Moogfest, Durham’s preeminent experimental electronic music festival and futuristic synth gear conference, has announced its first round for acts for their 2019 summit. The roster includes GAS, Tim Hecker (performing with the Konoyo Ensemble), Matthew Dear, William Basinski (leading his Sleep Concert), The Field, U.S. Girls, Kimbra, A Place to Bury Strangers, and more. As always, musical performances will take place along workshops led by artists, presentations of new technology, lectures, and more. The extravaganza takes place April 25 through the 28.
The North-Carolina-based festival, conceived as a tribute to legendary synth innovator Bob Moog, is now in its 15th year. The festival came under fire in late 2017 when Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek cancelled her appearance due to the festival’s presentation of its initial lineup that focused solely on the female, nonbinary, and transgender performers it had booked. “Gender is not a genre,” she wrote at the time. “I don’t need a sympathy pedestal, esp from a male curator. Take my name off this list and put me in the pit with the boys.”
Tickets for the festival, including a special pass for a two-day synthesizer-building workshop, are available on its website. Read our 2017’s scene report on Moogfest, “What Happens When A Music Festival Tries to Be Political in 2017?,” here.
