Moog Music officially announced Moogfest 2016 today. In a bit of a surprise move, the internationally acclaimed bi-annual festival of music, art, and technology will be held from May 19-22 in Durham, NC this year instead of Moog Music hometown, Asheville, NC.
Not many details have been announced about the acts participating in Moogfest 2016, but we'll bring you updates as they're made available. The event followed a similar pattern last year, announcing new acts week by week as the event drew closer.
A limited number of pre-sale tickets are available at Moogfest.com. The $99 early-bird tickets have already sold out, but another round of pre-sale passes are now available at $200 ( tax) and will remain on sale until October 12 (or until they run out). We already have our tickets, and we'll be looking forward to meeting other thereminists at the event!
Along with today's announcement, Moogfest has released "Translational Drifts: Moogfest Vol. 1," the first EP in a series of free digital recordings that feature Moogfest artists - past, present and future. Volume 1 showcases five contemporary acts reinterpreting seminal electronic music influencers that have shaped past Moogfest lineups. This premiere installment includes YACHT, ADULT., Julianna Barwick, Moses Sumney and Dan Deacon translating tracks by Devo, Pet Shop Boys, Suicide, Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno. Their renditions pay tribute to a rich history of electronic music, with new sounds that continue to push further into the future.
While you're at it, be sure to check out Moogfest's SoundCloud page for several tracks from previous events too.
Here's a bit more from today's press release:
Moogfest has been a festival of electronic music since 2004, known for presenting performances by early pioneers in electronic music, alongside pop and avant garde experimentalists of today. Previous Moogfest performers include Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Chic, Massive Attack, Holly Herndon, Flying Lotus, Terry Riley, M83, The Flaming Lips, Suicide, Pet Shop Boys, Grimes, TV On The Radio, MIA, St. Vincent, Tangerine Dream, Keith Emerson, Moderat and Squarepusher.
Over the last several years, the festival has evolved to include a mind-expanding conference for creative and technology professionals. In 2014, Moogfest worked with designers and technologists at Google, researchers from the MIT Media Lab, editors from Make Magazine and organizers from the Eyeo Festival (among others) to present panels, workshops and demos at the forefront of art and technology. Presentations by music pioneers Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers, Janelle Monae, and Keith Emerson were accompanied by conversations with inventors and electronic instrument designers Roger Linn and Tom Oberheim, plus Futurama creator David X Cohen. Moogfest also commissioned “Moogfest: Conductar”, a virtual reality app, nominated for two Webby Awards. Moogfest is already developing new programming and plans to bring similar exciting partnerships to Durham in 2016.
The festival’s priority remains a focus on intimate venues for performance and conversation, encouraging the same ambience established in Asheville. Moogfest will activate many of Durham’s downtown event venues and public spaces with a mix of ticketed and free community programming.
Moogfest is a tribute to Dr. Robert Moog and the profound influence his inventions have had on how we hear the world. Over the last sixty years, Bob Moog and Moog Music have pioneered the analog synthesizer and other technology tools for artists. This exchange between engineer and musician is celebrated with a unique festival format, where the creative process is understood as a collaboration among many people, across time and space, in commerce and culture.
