Communikey Festival of Electronic Arts, April 18-20 2008, Boulder, CO!
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Communikey Festival of Electronic Arts, April 18-20 2008, Boulder, CO!
10 April, 2008 | 10.40AM- Section: Music News
Maybe you haven’t heard of Communikey yet, but with the Communikey Festival of Electronic Arts set to take place April 18th-20th in Boulder, CO it’s going to become harder and harder to avoid becoming familiar with the name.
Over their four year run this Colorado crew has offered a wide variety of artists, from the prepared piano virtuoso Hauschka, to techno elder statesman Thomas Fehlmann, Bruno Pronsato, Mr. Projectile and all points in between. Coming up in the same state that Beatport calls home, it’s no wonder this quickly growing community of artists and producers have begun to make their unique take on electronic music culture a growing phenomenon.
With the festival, we’re seeing the crew take their game to the next level, creating a presence not just in their local or the North American scene, but on the international level, joining the world wide organism that is electronic music culture. Taking cues from Montreal’s Mutek and Seattle’s Decibel, the Communikey Festival of Electronic Arts offers three days of performances, installations, panel discussion and workshops from a wide variety of artists, musicians and industry experts.
What separates the Communikey Festival of Electronic Arts from many events of its kind is the underlying emphasis on sustainability in a digital culture. The festival addresses this through presenting a variety of installations such as Cubo, Epiphyte and Exchange/Alteration, and a panel discussion on how to move towards a sustainable culture. Communikey hopes to start a dialog on these very real concerns, without attempting to adopt a self righteous stance which can so often be associated with these issues.
But, with that said, festivals are generally about partying, so you’re probably asking yourself, “what about the partying?”
Ask no more, friend. Communikey first and foremost has grown as a name synonymous with top notch, memorable events, with a focus on building inviting and immersive environments. This professional aesthetic will be spread out over the whole of the festival. Featuring Kalabrese’s Rumpelorchestra in their only American appearance as a full band alongside breaks legend Tipper at their Saturday night Pioneers showcase at the Boulder Theater is just one aspect of an amazing lineup. Including showcases from sister festivals Decibel (Jerry Abstract, Kris Moon) and Mutek (Guillaume and the Coutu Dumonts, Pheek), a Beatport afterparty (Tom Hoch, Geoff White) for Saturday night, and a finale Sunday evening with Retina.IT, Multicast and Pole, Colorado locals and visiting fans are in for quite a treat.
The question at the heart of it all is, can Colorado support a festival of this caliber, with a focus on what, in America, is still considered by many to be a sound on the fringe of popular music culture? Are people in digital culture interested in talking about sustainability and questioning the fundamental ideas of what it costs to live the life of an electronic artist? Can a bunch of scrappy kids from Colorado with nothing but a supportive community of arts lovers and a dream pull off something of this scale? I suppose we’ll know the answers to all of these questions soon enough, and I for one am interested in finding out.
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