Festi.World's Top 10 Things Not To Miss At Moogfest 2016

Moogfest, the music festival that is MUCH more than just a music festival, is coming up again in May and unless you have the power to split yourself in two it will be near impossible to see everything. So, to prepare you for the exciting things to come, Festi.World has put together a Top 10 list of essential things we think you should make sure not to miss while at Moogfest 2016.

10. Reggie Watts

Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts or as he is better known as, Reggie Watts will be taking the stage this year at Moogfest. The eccentric ex-band leader for IFC's comedy talk show Comedy Bang Bang, now band-leader for James Corden's Late Late Show will be doing what he does best. A mixture of absurdly hilarious comedy and wild sounding, heavily effected, comedic music that is the combination of duplicating harmonies with pseudo-gibberish and real-time beats. In his early career Reggie was known for making comedy shorts for internet video sites like Super Deluxe and College Humor. These days, with two live comedy albums, and several film, television, internet and music credits under his belt, he is known for his fantastic live performances.

If you need a good example of what Reggie Watts brings to the table (other than his fantastic afro) here is a video of Reggie from his 2012 TED Talk perfectly highlighting his improvisational skills and musical talents. 

9. DJ Lance Rock & Yo Gabba Gabba!

Lance Robertson, better known as DJ Lance Rock from the hit Nick Jr. TV show Yo Gabba Gabba! will be taking the stage at Moogfest this year, and he is bringing his colorful cohort with him for a special all ages program. Lance has been always been a musician, often exploring the electronic genres in the music he creates. He has been in several bands, Most notably The Raymakers from Los Angeles. While performing with The Raymakers, Lance met Scott Schultz (The co-creator of Yo Gabba Gabba!) and was asked to don the orange hat and jumpsuit and host the show. Yo Gabba Gabba features some crazy looking characters that all love to sing and dance, and their performances get the young and old alike up on the feet and dancing, while learning things like the 

importance of washing your hands and how to talk to somebody when they are sad. No matter how old you are, you will surely enjoy this program and maybe learn a thing or two. Check out what one of their live performances is like for a taste of things to come at Moogfest!

8. Bicep

Bicep, is a DJ and Production duo from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Composed of Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar, run the famous cult-defining music repository Feel My Bicep. The two parts of Bicep have been friends since they were teenagers, bonding over the dusty records they found in crates in the back of record stores looking for dance music, from Italo-disco to Acid House. Recently, they have made London their home base, but have been touring the world showing off their fantastic version of electro-house music. Check out their recent EP "Just" below for a great example of the music they bring to the table. Festi.World is making sure not to miss their set.  

7. HEALTH

HEALTH is much more than an indie-rock band from Los Angeles. When HEALTH takes the stage the you hear a wonderfully confusing mixture of thrash and math rock. After the remix of their track Crime Wave by 2011 Moogfest performers Crystal Castles, HEALTH was blazing trails with their tribal drums, noise making machines, raw synths, squealing guitars, asymmetrical basslines, and a homemade guitar pedal/microphone called a Zoothorn. Their First two albums HEALTH and Get Color each have dance-remixed versions. To add to their credits, they composed and recorded the soundtrack to the award winning video game Max Payne 3. Just last year they released their newest album, Death Magic. Do be warned, their crunchy style is turned all the way up to 11. HEALTH 

makes sure to never sacrifice volume when they perform, so if you think your ears can handle it you will certainly not regret seeing HEALTH. 

6. Hacking Sound (Systems)

Hacking Sound (Systems) is one very cool sounding program happening this year that we would hate for you to miss! Moogfest says that the catalyst of program is resurgence of technological Maker Culture, and it's true. From the resurfacing of vinyl, people building tube amps to people building synths, guitar pedals and brand new instruments, it undeniable that culture of creating awesome sonic tools is here to stay. This program will venture into the world of circuit bending to open source manufacturing as well as to "reflect on how the last decade has been transformed by a host of arts-engineering software toolkits like Processing, Arduino, and openFrameworks." says Moogfest.

5. Explosions In The Sky

Every Top 10 has one, but this is the bias choice for this list from the writer of this article. Explosions In The Sky is a band with a very clear vision. It is impossible to properly explain the way that EITS has captured human emotions, and then expresses it through their music. The experience must be made first hand in a live setting to really grasp what Explosions can do with their music. You will be moved by the voiceless stories their music tells. You will feel like you can even almost talk back to the music, while it is telling you that everything is going to be alright. Explosions in the sky has been making music since the late 90's, releasing their first album How Strange, Innocence in 2000. More recently they have created movie soundtracks for the films Prince Avalanche, Lone Survivor and Manglehorn. Not but a few days ago on March 1st they released their newest single Logic of a Dream. Check it out below.  

