Music, The Features, We Love Music

We Love Music: Moogfest Pt. 1 (Asheville, NC–4/23/14)

Thundercat DJs the roof of the Aloft Hotel (Photo courtesy Moogfest)

Thundercat DJs the roof of the Aloft Hotel (Photo courtesy Moogfest)

I’ve always said that, compared to New York, D.C. is a small, sleepy Southern city. It was interesting then last week to somewhat put my money where my mouth is, and go to Asheville, N.C., a truly small Southern city, to attend Moogfest, the annual festival dedicated to the sounds of the synthesizer, and Moog devices in particular.

For five days, the city of Asheville is anything but sleepy, however, as visitors and residents alike rise at 9 a.m. for lectures, insights, demonstrations, presentations and performances, only to stay out until 2 a.m. every night, dancing their hearts out to the likes of Flying Lotus and Dan Deacon.

For my part, I arrived on Wednesday, April 23, the first day, and journeyed to city center, the location of the Aloft Hotel, a Moogfest sponsor. The hotel hosted the Moogfest Urban Art Installation Activation, a gallery featuring 10 large-scale installations designed to enhance the experience of an audience by engaging multimedia and multi-sensory experiences of sound, structure, light and form.

I headed to the roof for an opening party DJ’ed by Thundercat, a recording artist on Brainfeeder who played at our own U Street Music Hall as recently as last Nov. 26.

Continue reading

Music, The Features, We Love Music

The Winning Ticket: Moogfest @ Asheville, NC, 4/23-4/27/14

Moogfest_1_29_7
We at We Love DC are no stranger to ticket giveaways! But today we have a very unique opportunity with a pair of general admission tickets to a respected music festival that takes place not too far away from our fair city.

We are giving away a pair of tickets to Moogfest in Asheville, NC, on Wednesday, April 23 through Sunday, April 27.

Moogfest 2014 celebrates the synthesizer, and the slate of headliners scheduled to appear this year cross genres and boundaries as groundbreaking artists. The five-day festival features three performances by German pioneers Kraftwerk as well as a dance party featuring disco legend Nile Rodgers and his band CHIC.

You may recall Rodgers recently collaborated with Daft Punk on their Grammy-winning album, Random Access Memories, as did Giorgio Moroder, who will be on hand as a DJ and a guest lecturer. Performance artist Laurie Anderson will present her solo show, “The Language of the Future.”

In addition to these strong headliners and dozens upon dozens of other bands, Moogfest only yesterday announced the addition of the Pet Shop Boys, M.I.A., Flying Lotus and Dillon Francis to the lineup!

Asheville, where synth inventor Bob Moog spent the last 30 years of his life, has been home to Moogfest since 2010. The pleasantly idyllic metropolis hosts Moogfest across a number of venues, including The Orange Peel, one of the most famous concert venues in the country. If you’re up for a road trip, Asheville is an easy seven-hour drive from DC.

For your chance to win these tickets, simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 9am and 5pm today. Feel free to leave any comment, but perhaps tell us what Moogfest artist you would most like to see! One entry per email address, please. Tickets for this show are also available through Ticketmaster.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 5pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

Moogfest
U.S. Cellular Center Asheville
Asheville, NC
Wednesday, April 23, to Sunday, April 27
$199-$499
All ages