Interview: Daniel Miller of Mute Records (In Conversation with Alex Maiolo @ Moogfest 2019 — 4/26/19)

Posted on 05/03/2019 by Mickey McCarter in Interview and tagged Daniel Miller, Depeche Mode, England, Interview, London, Moogfest, Moogfest 2019, music festival, Mute Records, new wave, post-punk, synthesizer, synthpop.

Daniel Miller chats at Moogfest 2019 in the Carolina Theatre on April 26, 2019. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of his label, Mute Records chief Daniel Miller chatted with musician and writer Alex Maiolo in a conversation at Moogfest 2019, held in an auditorium of the Carolina Theatre recently. During Moogfest, Daniel also performed two DJ sets — a pure techno set at the comfortable Fruit Company club and art space and an ambient set on modular synths at the 21c Museum Hotel in Durham, North Carolina.

Alex’s enthusiasm sparked Daniel’s brilliance, and the musical svengali reflected on his early days as a musician, how Mute came to be, and his enduring love of synthesizers.

Visit the Moogfest website for more information on the Moogfest conference and festival.

Preview: Moogfest 2019 @ Durham, NC, 4/25-4/28/19

Posted on 04/18/2019 by Parklifer in Preview and tagged Daniel Miller, Depeche Mode, Durham, Kimbra, Martin Gore, Moogfest, Moogfest 2019, music festival, Mute Records, North Carolina, Questlove, synthesizer, synthpop, Thomas Dolby.

Daniel Miller (Photo by Joe Dilworth)

Moogfest, the top synthesizer festival and conference, celebrates its 15th anniversary in Durham, North Carolina, on April 25-28, 2019. The festival will feature a keynote presentation by Martin Gore of Depeche Mode as well as Daniel Miller of Mute Records, along with performances by Thomas Dolby, Kimbra, GAS, Tim Hecker (performing with the Konoyo Ensemble), Matthew Dear, US Girls, and more.

Moogfest recently released the full schedule of events for this year’s festival. Here is our list of the Top 10 things to see and hear at Moogfest 2019!

Ticket Giveaway: Moogfest 2019 @ Durham, NC, 4/25-4/28/19

Posted on 04/01/2019 by Parklifer in Preview and tagged Daniel Miller, Durham, free tickets, GAS, house, industrial, Kimbra, Martin Gore, Matthew Dear, Moogfest, Moogfest 2019, new wave, North Carolina, synthesizer, synthpop, Thomas Dolby, ticket giveaway, Tim Hecker, US Girls.

Martin Gore (Photo by Travis Shinn)

You can win a pair of general admission tickets to go with Parklife DC!

Music Park: Tiny Cat Dark Music Festival @ Black Cat — 8/3-8/4/18

Posted on 08/08/2018 by paivi in Live Review and tagged Black Cat, Crash Course in Science, dark wave, goth, Hante, industrial, Kontravoid, minimal wave, music festival, post-punk, Radiator Greys, Remote/Control, synthesizer, synthwave, Technophobia, Tempers, Tiny Cat, Tiny Cat Dark Music Festival, TWINS, Void Vision, Working Order Records.

Hélène De Thoury of Hante performs at Tiny Cat Music Festival on Aug. 3, 2018. (All photos by Paivi Salonen. Words by Mickey McCarter)

Working Order Records, home to DC’s own synthpop duo Technophobia, held its first Tiny Cat Dark Music Festival to celebrate “dark electronic music” over the weekend at Black Cat. By any measure, the first edition of Tiny Cat was a wild success, drawing 10 bands of remarkably different soundscapes together over two nights of immersive music.

Ticket Giveaway: Moogfest @ Durham, NC — 5/17-5/20/18

Posted on 04/16/2018 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged Durham, free tickets, Genesis P-Orridge, house, industrial, Jon Hopkins, Kelela, KRS-One, Little Boots, Moogfest, Moogfest 2018, Mouse on Mars, music conference, music festival, North Carolina, Psychic TV, R&B, synthesizer, synthpop, ticket giveaway, Wes Borland.

Moogfest headliner Kelela (Photo courtesy Paradigm Agency)

Moogfest 2018, scheduled for May 17-20 in Durham, North Carolina, is the premier urban music festival dedicated to the synthesizer. This year, a slew of electronic musicians joins headlining artists Kelela, Mouse on Mars, KRS-One, Chelsea Manning, Jon Hopkins. You can win tickets to attend with Parklife DC.

