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Electronic Music Legend Added To Moogfest 2012

Morton Subotnick performing <em>Silver Apples of the Moon</em> in 2011
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Morton Subotnick performing Silver Apples of the Moon in 2011

Some records change lives. In 1967, when the sonic landscape of pop music was already shifting away from happy pop, a revolution was also happening in the relatively young world of electronic music. Morton Subotnick's Silver Apples of the Moon was a recording like no other. There were no guitars, no vocals, rarely a firm rhythmic pattern to hold on to. For me it was the musical equivalent of watching a meteor shower: random bits of beauty and wonder all in sound. So I'm incredibly thrilled that one of the fathers of electronic music, one of the people who inspired me to create sonic landscapes in rock music and buy an Arp Odyssey all those years ago, is going to perform these bits of chaos and wonder at this year's Moogfest. The electronic music festival was inspired by Bob Moog, a musician, inventor and inspiration to most every musician who has bent a circuit and made music with knobs, cables or a mouse.

What's so exciting about this announcement is not only the prospect of getting to hear Subotnik's music live, but also of getting to hear it in the context of a festival that also has Four Tet, a just announced collaboration between Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin, rapper Nas with a nine-piece band and homemade instrument makers Buke and Gase. In the spirit of old mixing with new, Subotnick will be performing Silver Apples on a Buchla synth — the creation of his peer Don Buchla, also a peer of the festival's namesake, Bob Moog — along with Ableton Live, a favorite bit of software used by many musicians making music with electronics these days.

Moogfest takes place October 26 and 27 in Asheville, NC.

Moogfest 2012 Lineup

Primus 3D
Orbital
Nas*
Miike Snow
Santigold
Richie Hawtin
Squarepusher
Explosions in the Sky
The Magnetic Fields
Four Tet
Divine Fits
GZA presents Liquid Swords
Carl Craig
Pantha Du Prince
Shpongle presents The Masquerade
Thomas Dolby
Morton Subotnick*
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Actress
Cold Cave
EL-P
Mouse on Mars
Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin*
Prefuse 73 with Teebs
Ana Sia
Buke & Gase*
Bear in Heaven
Killer Mike
Blondes
Julia Holter
Disclosure
Exitmusic
Trust
Wick-It the Instigator

*new addition

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.