Each year thousands descend on the freak capital of the west, North Carolina's Asheville, for an event dedicated to the culture-shaping synthesiser. Here, Hermione Hoby tells us why now, in its tenth year, the festival feels as much a testament to the man as to his Moog
The butterflies-inducing bassline on Donna Summers I Feel Love, the unmistakable melody wiggling through New Orders Blue Monday, most of Kraftwerks seminal 1974 album Autobahn and, well, a pretty much endless list of other game changing songs and records from the last four decades all share one thing. Or rather, one man. When Robert Moog (it rhymes with vogue) unveiled the Moog synthesiser to the world in 1964, he not only radically changed music, but culture itself. The sound of the Millennium Falcon taking off in Star Wars is a Moog synthesiser. So are the sounds of the guns in the new Star Trek movies, Emmy Parker, Moogs brand director, explains.
These sci-fi sounds may provide a special kind of beauty, but nonetheless dont really compare to the artists headlining Moogfest, a four day festival that begins on Wednesday in Asheville, North Carolina. Its lineup is so irreproachable its basically absurd: Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Laurie Anderson, Nile Rogers and Chic are on the bill, as well as dozens of smaller bands. The festival celebrates its tenth birthday this year and continues to feel as much a testament to the man as to his machine (If, of course, the two are even separable.)
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by Hermione Hoby via Electronic music | The Guardian
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