Boomslang (music festival)

Last updated
Boomslang
Boomslang-snake-eyes.jpg
The Boomslang snake eyes logo
Genre Music festival
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s) Lexington, Kentucky (2009–2013)
Years active15
Inaugurated2009
Most recent23–25 September 2011
20–23 September 2012
Website boomslangfest.com

Boomslang: A Celebration of Sound & Art was an annual multi-venue music festival in Lexington, Kentucky, organized by the University of Kentucky's college radio station, WRFL. The festival was an extension of WRFL's mission to provide a platform for non-mainstream, non-commercial music and other programming not found elsewhere in the region, featuring a variety of artists from both the region and from around the world. Genres tended to be experimental in nature, but also included everything from alternative rock, post-rock, electronic, hip hop, punk rock, metal, and psychedelic rock bands. Other festival features included dance performances, local craft booths, fashion and art installations, workshops, literary events and film screenings, with a special focus on the artists and arts organizers that make Lexington unique.

Contents

Boomslang was primarily volunteer-run, relying on the efforts of WRFL staff members and led by WRFL's student Board of Directors.

Etymology

The name "Boomslang" was chosen in 2009 by a committee looking for a catchy word, after the highly venomous snake found in Africa. The coloration and "snake eyes" in the festival logo, designed by WRFL art director Robert Beatty, were inspired by the boomslang snake.

The paper lanterns commonly associated with Boomslang Globe Lights.jpg
The paper lanterns commonly associated with Boomslang

History

Creation

American avant-garde and minimalist composer, guitarist, and trumpet player Rhys Chatham at the 2010 Boomslang music festival. Rhys Chatham.jpg
American avant-garde and minimalist composer, guitarist, and trumpet player Rhys Chatham at the 2010 Boomslang music festival.

The inaugural 2009 festival was conceived and organized by WRFL DJs in the attempt to highlight Lexington's unique venues, artists and organizations, with an emphasis on the local counter-culture which WRFL has nurtured since its inception. The lineup included a couple of nods to the 1960s and 1970s with German krautrock pioneers Faust and masters of psychedelic Tropicalia Os Mutantes. The line-up was heavy on psychedelic and post-rock music, also including Mission of Burma, Papa M (the solo project of Slint guitarist Dave Pajo), The Black Angels, Bardo Pond, a mixed media presentation by Mark Hosler, a founding member of Negativland. The line-up also included the first live collaboration between Lexington-based Casino Versus Japan and Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox (aka Atlas Sound), [1] who would later tour together in 2010.

Another key concept behind Boomslang was the inclusion of non-musical features, including a 2009 circus-themed fashion show and a carnival scene that took place in the parking lot of one of the primary venues, stretching the boundaries of traditional rock culture. The 2009 and 2010 events also included a tent for display of locally-made art for sale, games, and information tables for political and environmental non-profit groups promoting counter-culture and political awareness. [2]

It was announced on May 7, 2014, that WRFL would no longer host the festival, effectively ending it.

Satellite events

Boomslang strove to provide a platform for Lexington's left-of-center creative community, hosting a number "satellite events" organized by various local artists and organizations. In addition to those listed below, Boomslang hosted a Dorkbot workshop on D.I.Y. music instruments. [3]

Stars with Accents

Each year Accents, a WRFL radio show for literature, art, and culture, hosted Stars with Accents, a literary celebration supported by the Kentucky Women Writers Conference and The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. Stars with Accents featured readings by authors such as Crystal Wilkinson, C.E. Morgan, Sallie Bingham, and more. [4]

An art installation piece at Boomslang's 2010 Neighborhood Series. Neighborhood Series 1.jpg
An art installation piece at Boomslang's 2010 Neighborhood Series.

Neighborhood Series Fashion Event

Boomslang also teamed up with the Lexington Fashion Collaborative to bring innovative local fashion and art to the festival, with the second annual installation of The Neighborhood Series. [5] The Neighborhood Series took place at Land of Tomorrow Gallery, a gallery owned and operated by University of Kentucky College of Design professors, and included eight installation pieces with coordinating fashion-forward costumes that reflected eight locally owned businesses. The materials used to create the works of art came straight from each business's trash.

