Moogfest unveils 2012 line-up

August 07, 20121 Comment

Photo courtesy of Moog Music, Inc.

Ah, the burden of success, it’s the bane that Asheville’s Moogfest now shoulders after two top-flight years in North Carolina. The festival returns Oct. 26 and 27, once again on the weekend before Halloween, assuring that the Carolina mountains will be a hot spot for spooky celebration. But this year, Moogfest takes a step back; specifically by reducing itself to two days after two straight three-day events. True, Moogfest presents Justice at the U.S. Cellular Center as a kind of pre-party on Oct. 25, but admission to that show is not included with a festival pass. With the full line-up freshly announced, we can now contemplate how Moogfest might feel in this more concentrated construction.

The line-up is unquestionably a good one. In fact, in some areas, it’s a notable improvement. Santigold, Wu-Tang alum GZA and Killer Mike stand as a trio of forward-thinking hip-hop performers, filling in a gaping hole in last year’s line-up. Adding to the excitement, GZA will perform his landmark solo debut Liquid Swords in its entirety, carrying on the tradition started last year when legendary synth duo Suicide performed its influential debut. Add in mercurial electronica ambassador Four Tet, semi-iconic experimentalist Thomas Dolby, supremely kinetic techno duo Orbital and post-rock pioneer Explosions in the Sky, and you get a festival that stands head and shoulders above almost all of its peers in the Carolinas — the only exception being Raleigh’s Hopscotch Music Festival, a far-reaching ganglion that has grown to gargantuan proportions in its third year.

But Moogfest will not be judged against its regional competitors. This is a high-profile music festival put on by the same company that orchestrates Bonnaroo, and this year’s line-up doesn’t quite live up to the splendor of the festival’s first two outings. For starters, Primus 3D, a ground-breaking technological spectacle from a group that hasn’t broken musical ground since the ’90s, doesn’t hold up against headliners past — The Flaming Lips, Moby, Big Boi, etc. It also can’t help but feel like a cheap gimmick after the boundary obliteration of last year’s ISAM performance from Amon Tobin. As with last year, Moogfest has poached a few artists also slated to play at Hopscotch — Julia Holter, Actress, Killer Mike — and Bear In Heaven played Hopscotch in 2010. Also, in this smaller incarnation, the event doesn’t promise the overwhelming wealth of musical oddities that made last year’s festival so special.

Moogfest is still a premiere festival and one we should feel lucky to have in the Carolinas. But this year’s line-up feels like a move in the wrong direction, an acceptable but somewhat underwhelming third act from a festival that had to this point felt so exciting. The full line-up is below, so you can form your own opinion. —Jordan Lawrence