realiti"—great news if you, like me, have been listening to the tune on more or less repeat since last year when Boucher released a demo of it on YouTube. Inside a motion-capture equipped room, attendees can move and dance to cue changes to the Art Angels song playing on loop.
21C Presents: Robert Rich's Sleep Concert
No need to book a hotel if you’re one of the lucky ones who made it into the limited-capacity Sleep Concert, where ambient composer Robert Rich hosts an all-night performance (midnight to 8am) incorporating drones, field recordings and live instruments. Unlike your typical gig, those attending are meant to doze off, and should bring a sleeping bag to lie on as the music interacts with your hazy half-conscious dream state.
The Exchange: Switchboard Synthesizers
NYC synth wizard Antenes a.k.a. Lori Napolean creates this site-specific web of manual telephone switchboards—the kind seen mainly these days in old movies. The vintage gear has been re-wired to house a network of modular synthesizers, and Antenes will perform on the installation several times throughout the fest.
DJ Watson
As part of Moog's mission to explore boundary-pushing technology, the IBM supercomputer will remix and reinterpret tunes from live musicians to create its own original works. If it sounds like a gimmick, well, let’s just have a listen first.
Keynote: The Future of Creativity
Moogfest has come out in strong opposition to North Carolina’s HB2 bill, which limits bathroom access for transgender people. That’s sure to come up during the fest’s keynote talk from Martine Rothblatt, a transgender woman who is a founder of Sirius XM Radio and currently heads biotech firm United Therapeutics in the Research Triangle area. Rothblatt will talk about the intersection of social media, technology, music and social justice.