Queerslang

Boomslang 2011 marked the inaugural event of Queerslang, an all-day, multi-media, entertainment and education-based event, which strives to lift up the local, LGBTQIA community. The mission of Queerslang is to create visibility for the LGBTQIA community and to highlight shared interests in music, art and performance with the whole of the Lexington community. [6]

Queerslang (which has continued, outliving the original Boomslang festival) provides free "skillshare" workshops, film screenings in addition to the Queerslang dance party. Workshops are hosted by touring and local artists and speakers, and cover a variety of subjects both geared to the LGBTQIA community and to a broader arts community. Skillshare workshops have covered such topics as safe sex, turntablism, tattoo art. Film screenings at the 2011 Queerslang included special guest Meredith Heil from UC Santa Cruz, who showcased her short documentary, "Whistlin’ Dixie."

Kid-friendly Music

Boomslang hosted two kid-oriented concerts, organized by the host of Ages 3 and Up!, a WRFL show geared toward kids of all ages. 2010's kid-friendly event featured children's artist and ukulele player Heidi Swedberg, perhaps best known for her role as Susan on Seinfeld. [7]

Film

The festival teamed up with local film-oriented institutions Lexington Film League and KET to incorporate film into the fest, including a 2010 screening of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" in the parking lot of the venue Buster's. Many other artists have incorporated film and video projections into their performances, including Sound/Vision, offthesky, Wooden Shjips, and Strangers Family Band.

Doomslang

Beginning in 2012 and also done in 2013, Boomslang started a spin-off set for one of the stages entitled "Doomslang". This set featured bands primarily from the doom metal scene though other heavy metal genres have been incorporated. Saint Vitus headlined the first year along with White Hills, Weedeater, Author & Punisher and Sourvein. Pallbearer headlined the 2013 edition with Thou.

Boomslang lineups by year

2013

Blonde Redhead, Clinic, BODY/HEAD, Saul Williams, ADULT., Youth Lagoon, Com Truise, The Blow, Bleached, Chelsea Wolfe, Pallbearer, Thou, Cunnin Lynguists, Grails, Marnie Stern, Scout Niblett, No Joy, Heatsick, Pop. 1280, ITAL, Inter Arma, Pure X, Dope Body, Locrian, Dent May, Idiot Glee, Graham Lambkin/Jason Lescalleet, Fielded, Jamaican Queens, Young Widows, Nemo Achida, A Tribe Called Lex, Ancient Warfare, Jeanne Vomit Terror & Ed Sunspot, Carl Calm, Motherplant, Potty Mouth, (OHLM), Too Many Drummers, Electric Citizen, Mayonnaise, Stampede.

2012

The Jesus & Mary Chain, Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel), Das Racist, Cloud Nothings, Deerhoof, Saint Vitus, Negativland, Futurebirds, Girl in A Coma, Oneohtrix Point Never, Weedeater, The Music Tapes, The Apache Relay, Author & Punisher, Buke and Gase, The Younger Lovers, São Paulo Underground, Five Knives, Sleeping Bag, William Tyler, Gary War, Janka Nabay & The Bubu Gang, White Hills, Hive Mind, Dinosaur Feathers, XAMBUCA, Merkaba, Sourvein

2011

Swans, Pelican, Tom Tom Club, Ty Segall, Sir Richard Bishop, Julianna Barwick, Horseback, Secret Chiefs 3, The Ssion, MEN, Woodsman [8]

2010

American space rock/psychedelic rock band Wooden Shjips and Sonic Boom at the 2010 Boomslang music festival. Spectrum and Wooden Shjips.jpg
American space rock/psychedelic rock band Wooden Shjips and Sonic Boom at the 2010 Boomslang music festival.

Rhys Chatham, Death, Sonic Boom, Akron/Family, Ben Frost, Glass Candy, Harlem, Rangda (featuring Ben Chasny, Chris Corsano, and Sir Richard Bishop), Wooden Shjips, His Name Is Alive, Wolf Eyes, Thee American Revolution, Burning Star Core, Casino Versus Japan, Phantom Family Halo, Sapat, The Barry Mando Project, Blood Carries Disease, Brothertiger, City Center, Cymarshall Law, Devine Carama, Deluxin’, Diminished Men, DJ Warrenpeace, Everyone Lives Everyone Wins w/ Ghost Affirmation, Paul K & the Weathermen, Ford Theatre Reunion, Global.Ken, Ian Thomas, Jews and Catholics, J. Marinelli, Jovontaes, Jozef van Wissem, Loose Change, Lucky Pineapple, March Madness Marching Band, Milyoo, Cheyenne Mize, Mr. Daybony, Naam, The Nativity Singers, The N.E.C., Nemo Quotidian, Pezhed & the Blipsquad, Psychic Steel, R. Keenan Lawler, The Royal Batfangs, The Seedy Seeds, Silverware, Sound/Vision, Soft Opening, Spooky Qs, Stampede, Heidi Swedberg, Tiny Folk, Warmer Milks, Vee Dee, The Web, Zak Riles, WRFL DJs [9] [10]

