Yikes! Moogfest 2014 is 48 hours away, and I still have not had the time to research the full roster of performers who have been in lockdown for at least a month now! Where is that EZ-2-Scan roster anyway? Not on the Moogfest website, so here it is for simple reading with a minimum of clicking [that would be zero].
MOOGFEST FINAL LINEUP 2014 | Asheville, NC | April 23-27, 2014
- Kraftwerk 3D: 3 Concerts
- Pet Shop Boys
- M.I.A
- Flying Lotus
- Zed’s Dead
- CHIC Feat. Nile Rodgers
- Dillon Francis
- Giorgio Moroder
- Moderat
- Keith Emerson
- Dan Deacon
- RJD2
- The Gaslamp Killer
- Bernie Worrell Orchestra
- El-P
- Adult.
- LE1f
- No Regular Play
- Nick Monaco
- Green Velvet
- Mark Farina
- Art Department
- Bottin
- Daedelus
- Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks
- Shigeto
- Les Sins
- Escort
- Sasha
- Lapalux
- Kaytranada
- Mike Simonetti
- Erika
- Darkstar
- TOKiMONSTA
- Wolf Eyes
- Slow Hands
- Soul Clap
- Keith Kemp
- Two Fresh
- YACHT
- Com Truise
- Audion
- Teengirl Fantasy
- Razor & Blade
- Eric Volta
- Factory Floor
- Jimmy Edgar
- The Crystal Ark
- Metro Area
- Publicist
- Holly Herndon
- Hello Hugo
- The Jellyrox
- Blondes
- Nitin
- Ejecta
- Thugf*cker
- Mike Huckaby
- RBTS Win
- Tin Foil Hat
- Kri & Sensoma
- Machinedrum Vapor City Live
- Body Games
- In Plain Sight
- Megafortress
- Black Dice
- Heads On Sticks
- Tiga
- Riff Raff
- Patten
- Hieroglyphic Being
- Bombassic
- North Americans
- Noah Wall
- Eaters
- Earthtone Soundsystem
- The Volt Per Octaves
- Brett Rock
- Gent & Jawns
- Clark – Phosper Live
- Aligning Minds
- DLX
- Marley Carroll
- Ataxia
- Museum Of Love
- Awesome tapes From Africa
- Gordon Voldwell
- Treasure Fingers
- Nick Catchdubs
- Eliot Lipp
- Reference – Live
- Saul Williams
- Egyptian Lover
- Salva
- Just Blaze
- C Powers
- High Klassified
- Higher Learning
- Craig Leon – Nommos Live
- UR Presents: Timeline
- Sammy Bananas
- Mix Master Mike
- Clayton Steele
That’s 104 artists and yesterday, I eked out about three hours to grind through 40% of that list. Along the way, I heard a lot of chaff. Half of the performers that I investigated I could not exactly say what they did. I’m guessing that most of these are DJs. And what that means, I’m not sure of any more. It used to be, that a DJ was someone that performed a service, similar to window cleaning, only with a small aesthetic component. They played records for you to dance to. The only brush with art was in deciding which records to play, and in which order.
In the 90s, with our culture in freefall, being a DJ somehow got conflated with being a musician, which astounds me still. While I appreciate a good DJ if dancing in a club, there’s no way I’d pay more than cover charge to “see” one especially! Turntableism is definitely a skill. I recall hanging out in the WPRK Studios where DJ Marky Mark would cut records for his dance show that came after chasinvictoria’s Crusty Old Wave show as Saturday night progressed. He was amazing to watch, but at the end of the day, I still wouldn’t pay to see him over actual musicians. It’s the difference between craft and art, in my book.
The last time I blogged about the lineup, it was January, and Bernie Worrell Orchestra, Pet Shop Boys and Factory Floor were turning my head. Since then, many acts were added, and, sadly, Laurie Anderson has cancelled her performance and lecture appearance. Amazingly, my wife still wanted to go and see Kraftwerk, so I didn’t have to sell her ticket off. I’m interested in seeing:
- Kraftwerk
- Bernie Worrell Orchestra
- Pet Shop Boys
- Factory Floor
- Nile Rodgers + Chic [still on the fence about this since Chic’s hot rhythm section is deceased]
- Giorgio Moroder [the only DJ set I can imagine attending]
- Adult.
