Moogfest 2012 day 1 in pics (El-P, Explosions in the Sky, Primus, Morton Subotnick, Blondes, and more)

photos by Diana Wong

Primus / Moog Factory / people in hot dog costumes

Moogfest 2012 kicked off unofficially with Justice on Thursday (10/25), and then it officially began on Friday (10/26) with sets by El-P, Buke & Gase, Blondes, Explosions in the Sky, Primus, Miike Snow, Morton Subotnick and more. El-P played a studio session inside of The Moog Factory (where all Moog products are made), which we also took a tour of, and pictures of that are in this post. Those pictures include shots of the analog synth calibration office, the new white version of their Slim Phatty synthesizer, and their recent foray into guitar building.

One of the highlights of day 1 was synth veteran Morton Subotnick who played a set spanning the material he released from 1967's Silver Apples of the Moon, through 1978's A Sky of Cloudless Sulfur. Moogfest always makes a point to book a few forerunners of electronic music for their festival, which mostly features modern artists of the genre. And hearing these tunes, which were written decades ago, alongside much newer artists, it was easy to see how revolutionary Morton Subotnick was in his time.

Primus brought a set heavy with psychedelic visuals. Blondes, who always bring the dance party in NYC, did just as great of a job translating that same experience over in Asheville. And Explosions In The Sky's atmospheric set made for a great come-down later on in the show after a full day of dance parties and trekking through Asheville.

Coverage of the rest of the festival is coming soon and more pics from Moogfest day 1 are below.