Accompanied with openers BioDiesel (who consists of former world's-fastest drummer Johnny Rabb bassist Clay Parnell) and Auto Body, Orchard Lounge uses heart-heavy bass and scratches old-school style on vinyl.
The trio, made up of family relatives, has recently made a
name for itself with downtempo house beats. Most intriguing is Bethany Lokken, the "Queen B" of the group who loves to fade the bass out then pump it back in to get everyone on their feet.I know nothing about electronica, and the festival was not exactly the place to be sober, but an amazing performance just the same (even for those not too familiar with the genre).
I think Boston's first electronic festival, titled Together, is actually a step in the right direction. Any way you can bring diversity to Boston's night stage, whether it be world tribal music, classical, jazz, or rock. I think electronic music is finally emerging out of people's bedrooms and into real musical performances. If you think of what a lot of eclectic rock bands are doing now (Passion Pit, Phoenix, etc.) they all seem to embellishing their music with electronic elements. The application of synthesizers is nothing new (the Beatles used a Mellotron synth for Strawberry Fields), but the focus is constantly being pulled by the manipulation, automation, sonic-funk fresh vibe of electronic production techniques and not so much on the sheet music. Artists are more like engineers now than before (Imogen Heap big in mind). Even DJing has gone from vinyl scratching to CD labeling to drag and drop software. It's hard to maintain a non-CPU sound in a CPU world.
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