4. Grimes

The Canadian born electronic musician and producer will be bringing her synth-y dream-pop style and finesse to grace the stage of Moogfest 2016. Claire Boucher (a.k.a Grimes) has been making music since 2009 after she was expelled from University for putting more time into her musical career rather than school. For that choice, we thank her. Grimes has become something of a phenomenon recently, headlining multiple festivals in 2015 such as Lightning in a Bottle. Last year Grimes released her fourth studio album Art Angles and it has been her biggest success to date. The album is her attempt at using as much live instrumentation as much as possible, a side step from previous work which is very synth and electronic heavy. Listen to her newest single SCREAM. 

3. GZA

GZA, The Genius, famous rapper known for being one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan is performing for a 2-day residency at Moogfest this year. With 7 albums to his name, GZA is a household name to any hip-hop head. GZA is not only known for is lyrical genius, but also as experimentalist and a scholar. GZA just recently dropped his newest, concept album Dark Matter, which is based on a journey through time and space. GZA is also currently working to improve science education in New York City through a partnership with Teachers College, Columbia University Professor, Christopher Emdin and website, Rap Genius. This initiative motivates young people to learn science through creating raps and engaging in a rap competition.

2. Technoshamanism & Transhumanism

These two Moogfest Programs tied the list for us and we are going to let Moogfest do the talking on these highly introspective and futurist conversations. 

Technoshamanism

 In regards to where he pulled his innovative ideas from, Bob Moog said, “Everything has some consciousness, and we tap into that. It’s about energy at its most basic level.” But how do we tune into that noosphere and bring next wave ideas to the fore? Who are the seers today, and how are they integrating technology into new “shamanic” practices in art and science? How do we understand rituals of trance in the context of electronic music? How can ancient traditions and cutting-edge brain research inform our pursuit of ecstasy?

Transhumanism

Humans have long sought to transform nature, using tools to modify the environment around us or enhancing our own bodies to adapt in this world. Technology today continues to open up new spaces for transformative and transcendent experiences of life itself. From AI to augmented reality displays, with cloning and human genetic engineering, through organ transplants and prosthetics, emerging technologies are expanding many of our intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. Transhumanism is a movement to overcome fundamental human limitations. A conversation around this ambition is crucial to understanding emergent culture today and our science-fiction future.

1. Odesza

Odesza, Also known as Harrison Mills (CatacombKid) and Clayton Knight (BeachesBeaches) have quickly risen through the ranks, headlining festivals and selling out performances, using their music as the guide. These two guys have done nothing but eat, sleep, and breathe music ever since they met their senior year of college back in 2012. The duo took the online platform Soundcloud by storm with their style of indie-tronica/chill wave. Their debut EP My Friends Never Die threw them into the limelight opening for acts such as Pretty Lights on his Analog Future tour back in 2013. The team has 24 tracks that hit #1 on Hypebeast and if that isn't enough to sway you, I strongly urge you to watch the beautiful new video for their 2014 track It's Only (feat. Zyra). 

ODESZA - It's Only (feat. Zyra) - Official Music Video from ODESZA on Vimeo.

We hope that this list has peaked your interest and you can probably see what we meant when we said that Moogfest is a festival that is MUCH, much more than just a music festival. Moogfest was started to explore the future of music and technology back in 2004, and now 12 years later we are very excited to see what comes next. 

Moogfest is May 19th - 22nd in Durham, North Carolina. For more information and to purchase passes to Moogfest head on over to their official website HERE and check out their full lineup below!

The History of Camp Bisco

Camp Bisco, a jam-tronica festival started by the band The Disco Biscuits is very well known within festival circles. CB has a long, storied, and deep past that stretches back 17 years to the dark ages of 1999, and now in 2016 Camp Bisco is back for it's second year in a row in their new location of Montage Mountain in Scranton, Pennsylvania. So with it's re-emergence let's go take a look at the history of the legendary Camp Bisco.