Who else intrigues me so far on the list?
Bottin, I actually have evidence of in my Record Cell! He was one of the remixers who did such a top job on the last Visage single, “Never Enough.” I appreciated his clean, dignified take on the single that sported the most minimal of the remixes as on the CD single. I’ve yet to get the package of downloads which has a longer Bottin mix on it yet. I’m not sure exactly what will be happening onstage. Will it be a DJ set? Hard to tell in these, the end times. His output sounds musical enough to give me hope. If there’s a bit of time between acts, then I could probably do a lot worse than catch Bottin.
When I investigated Berlin’s Moderat, I recalled seeing their album cover before. I must have seen the review of their album “II” on The Quietus. The Charles Burns cover for “II” piqued my interest and after investigating samples of their work, it seems to be eclectic synthesizer music with vocals [!] so that gives it a huge leg up in seemingly 80% of the Moogfest lineup. The cuts I have sampled are intriguing and I can see myself trying and album or two, if I ran across them in the bins. Higher praise is rare to come by in this Monk’s world.
One completely unknown quantity on the roster was California’s Yacht. I had never heard them nor had I even heard of them. But having sampled their tunes, they seem to be a wildly eclectic group that has no problem coloring outside of the outlines. They are an actual band with what seems like a vivid stage presence and presentation. Again, this gives them a leg up over dozens of performers who I could barely stand to hear one second of shrill techno on their Soundcloud pages while researching the roster.
Finally, I’m aware of producer Craig Leon and have much of his work in the Record Cell. His work with Blondie, Suicide, And Ramones was as ground zero as it got, and I have many more of his excellent productions. I recall seeing ads for his first solo album, “Nommos” in Trouser Press on its 1981 release. The inscrutable cover and its appearance on the obscure Chrysalis-distributed label Takoma made me assume that it was a blues-related recording, since that’s what Takoma was known for.
As it turned out, nothing could have been further from the truth. “Nommos” was an experimental electronic album! I daresay the only one Takoma ever released next to groups like The Fabulous T-Birds, and Bukka White. It even had a Peter Saville Cover! I would have liked to have seen a copy of this in the ensuing 33 years, but the TP ad was the only evidence I ever saw of this album. Fortunately, he’s performing it live this year for the first time ever, and locally with help from the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. This makes sense given that Leon straddles the twin world of pop and classical like no other man. He’s worked strictly in classical since 1998 so anyone that can move from Ramones to James Galway earns my respect. Leon is certainly the most intriguing act on the roster and I’ve tried to convince my wife that she might enjoy his performance, so we’ll see.
I have another 60 bands to plow through on my clipboard and just hours until the event begins. Wish me luck.
Next: …the rest of the roster
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Post-Punk Monk 
Interested on your enthusiasm level for Kraftwerk.
With one original member left and only that same one member actually playing his parts live, is there much appeal? Why even bring the other three stiffs on the road?
The 3D show? Why not just release it as an Imax movie at this point? We could all sit in comfy seats, there’s be enough tickets for everyone, and it could play in every city. Or, just send the damned robots on tour. Leave Rolf to ride his bike in peace.
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JT – Kraftwerk enthusiasm level – 5/10. I’ve seen the more authentic waxworks with you in ’98. I’m real ambivalent on the subject of Kraftwerk these days, what with their patchy [I’m being generous] work of the last 30 years. I bought a ticket before they announced the lineup in the hopes that John Foxx + The Maths, Ryuichi Sakamoto/YMO, or Karl Bartos would be playing on a hope. When the 1st tier was announced, Laurie Anderson was there, and then my wife wanted a ticket, so I got her one. Then, Laurie canceled a month or two ago and I figured my wife would say “sell the ticket” – but she wants to see Kraftwerk now, much to my surprise. So I’m still in, though if someone would give me the cost of the tickets in the next 48 hours I’d be sorely tempted to cash in. Truth be told, I’m kind of peeved at Moogfest for not paying whatever it took to get Foxx here. I’d trade 50 worthless DJs for a set from him! I won’t buying a pass next year unless I get the 24 hour “locals only” $99 special, which I missed this year because the cash -absolutely- had to go to concert travel to see Simple Minds/Sparks in October.