2009

Faust, Os Mutantes, The Black Angels, Shipping News, Papa M, Rachel's (Rachel Grimes), Negativland (Mark Hosler), Atlas Sound, Bardo Pond, Disappears, Teeth Mountain, Hair Police, Burning Star Core, Casino Versus Japan, These United States, Lush Life, Tiny Fights, Sound/Vision, Everyone Lives Everyone Wins [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Kentucky</span>

The Music of Kentucky is heavily centered on Appalachian folk music and its descendants, especially in eastern Kentucky. Bluegrass music is of particular regional importance; Bill Monroe, "the father of bluegrass music", was born in the Ohio County community of Rosine, and he named his band, the Blue Grass Boys, after the bluegrass state, i.e., Kentucky. Travis picking, the influential guitar style, is named after Merle Travis, born and raised in Muhlenberg County. Kentucky is home to the Country Music Highway, which extends from Portsmouth, Ohio, to the Virginia border in Pike County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montreux Jazz Festival</span> Music festival in Switzerland

The Montreux Jazz Festival is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual jazz festival in the world after Canada's Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Over the Edge is a sound collage radio program hosted and produced in the United States by Jon Leidecker ("Wobbly") and Robert Cole ("KrOB"), who took over in 2015 after the death of longtime host Don Joyce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People Like Us (musician)</span> Musical artist

People Like Us is the stage name of London DJ multimedia artist Vicki Bennett. She has released a number of albums featuring collages of music and sound since 1992. In recent years, she has performed at a number of modern art galleries, festivals and universities.

Bristol is a city in South West England. As the largest city in the region it is a centre for the arts and sport. The region has a distinct West Country dialect.

Antediluvian Rocking Horse (ARH), formed 1994 St. Kilda, Australia, is an audio project maintained by two core artists credited as DJ2 and DJ3. DJ2 is Paul Wain, a sculptor and graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts. DJ3 is Susan King, a collage artist, writer and anti-copyright advocate. The composer Ollie Olsen was also a member. The project produces music and soundscapes that are entirely recycled from other recorded works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Orleans Museum of Art</span> Art museum in New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Museum of Art is the oldest fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans. It is situated within City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue, and near the terminus of the "Canal Street - City Park" streetcar line. It was established in 1911 as the Delgado Museum of Art.

Scratch video was a British video art movement that emerged in the early to mid-1980s. It was characterised by the use of found footage, fast cutting, and multi-layered rhythms. As a form of outsider art, it challenged many of the establishment assumptions of broadcast television, as well of those of gallery-bound video art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Negativland</span> American experimental music group

Negativland is an American experimental music band that originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. The core of the band consists of Mark Hosler, David Wills, Peter Conheim and Jon Leidecker. Negativland has released a number of albums ranging from pure sound collage to more musical expositions. These have mostly been released on their own label, Seeland Records. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they produced several recordings for SST Records, most notably Escape from Noise, Helter Stupid and U2. Negativland were sued by the band U2's record label, Island Records, and by SST Records, which brought them widespread publicity and notoriety. The band is also part of the Church of the SubGenius parody religion. Negativland coined the term culture jamming in 1984. Don Joyce added it to the album JamCon '84 in the form of "culture jammer". The band took their name from a Neu! track, with their record label Seeland Records also being named after another Neu! track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wooden Shjips</span> American experimental/psychedelic rock band

Wooden Shjips is an American experimental and psychedelic rock band from San Francisco, California.

