SoundCtrl at Moogfest: M.I.A., Moderat, Daedalus, Lapalux…and Lots of Lights
Just when we thought Asheville couldn’t get any louder, it did. Much louder.
With perfect weather on Friday and Saturday, Moogfest was bursting with energy, with lines out of nearly every venue and packed attendance at every panel. Friday night’s lineup foreshadowed what would be a theme running alongside the tasteful music selection for the whole weekend: excellent, hypnotic visuals. In addition to the reinforced sound systems at every Moogfest venue, each artist we saw was backed by original, mesmerizing lighting visual displays. Lapalux‘s tripping, contorted rhythms and lush samples were complemented by visuals of liquid-like white lighting and tunnels of stars. Daedelus‘s electrifying, Monome-powered set featured shifting neon cubes that morphed into Lego-like polygons.
Friday’s highlight was certainly the German trio Moderat, whose tactile production and tight performance entranced a crowd with a hefty, seizure-inducing lighting rig of powerful strobes and lasers. The tiny Diana Wortham theater was transformed into a standing-room only experiential performance — Moderat’s futuristic stylings and expertly crafted set was a mind-bending must-see.
M.I.A.‘s at-capacity performance at the U.S. Cellular Center auditorium had a crowd of thousands sweating to her unpredictable set list. An auditorium screen of erratic pop culture and political imagery amidst pixelated and lo-fi fluorescent color blocks channeled M.I.A.’s unique and instantly recognizable aesthetic. At the Emerald Lounge, a tiny venue with tight security and an excellent crowd, Machinedrum dedicated his set to the late DJ Rashad, the footwork and juke pioneer. Each song was backed by a visual journey through a variety of digital, dystopic cities, representing the melancholic but body-jerking jungle and drum-n-bass grooves that define the producer’s sound.
Factory Floor closed our Moogfest weekend with appropriately live and noisy techno rock. Moog’s outfitting of the USCC Basement likened the space to an industrial Berlin nightclub, with cavernous echoes and gusting bass. Mixing live samples of guitar, vocals, and analog synths to locked drumming and sequneces, the band closed the night on a heavy note, amping the crowd up for the after-hours surely to come.
All photos courtesy of Moogfest.
