Moogfest 2011 Descends Upon Asheville This Weekend

October, 26, 2011 , by Stacey

This weekend Asheville will play host to the second annual Moogfest, a music festival created in the honor of Bob Moog, electronic guru and inventor of the Moog synthesizer, who spent his last years in the mountain town until he passed away in 2005. New Raleigh was thrilled to be able to cover the festival last year and we’ll be back there again this year to share some of the highlights with our readers.

2010 brought us the inaugural year of both Hopscotch, our beloved hometown festival, as well as Moogfest. For a state that has historically bred smaller, more localized music fests such as Merlefest and Shakori Hills, North Carolina has been making headlines nationwide as a burgeoning musical mecca. While Hopscotch thus far has branched out to a variety of musical genres, featuring a diverse lineup of bands ranging from hip hop to garage rock to metal to folk, Moogfest zeroes in primarily on electronic music. This year’s schedule boasts a strong set of bands, including the recent Hopscotch veterans The Flaming Lips and Toro y Moi, as well as Moby, TV on the Radio, Passion Pit, Chromeo, and Neon Indian. M83 and The Antlers will also be at the festival, both of which Kings has booked recently. Brian Eno also has a formidable presence at Moog, with his Illustrated Talk and exhibit for 77 Million Paintings, Eno’s artistic endeavor in experimenting with light and sound.

Really, there are more bands I’m excited to see than I can list here. The lineup was incredible when it was announced, and the festival organizers have continued to add to it the past few months, resulting in a very well rounded event. During the day, the Moogaplex will feature an array of panels, many consisting of electronic music pioneers, performers, and experts, who will discuss topics such as sound design, the role of the theremin in music, and film scoring. And from late afternoon until the wee morning hours, downtown Asheville will be overtaken by impressive performances with overlapping programming taking place in several locations.

While Hopscotch may own September, it’s becoming clear that October, and Asheville, belong to Moogfest. We’re happy to support another welcome addition to the NC festival circuit.