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classy bleepy
Oct. 6th, 2019 06:36 pmI made it to the Velocity Festival at Substation last night. (There were also workshops and an electronic music swap meet earlier that day as part of the festival, but I skipped those in favor of exercise, sleep, and laundry.) I must say I was favorably impressed at both the variety of artists and the size of the crowd. I heard Aphex Twin-esque experimental noise from Eric Schlappi, an ethereal set by Amulets, Baseck verging on dubstep, and Monster Planet. The one I liked best - enough to buy her record - was Avola from Portland; she packed the smallest of the three rooms.
And yes, you may have noticed that Avola is a woman - I checked her Bandcamp to make sure - as were a few other artists. This may be the doing of promoter extraordinaire Mollie Bryan*, who was the "curator" for the techno portion of the programming. Women artists and classy bleeps are what I've come to expect from her.
Substation itself seems to be moving up in the world. I've been to Substation plenty of times, but last night was the first time I'd been in the back room, which is by far the largest of its three. There's also a nice outdoor chill space now with a high wooden fence around it. I remember the days when Substation had almost no seating and no acoustic panels on the walls. Whoever runs that place is ambitious. That's a good thing so far, but I don't want it to go too mainstream.
*Proprietress of the late, lamented MOKEDO, where I had my 50th birthday party.
And yes, you may have noticed that Avola is a woman - I checked her Bandcamp to make sure - as were a few other artists. This may be the doing of promoter extraordinaire Mollie Bryan*, who was the "curator" for the techno portion of the programming. Women artists and classy bleeps are what I've come to expect from her.
Substation itself seems to be moving up in the world. I've been to Substation plenty of times, but last night was the first time I'd been in the back room, which is by far the largest of its three. There's also a nice outdoor chill space now with a high wooden fence around it. I remember the days when Substation had almost no seating and no acoustic panels on the walls. Whoever runs that place is ambitious. That's a good thing so far, but I don't want it to go too mainstream.
*Proprietress of the late, lamented MOKEDO, where I had my 50th birthday party.
