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Today was a short day for me, thanks Air Canada for booking me on an early flight.

Despite my brief amount of time, I managed to see some great stuff!

I began with watching a conversation with Ben Frost and Tim Hecker at The Armory. I also interacted with The Floating Point Collective’s RTP Convergence installation. This was a display full of many LED touch sensitive rods, set up in a pyramid shape. Participants interacted in all aspects of the piece, moving in an out of the setup. When you touched a rod, coloured particles traveled through the rod, to another part of the installation. It was very interesting to observe what happened with a small amount of human interaction, no contact, and lots of human contact. It had a very organic wave-like feeling, which was quite soothing.

A photo posted by CJLO 1690AM (@cjlo1690am) on May 22, 2016 at 12:09pm PDT

My official "last" program that I watched at Moogfest 2016 was a fitting ending. It was another rad lady of electronic history, Suzanne Ciani. It was a durational installation, of which I was only able to witness a small section of, before heading to the airport. If you aren’t familiar with the name Suzanne Ciani, you probably are familiar with her music. She is another legend featured at this year’s Moogfest, iconized through her work with the Buchla Analong Modular Synthesizer, and endless film scores she has written.

A video posted by CJLO 1690AM (@cjlo1690am) on May 22, 2016 at 10:34am PDT

What I got to experience of her four hour installation (!!) was incredible. She has a lovely ability to capture movement and resonance with her soundscapes. I am happy I got to bear witness to some of her wizardry!

A video posted by CJLO 1690AM (@cjlo1690am) on May 22, 2016 at 10:37am PDT

Thinking about my whirlwind festival experience at Moogfest 2016, I feel inspired upon leaving. Sure, there were issues surrounding aspects of the festival, but honestly, every festival has logistical issues, it is in their nature of organized chaos. The sheer amount of festival goers swarming the streets of downtown Durham was bound to create some hiccups. It also created an extremely welcoming environment, bonding one another through the love of all things "electronic music." I had many thought-provoking and heart-warming conversations with random strangers. I met new friends. I re-connected with old ones.

All these things combined with one of the most solid festival programming and artist lineups I have seen made Moogfest 2016 my highlight of the year so far!

Julie Matson has covered the 2016 edition of Moogfest in Durham, North Carolina, and also hosts Beyond The Black Rainbow ;where she puts back the experimental back into experimental music every Monday at 4pm ET.

Read more of her tales from Durham chronologically:

• Starting with her conversation with Moogfest festival director Marisa Brickman on her radio show.
• Click here for highlights from Day One, and here for Day Two, and here for Day Three.

And check out sights and sounds of our coverage on social media, by following the hashtag #CJLOGoesMoog. Photos and videos courtesy of the author, with permission.

Today began bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and ready to talk radio at the panel on Radical Radio. I was especially excited for this discussion, not only because I am a self-professed radio nerd, but one of the speakers was a college radio alumni of mine, Anna Friz, from back in the day at CITR 101.9fm in Vancouver. Along with co-presenter Jeff Kolar, they discussed the cross-disciplinary aspects of radio, as art, communications, and current transmission practice, highlighting the beauty found in the instability and somewhat randomness of the signal.

I really appreciated the theoretical concepts of radio as art, and recognizing that it happens in the moment, however long the duration may be. Sigh… Radio…

My afternoon consisted of another trip to the American Tobacco campus, the site of many things Moog, including the Modular Marketplace and Moog Pop Up Shop. The only comment I will make about this visit is that I may or may not have spent some money there, and I may or may not be figuring out how to bring something the shape of a Moog Sub Phatty synthesizer home.

Okay then, now that is out of the way, moving right along, let's talk music!

A video posted by CJLO 1690AM (@cjlo1690am) on May 20, 2016 at 6:35pm PDT

My evening started out meditatively, watching sets by Alessandro Cortini and the lovely Grouper, at the Carolina Theatre. I thought this was a great pairing to be back to back at a festival. Their sets, and visuals, were very complimentary. The only annoying part of this night was the drunk Gary Numan fans sitting all around me, chatting loudly, and gesturing wildly with their arms. I was tempted to stay and watch Gary Numan, just to seek my revenge on them, but alas, I did not. I knew they wouldn't realize my efforts, but just accept them as drunk-speak. I feared they might accept me into their brethren of rude concert-goers.