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I just discovered your blog a couple of days ago. I can’t decide if I’m happy that I have found you or sad about all of the posts I missed. Your remix series was wonderful.
Interesting to hear what Kraftwerk is up to. I’m in Seattle, and the Sasquatch Festival was supposed to expand to two weekends this year… the traditional Memorial Day and the new July 4th holiday. Well, the second weekend was canceled because of weak sales (which was fine with me since at this point in my life I’m not really up for three-day outdoor concerts in the middle of nowhere). So, all of the bands that were scheduled have scrambled to find shows in the city, and one of them is this Kraftwerk 3-D show… now in a comfortable seated theater. I had decided to see them and what’s left of New Order that week, but the comments here have me thinking I may have dodged a bullet by not buying tickets yet.
Keep up the fine work. I’ll be back.
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Brian – Welcome to the comments! I saw a comment on Echorich’s blog the other day and couldn’t resist giving more love to “Kitchen Person,” on “Linear tracking Lives,” though that Flatmates single immediately caught my eye since I have it too.As for Kraftwerk, If you’ve not done it before, you should go. Everyone should go… once.
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I’m going (to Kraftwerks’ Vancouver or Seattle show, TBD) for no other reason than I’ve managed to miss every show they’ve ever put on near me apart from one. I first heard them when the local radio station played the entire Aütobahn album on its debut! I am also hoping to see New Order, though I’ll miss Peter Hook even if he is a prick — but any chance to see The Other Two is not to be missed, even if they aren’t doing any TOT material.
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Brian, hold tight, I am midway through writing my Epic Epoch Playlist post. While I might not hit on every one of the tracks, I will definitely feature a lot and then post the full Playlist at the end.
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Monk, I’ll be interested with your take on Pet Shop Boys…they have elevated the tech while stripping down the performance if that makes any sense, and it worked really, really well on last year’s tour. I think the Kraftwerk show is about the experience rather than the muscianship…I am sure it will look/sound great. I am well acquainted with just over 15% of the artist list. DJ sets bore me no end as I go to hear a DJ and DANCE, not stare at the man behind the decks and that seems to be the basic way those sets go over the last 15 years.
Most intriguing for me would be Craig Leon, Yacht, Com Truise, Metro Area, Factory Floor, Adult, Green Velvet (who I have seen a half doze times in clubs over the past 20 yrs), Patten (likely a DJ set though) and Bernie Worrell Orchestra.
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Echorich – Yeah, I’m actually most interested in PSB since it has been half a lifetime since I saw them the single time. Performance was an amazing tour, and I can’t imagine that a festival set will have anything on the level of presentation they achieved. I wanted to buy “Electric” before going, but couldn’t find a CD in the stores that I frequent, where PSB are non-persons. So yeah, that’s what “DJ sets” are like then, eh? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ignored bands live that made my monkey nerve twitch! The idea of watching a DJ is beyond pointless to me! Like I said, DJs provide a service. If you’re not dancing, you’ve wasted your money!
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Yacht has been on a lot on WPRK, they seem worthwhile. Giorgio Moroder is apparently still doing some sterling remix work I am reliably informed, I have no idea if I’d go to see him “perform” or not.
What will Keith Emerson get up to I wonder? :)
There are some amazing DJs in the world — Orlando was host to quite a few and ReMark (whom I used to call MarkyMark) was one of them! He’s based in London now and still doing great mixes and stalking the Pet Shop Boys whenever possible (luckily, he gets to see them rather a lot where he lives now). Again, I plan on attending that show when they get near me. Concert season makes me wish I lived in Vancouver rather than just nearby, as it gets pricey getting hotel rooms all the time …
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chasinvictoria – If Moroder produced nothing more than “I Feel Love,” his place in the music pantheon is all but assured. Which is helpful, because on the other hand, we have the turgid Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder album to account for!
The only way I would see Keith Emerson in concert is if it were a reformation gig for The Nice… Which had already happened. Still, Keith will be dropped right, smack dab into a nest of DJs. I wonder if he’s had his shots!
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