Saturday, Aug 27 • 11 am
Niche music festivals are often the best festivals. Without having to cobble together bills that try to appeal to everyone, such events can laser-focus on one particular genre or facet without watering down their vision. Case in point is Velocity, a bonanza for synthesizer-worshippers.
A combination of live performances, workshops, seminars, and trade show, Velocity is returning after a two-year, pandemic-induced hiatus. It’s run by Seattle’s only synth retailer, Patchwerks, and Modular Seattle, an organization that hosts in-person and online events by modular-synth and hardware-based musicians while also giving synth tutorials.
The people behind these important hubs of Puget Sound electronic music have booked an impressive lineup, featuring headliners Richard Devine (rhythmically and tonally complex IDM), Daedelus (playful house and downtempo funk), Lisa Bella Donna (stellar ambient), and Todd Barton (diverse improvisations). Other notable acts include the resurrected Young Scientist (mainstays of Seattle’s ’70s and ’80s electronic underground Marc Barreca and James Husted), Portland ambient composer Patricia Wolf, Pittsburgh industrial-techno producer Shawn Rudiman, and Chicago’s Leash (Jordan Rundle, former member of Seattle electronic-rock disruptors Newaxeyes).
Velocity is a deep immersion into the nuts and bolts of electronic music-making as well as a dazzling demonstration of the same.
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