A video posted by CJLO 1690AM (@cjlo1690am) on May 20, 2016 at 9:45pm PDT

Instead of facing this potential future, I staged my own silent protest, and left the theatre to move onto greener pastures. By greener pastures, I mean more Chicago-house based experiences, heading next to The Pinhook, for Kyle Hall. Keeping the party alive, we headed next to The Armory to catch another Chi-Town native, The Black Madonna, laying down the law on the dance floor. I was stoked to experience The Black Madonna live, and have much respect for their steadfast politics— highlighted in their quote:

Dance music needs riot grrrls.

Dance music needs Patti Smith.

It needs DJ Sprinkles.

Dance music needs some discomfort with its euphoria.

Dance music needs salt in its wounds.

Dance music needs women over the age of 40.

Dance needs breastfeeding DJs trying to get their kids to sleep before they have to play.

Dance needs cranky queers and teenagers who are really tired of this shit.

Dance music needs writers and critics and academics and historians.

Dance music needs poor people and people who don't have the right shoes to get into the club.

Dance music needs shirts without collars.

Dance music needs people who struggled all week.

Dance music needs people that had to come before midnight because they couldn't afford full admission.

Dance music does not need more of the status quo.

Needless to say, it was good way to end my evening. Until tomorrow, Moogfest!

Julie Matson is covering the 2016 edition of Moogfest happening in Durham, North Carolina, and also hosts Beyond The Black Rainbow where she puts back the experimental back into experimental music every Monday at 4pm ET. Read her conversation with Moogfest festival director Marisa Brickman, and keep it locked to CJLO On Air and online to hear more of Julie's tales from Durham. Click here to check out highlights from Day One of the festival.

Follow sights and sounds of our coverage on social media by following the hashtag #CJLOGoesMoog

(Photos courtesy of the author, used with permission)

Tune in tomorrow night (Friday) for a special episode of The Go-Go Radio Magic Show (6-8pm), which will be coming to you live from Bar Le Ritz PDB (179 Jean Talon O.), in anticipation of The Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds show with The Adam Brown opening. Prince Palu and Oncle Ian will be getting your ears ready for a prime night of music and psychedelic shenanigans- bringing you interviews with Montreal's own Adam Brown and the legendary Kid Congo Powers himself (at 7pm). Kid Congo Powers (The Gun Club, The Cramps, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds) returns with The Pink Monkey Birds, comprised of Kiki Solis (Baby Baby Dance With Me, Knife in The Water, Rhythm of Black Lines), drummer Ron Miller (Switch Hitter, Up The Academy) and recent addition: guitarist Mark Cisneros (Medications, Deathfix). CJLO is stoked to co-present with Blue Skies Turn Black. More information on tickets available here.

Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds are fresh off the release of their fourth album which was recorded in a high school gym in Kansas! “La Araña Es La Vida” is a self-produced effort for In The Red Records  and thematically "summons the Mexican muse of The Great Spider Goddess of Teoticuhan, who sprouts hallucinogenic morning glories and protects the underworld, or in Kid’s eyes, the world of underground music."

Tune into the The Go-Go Radio Magic Show tomorrow at 6pm, live from Bar Le Ritz PDB, & come on out and have a pint with us before Kid Congo and The Monkey Birds leave their mark on Montreal's musical wilderness- with no limits to this raucous fun, folks! 

Lee Scratch Perry & Subatomic Sound System, Club Soda, Montreal on Friday the 13th, May 2016 as part of his 40th anniversary of 1976 release "Super Ape" on Scratch's own Upsetter label.

There he was, hologram pin-covered hat, fuchsia beard, naval-captain black-suit jacket, African wax pants, Rasta kicks and a suitcase. Mr Rainford Hugh Perry, born on March 20th, 1936, The Upsetter himself, celebrating his 80th year on planet Earth, Lee "Scratch" Perry. Holding on to his makeshift gold-framed-sunglasses microphone, Scratch was singing and rhyming over one of Max Romeo's biggest hits, "I Chase the Devil" from the album 'War Ina Babylon' (1976), produced by Scratch in his own Black Ark Studio and home in Kingston, Jamaica.