Camp Bisco originated in 1999 "out of necessity," Brownstein, The Disco Biscuits bassist, says "When the Biscuits started as a young Philadelphia band in the '90s, we were in the festival circuit, and like any young band we started playing at noon. We knew within a year or two that we weren't the noontime band anymore, that our fan base had outgrown that, but the promoters still didn't necessarily believe it." The band played to an audience of 1,500 at the 1997 All Good Festival at noon, which quickly cleared out after the Biscuits were done playing. That was the straw that broke the camels back for the band. They wanted control, as well as a way to put the spotlight on other similar acts, and in 1999 the first camp bisco was born with the Disco Biscuits playing 4 hour sets each day. The 1999 edition of the festival included the popular jam band Sector 9, now Sound Tribe Sector 9 and 18 other emerging jam and DJ acts. With about 800 attendees and a bunch of "unknown and extremely affordable bands," Brownstein says the first Camp Bisco went off to be enough of a success to continue year after year seeing profits raise 20% every year. 

A Flyer for the first Camp Bisco that happened in Titusvile, Pennsylvania.

After the first iteration of Camp Bisco, the festival moved around a bit. Morris, Pennsylvania at the Saw Mill Ski Area for Camp Bisco 2 in 2000. Union Dale, Pennsylvania at Salansky Farms for Camp Bisco 3 in 2002. By the time Camp Bisco IV came around in 2005, The disco Biscuits had an offer on their hands. A Production company called Meat Camp Productions (Now MCP Presents), wanted to take over the management of Camp Bisco. The Biscuits agreed because MCP were huge fans of the Biscuits, and they thought who would be better to take over the festival than the fans themselves. The biscuits made sure to retain having heavy hand in the formation of the festival. MCP wanted to make Camp Bisco a larger event and they did that by moving to Skyetop Festival Ground in Van Etten, NY. Larger acts like Umphreys Mcgee, Younger Brother, Big in Japan and John Brown's Body played the festival that year. Festival attendance grew to 4,400 people, making this the largest Camp Bisco yet. Even though the festival was a success in some respects, MCP was seeing heavy losses. But, these losses are to be expected when a company is going though a rebrand. 

The Lineup for Camp Bisco IV from 2005

In 2006 Camp Bisco was moved again to Hunter Mountain Ski & Lodge in Hunter, NY. After Camp Bisco V, MCP thought they found the perfect long-term home for Camp Bisco. From 2007 - 2013 Camp Bisco took place at the Indian Lookout Country Club in Mariaville, New York. The move was very controversial, mostly because the country club was maintained by the bikers who run the Harley Rendezvous Classic, one of the largest annual gatherings of motorcycle enthusiasts in the country. The Biscuits were nervous because of the stories of clashes between the Hell's Angels and Hippies from the 60's. They thought that this would make long time fans not want to come for fear of harassment or danger. But, the bikers turned out to be a valuable asset to CB, acting as security for the festival, with minimal problems. In 2008 the crowd size almost doubled from 2006 to just about 8,000 people. In 2009 Camp Bisco had over 10,000 people in attendance, breaking the growth goals set in 2008 by The Disco Biscuits and MCP. 

Camp Bisco was getting bigger and bigger as the years went on. The pass price stayed low so young people with less disposable income could come, the jam band to electronic performance ratio was kept balanced, attendance was growing every year, and larger acts like Snoop Dogg, Skrillex, Bassnectar, Pretty Lights, Shpongle, Ween, and Thievery Corporation to name a few were performing. Things were looking up for MCP and Camp Bisco. 

Then after the 2013 installment of Camp Bisco, things took a turn. Fans just weren't hearing anything from the organizers about what is coming for the 2014 festival. People were getting antsy to hear about what was in store for 2014, but that news never came. It turns out that the towns like Mariaville and Pattersonville that surround the Indian Lookout Country Club were infuriated by Camp Bisco and issues relating to the festival like traffic noise and light pollution. Countless complaints were filed to the local authorities from local residents. In 2013 there were a slew of drug arrests, and hospitalizations which ignited the fire that was fueled by a death by drug overdose in 2012 at Bisco. Public outcry against the festival, a lawsuit and negligence to apply for proper licenses led to the cancellation of Camp Bisco for 2014. The Disco Biscuits were trying everything in their power to get the festival running, but enough was enough and in March, 2014 they released a statement saying:

“After much deliberation and tireless efforts to make Camp happen this year, we had to make the tough decision to take a year off. We will be coming back in 2015 with an amazing event that will cater to the needs, wants and wishes of Camp Bisco’s most faithful and valued attendees!”

— The Disco Biscuits

 According to a report from the Daily Gazette, MCP "failed to comply with a number of contingencies, most dealing with post-event reporting."

