There’s no better way to preview what a festival experience will consist of than to interact with those who collectively strive to create the ultimate atmosphere. Last Saturday, February 27th we joined the beautiful minds behind MOOGFEST at the Ace Hotel for a sneak peek into some of the amazing visual, acoustic, and tactile marvels which will be showcased at the festival. The event embodied the essence of creative expression and the boundlessness that exists when like minded individuals collaborate.
The synthesizer is a paradigm for inspiration that extends beyond musicians, but into the realm of engineers, artists, programmers, and designers. It has grown to connect such vast platforms of creativity and truly hones in on the dynamic nature MOOGFEST has to offer. This sensation became pleasantly apparent as we joined in on the synthesizer building workshop where we not only saw into the hardware of the Moog Werkstatt-01, but felt the passion involved with the different levels of creation from the initial circuitry to the final frequencies emitted.
The MOOGFEST Dial-Tones team transitioned the night from workshop to performance with a brief introduction session from some of the featured technology collaborators. Volvox labs displayed their incredible real time movement based 3D visualizations. Multimedia artist Gabe Liberti of Dave and Gabe previewed a mind blowing next level interactive musical setup for this upcoming MOOGFEST. Artist/Programmer/Musician Luisa Pereira gave a concise demonstration of her generative synthesizer The Counterpointer, which combines aspects of an arpeggiator with the rules of Baroque Counterpoint to create elegant harmonies in step. Antenes, who performed later on, displayed an innovative project she has been working on as she has spent countless hours collecting and converting old telephone switch boxes into modular synthesizers.
Continuing with the smooth and inspiring trends of the night came the performances to culminate an impressive evening. Antenes kicked us off with a spine tingling performance that displayed what a powerful mind and some true synthesizer expertise can generate. Next came an impressive jam session by the MOOGFEST Dial-Tones artists; Patricia, Antenes, Via App, and Bookworms, on 10 or 12 synthesizers that exquisitely incorporated the essence of creative exploration and the powers of collaboration. Bookworms got the party steadily grooving with a DJ set and transitioned the vibe for Via App to take control. Via App displayed some serious technical skills as she seamlessly generated textures like they were extensions of her own being. Patricia followed Via App with some real dark tones that hit the crowd with low frequencies and put the Dial-Tones’ sound system to the test. Pure artistry was displayed by all performers with the freedom of creative expression driving each one.
We can’t wait to join the MOOGFEST Dial-Tones team in Durham, North Carolina in May to see the ideas become a reality!
Purchase your Moogfest 2016 tickets here. General Admission, VIP and Engineer VIP passes available.
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By Anthony Romano
Photo Credit: Chase Morgan