Don’t Miss: Moogfest 2017 @ Durham, NC, 5/18-5/21/17

Posted on 04/10/2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 808 State, acid house, Animal Collective, Durham, electronica, hip hop, house, Moogfest, Moogfest 2017, music festival, neo-psychedelia, Peanut Butter Wolf, synthesizer, trip hop, Zola Jesus.

Zola Jesus (Photo courtesy Sacred Bones)

Going to Moogfest 2017 next month? Parklife DC recommends four acts to catch while you’re there!

Music Park: S U R V I V E @ U Street Music Hall — 10/28/16

Posted on 11/01/2016 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged Austin, electronic, S U R V I V E, Stranger Things, Survive, synthesizer, synthpop, U Street Music Hall.

Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon of Survive perform at U Street Music Hall on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

The very full house at U Street Music Hall stood politely for more than an hour Friday as they traveled over rolling, melodic sonic landscapes.

That travel was made possible by synthpop band S U R V I V E (which we will now simply call Survive), who visited U Hall fresh off a career-making success with their summer soundtrack to the Netflix hit Stranger Things.

Don’t Miss: SURVIVE @ U Street Music Hall, 10/28/16

Posted on 10/28/2016 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged Austin, electronica, IDM, S U R V I V E, Stranger Things, Survive, synthesizer, synthpop, U Street Music Hall.

SURVIVE (Photo by Alex Kacha)

Austin-based electronic quartet Survive have been hard at work since 2009, releasing numerous EPs and two full-length albums.

But they achieved a significant level of visibility when two of its members, Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, scored the synthpop soundtrack to Stranger Things, the sci-fi/horror/suspense show on Netflix that debuted last summer.

“The composers employed similar instrumentation that they use on their work with Survive, most notably the immediately recognizable hum of vintage Arp synthesizers,” noted Randall Roberts in a profile of the band in the Los Angeles Times over the summer.

Whoa! Those of us who got hooked on music through the sound of analog synthesizers in the ‘70s and ‘80s take heed! In the wake of the success of the Stranger Things soundtrack, Survive published their second full-length album, RR7349, on Sept. 30 via Relapse Records.

Buy or listen to RR7349 by Survive on Bandcamp:

Now, Mark Donica, Kyle Dixon, Adam Jones and Michael Stein are touring in support of the new album, and they visit U Street Music Hall in DC tonight — Friday, Oct. 28.

The heady sounds of RR7349 cover a lot of ground and occasionally remind me of Vangelis as the four members of Survive explore sweeping, pulsing synthpop. “RR7349’s compositions range from grim tom-tom thunder to space-age epics, pairing tense plodding grooves with meditative ambience and driving, rhythmic beats,” said Relapse.

Renewed interest in Survive undoubtedly bolstered the band’s efforts to reissue their debut album, HD015 (or MQR026, originally released in 2012), due Nov. 18 via Holodeck Records.

And tonight experience Survive live! Tickets are available online and at the door.

SURVIVE
U Street Music Hall
Friday, Oct. 28
Doors @7pm
$15
All ages

Snapshots: Assemblage 23 @ Ivy City Smokehouse — 9/27/16

Posted on 10/03/2016 by paivi in Live Review and tagged Assemblage 23, EBM, futurepop, industrial, Ivy City Smokehouse, Seattle, synthesizer, synthpop, synthwave.

Assemblage 23 performs at Ivy City Smokehouse on Sept. 27, 2016. (Photo by Paivi)

Assemblage 23 is a Seattle-based electronic/synthwave band currently touring United States in support of their latest album Endure.

In a show produced by Spellbound Productions, Assemblage 23 drew quite a large crowd to an unusual new DC venue — Ivy City Smokehouse. As the name implies, Ivy City Smokehouse is a seafood restaurant, but it has a large, separate stage room that accommodated hundreds of concert-goers and provided Assemblage 23 with a state of the art sound system.

Snapshots: The Rain Within @ Ivy City Smokehouse — 9/27/16

Posted on 10/03/2016 by paivi in Live Review and tagged Andy Deane, Bella Morte, Charlottesville, goth rock, Ivy City Smokehouse, synthesizer, synthwave, The Rain Within.

The Rain Within performs at Ivy City Smokehouse on Sept. 27, 2016. (Photo by Paivi)

The Rain Within is a one-man synthwave project by Andy Deane. If his name sounds familiar, it is probably because Mr. Deane is also the lead vocalist for Charlottesville, Virginia-based gothic rock outfit Bella Morte.

The Rain Within’s new album Dark Drive was released September 23rd through Negative Gain Productions, and it is available from Bandcamp. My early favorite track is Eclipse if you want to give it a try!