That's all not to say that a New York based MCP festival didn't occur in 2014. In fact MCP put on a festival just an hour away from where Camp Bisco takes place in Saugerties, New York. The infamous festival was named The Hudson Project and it showcased a lineup pretty similar to what Camp Bisco would normally present. 

The Hudson Project's Lineup

The Hudson Project famously known for all of its problems relating to rain, mud, strict policy, underaged issues, strict security, tent break-ins, riots, destruction and cancelled performances deserves a write up of its own. Needless to say the festival was a complete failure and left people high and dry (or wet) and many without a festival experience Camp Bisco would normally deliver. 

After the cancellation of the 2013 Camp Bisco and the complete flop that was the Hudson Project people were speculating that there was not going to a be a Camp Bisco 2015, even though the organizers said there would be. By April it was getting a little late in the year to announce a summer music festival but on April 28th a cryptic crossword puzzle was placed on CB's social media. 

The answers on the 2014 Announcement crossword puzzle

The puzzle was the first real, substantial piece of evidence that Camp Bisco was coming back that fans could cling to other than the countless rumors that were flying around the internet. The clues mentioned phrases like "Home", "Bisco", and "Pennsylvania" in the puzzle. All of sudden the 2015 installment of Camp Bisco had a new location; the home of funniest fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin, The Electric City: Scranton, Pennsylvania. Then on April 30th Camp Bisco released an official announcement confirming the new location at Montage Mountain Ski Resort (The same location of The Allman Brothers led, folk/rock The Peach Music Festival) and the 2015 lineup with Bassnectar, Pretty Lights, STS9, and Big Gigantic headlining.

The festival was a hit, but that's not to say there wasn't anything for attendees to complain about. Traffic to get in was incredibly slow at most points of the days. Parking lots were far away from camping grounds. During some of the security checks people cars, luggage, and storage were turned upside down, while some were just waved through without a glance. The distance between the parking lots and the festival grounds were supposed to be remedied by tractors taking people back and forth, but the tractors would just stop coming forcing people to lug all of their heavy equipment to the camp grounds on their own. The last point wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't so late at night, the distance wasn't so long and the hills weren't so treacherous. The attendees also had to get used to the setup and layout of the festival. Stages were pretty far apart and going between them was often a chore when crowds were large and everyone was frantically trying to get to their next set. Some of the trails were a little hard to traverse, especially if you were mildly impaired. Thursday night Camp Bisco main stay, Pretty Lights threw down a mildly sloppy performance with audio cut-outs and strange sounding transitions, still putting on a good performance, but some were left with a bad taste in their mouth. On the second day of The Disco Biscuits became the focus with Haywyre, Sweater Beats, and Mr. Carmack all putting their best feet forward and Big Gigantic and Kill the Noise to close out the night.

A Picture from Saturday evening's Disco Biscuits set.

A rain storm plagued the last day of the festival on Saturday. Announcements were made over the loud speakers throughout the ski area asking people to return to their camp sites as the dark clouds loomed torwards the mountain. Luckily the storm was gone as quick as it arrived and festival goers were able to return to grounds, leaving behind a freindly gesture of a rainbow over the mountain.

A double rainbow was gifted to the festival after the rainstorm on Saturday moved out as an good omen of things to come.

The Disco Biscuits put on a high energy performance to rebound from the stress the rain caused followed by Bassnecatar putting a legendary set that people were waiting for since his cancellation at The Hudson Project.

““Bisco, we made it back, this is the revenge right here!””

— Lorin Ashton (Bassnectar)

Necatar's set began with his trademarked bass-filled set accompanied by a fantastic light show on Saturday night. When midnight arrived on Saturday night people began to strike their campsites and wheel their coolers and tents back to the parking lots where their cars lived for the past three days looking forward to 2016 and the next Camp Bisco.

Back in January the Biscuits put out an announcement saying that the festival would continue in the new Scranton-based home.   

The Disco Biscuits announcement for the 2016 Camp Bisco

Just a few days ago the lineup for 2016 was also confirmed. Take a look below. 

Camp Bisco 2016 Lineup

We are just as excited to return to the mountain as you are this summer. We hope to catch you there, and if you see us please say hi! For more information and to buy passes for Camp Bisco 2016 Head on over to the official website by CLICKING HERE.

Sources: 
[1] PhantasyTour.com
[2] Billboard.com
[3] Musictimes.com
[4] Dancing Astronaut
[5] Syracuse.com
[6] YourEDM.com
[7] RaverRafting.com
[8] Thump
[9] Jam Base