It was two weeks before his Montreal show. Friend and CJLO alumni, Emily Brass points to a Lee Scratch Perry advertisement and says "We should go!" Record producer, songwriter, poet, painter, and Rastaman, Lee Scratch Perry is a fascinating man with a fascinating life. He produced works for Bob Marley and the Wailers, Paul McCartney, The Clash, Junior Byles, Junior Murvin, Max Romeo, Mighty Diamonds, The Heptones and many more. His innovated effects and remixing techniques added new levels to already existing reggae tracks. Alongside Ruddy Redwood, King Tubby, and Jah Shaka, Lee Scratch Perry is an important name in dub music, recognized as a pioneer in his genre.

When producing, Lee Scratch Perry balances drum and bass and then balances all other instruments to start recording. Riddim and then lyrics. As Scratch describes it "Riddim from the ghetto, lyrics from the streets" (Beats of the Heart - Reggae Documentary 1977).  However, Scratch was neither accompanied by drum nor bass.  Rather, Scratch was accompanied by the immensely talented Subatomic Sound System.

Spearheaded by Emch (producer/dj) and "brought to life by family local and worldwide" with a young gentleman playing the saxophone spectacularly and a silver dread show-stopper gentleman on the congas.

Subatominc Sound System played classic Lee Scratch Perry riddims. The saxophone and congas perfectly embellished the sound system. It was airy and ethereal. Without trying, they brought you to another dimension. Somewhere in the future perhaps.  He touched the crowd and the crowd soaked it all in. It was hard not to. You were in awe of this man and his impromptu word poetry. Don't bother trying to follow his brain when he is 10 steps ahead of you.  "Outta time. Outter space", Lee Scratch Perry would say on the microphone as he shared his wine and spliff with the audience.

Courtesy of Serge Lévesque

At the show, Emily and I met up with guitarist Claude Lemay and bassist Serge Lévesque from Montreal band, Les Têtes Ailleurs. Dressed to impress, these cats were cool and down to earth. Stoked about reading my concert review they urge everyone to watch The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee Scratch Perry (2008)

Also in audience were the beautiful rock n roll, Yaffa "Rare Rebel", Ethiopian reggae artist, Empress Deeqa, poet Master Zibz "the Black Current" of Kalmunity Tuesdays, and of course, the first smile to meet & greet me at the media table, our very own DShade of Something For the Radio.

The night opened with amazing performances by The Beatdown, Poirier, & Ghostbeard, and Jah Cutta. Not only did these opening acts kill it, they were also all Montreal artists. Claude and I were thrilled of this fact and agreed Montreal concert producers need to continue putting our local talent in the forefront.

We stepped out for some air and izm before Lee Scratch Perry's performance and discover an exposition near le Quartier de Spectacle.  Simple in theory and in presentation yet this "poetic" homage to log drying on the St Maurice river cost $65,000. Click here for more info.

Logs lying dead on the ground, says our friend of Les Têtes Ailleurs. Others say, "Why cut trees when you can smoke them".  It is time to head back to Scratch.

Courtesy of Serge Lévesque

"I'm a Zulu. I'm a Vodou. Who are you? I got new boots. Look at my boots. I'm a Zulu" are some sentences Lee Scratch Perry verbalized in his word association technique as he pointed to his boots.  Interestingly enough words associated to describe dub music may include synonyms like "laboratory" and "science".  Furthermore, "scientist" is a reference to Obeah, Jamaican term for Voodoo (Dub Stories). So what is Lee Scratch Perry really telling us?  

Courtesy of Serge Lévesque

Lee Scratch Perry once said, "Dub is seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, and feelings. Feeling something you love" (Dub Stories). "So I'm telling you the power of the black man. Song, words, and power, conquer all. 72 Nation was born to reggae music, rocksteady music, ska music, calypso music, merengue music, jazz music. Don't care what the music might be, but music is the only comforter. I'm telling you the truth man, from my computer room. Room of truth. The Ark of the covenant" (The Upsetter).

Do re mi fa so la ti do.

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Kelly Belfo is CJLO's World Music Director, and is also the founder of the longtime World Music program Beat The World hosted by Neil Lalla, every Saturday afternoons from noon to 2pm. She would like to thank Magazine Editor Stephanie D for setting up the media assignment, and Additional Content Editor Saturn De Los Angeles (Shibuya Crossing) for web and editing assistance, Emily for the idea of attending the show, and a huge merci beaucoup to Serge Lévesque for sharing your pictures with us!