The Artmania Festival is an art festival, held in Sibiu, a town in Romania. The festival, one of the most important projects developed by ARTmania, was first organized in the summer of 2006 and has been held every summer since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branchage</span>

Branchage is a film festival held in the Channel Island of Jersey. The festival was founded in 2008 by filmmaker Xanthe Hamilton to bring film and arts to the island. It is a mix of site-specific film screenings held across the island in churches, castles, barns, and bunkers alongside more conventional arts spaces and cinemas, alongside film and art commissions, live soundtracks to film, short film programmes, industry networking and spectacular themed parties mixing live performance, name DJs and cabaret.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cube Microplex</span>

The Cube Microplex is cinema and event venue in Bristol, England. It operates as a non-profit cooperative and is entirely staffed by volunteers. Since opening in 1998 it has hosted international and local artistic and cultural events including films and music performances as well as providing a focal point for Bristol's artistic community. The building includes a roughly 108 seat auditorium as well as a bar serving local and ethical products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elle Mehrmand</span> American new media performance artist

Elle Mehrmand is a new media performance artist and musician. Mehrmand's work combines the body and electronics. Her performance art work has been presented at museums, galleries and art festivals throughout the Americas. She is a member of the band Assembly of Mazes.

Waves is the annual cultural festival of BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus. It is a three-day-long festival held in the late October – early November period. It is a cultural festival that is held annually to celebrate music, dance and art. It is an inter college festival with students coming in to participate in events and competitions from all over the country.

Nadeshicon is a Japanese culture / anime convention held in April in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada at the Centre des congrès de Québec convention center since 2019, and initially at Université Laval in the Alphonse-Desjardins and Maurice-Pollack buildings from 2011 to 2018. The convention is run and organized by Club Animé Québec(CAQ), an extracurricular student association and nonprofit organization. It is recognized as one of the main Japanese cultural events in the city. Like most other anime conventions, Nadeshicon's events, attractions and activities include a Dealer's Room and an Artists Alley, anime screenings, panels and workshops, AMV contests, game shows, cosplay events, and video games stations. A part of the convention is also dedicated to cultural Japanese activities.

The Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) is an international film festival which takes place annually in York, England, at the beginning of November. Founded in 2011, it is a celebration of independent film from around the world, and an outlet for supporting and championing filmmaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chennai Rainbow Pride</span> LGBTIQA+ Pride March

The Chennai Rainbow Pride March has been held by members of Tamil Nadu LGBTIQA+ communities every June since 2009. The pride march is organised under the banner Tamil Nadu Rainbow Coalition, which is a collective of LGBT individuals, supporters, and organizations working on human rights and healthcare for the LGBTQIA community. The Pride March occurs on the final Sunday of June every year. The Pride March is usually preceded by a month-long series of events organized by NGOs and organizations to inculcate awareness and support for the LGBTQ community, such as panel discussions, film screenings, and cultural performances. The Chennai Vaanavil Suyamariyadhai Perani a.k.a. Chennai Rainbow Self-Respect March is known for being inter-sectional in nature as it addresses issues with multiple axes such as caste, class, religion coupled with gender discrimination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Beatty (artist)</span> American artist and musician (born 1981)

Robert Beatty is an American artist and musician based in Lexington, Kentucky, best known for his noise band Hair Police, his solo project Three Legged Race, and most recently for his work designing album covers, including Tame Impala's Currents (2015), Kesha's Rainbow (2017), and limited-edition artwork for The Weeknd's Dawn FM (2022).

8-Ball Community is a New York City-based artist collective that operates a zine library, online radio station, and online public-access television station.

References

  1. Jordan, Matt. "Casino vs Japan & Atlas Sound @ Boomslang 10.9.09". You Ain't No Picasso. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  2. "WRFL's Boomslang with Faust, Os Mutantes, The Black Angels & MANY MORE". Backseat Sandbar. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  3. Yalcin, Senom. "dorkbotLex #7, Saturday October 10, 1-5 pm (during Boomslang Festival), at HopHop". DorkbotLex. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  4. Sutherland, Eric. "Stars with Accents-a Boomslang Poetry Event". Facebook. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  5. "Boomslang presents…Neighborhood Series Part Deux!". Boomslang 2011. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  6. "Boomslang presents…the inaugural Queerslang!". Boomslang 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  7. "Playlist 9/11/10". Ages 3 and Up. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  8. "WRFL's Boomslang announces first round of 2011 line-up". Ventvox. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  9. Jordan, Matt. "Boomslang brings Death, Akron/Family, Harlem + more to Lex". You Ain't No Picasso. Archived from the original on 4 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  10. "Boomslang 2011". Music Festival Junkies. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  11. Jordan, Matt. "Lexington's Boomslang fest announces initial lineup!". You Ain't No Picasso. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2011.