Based on the title, which is now 22 years old, one could deny the level of innovation of the “Digital Analog Music Festival”. What pop music isn’t somehow handmade and yet created by the computer? Even a guitar-and-vocals lone warrior like Ed Sheeran multiplies his impact through electronic loop machines and, of course, in a high-tech studio. One could go into musicology here, but that’s not necessary, because patron, mayor and rock guitarist Dieter Reiter is simply right when he praises the “Digital Analog” as “Munich’s audiovisual showcase festival”.
Because how the creators – Stefan and Claudia Holmeier and their entire family – and the artists advance into the border areas of pop culture, how they stage the interfaces between the disciplines of music, video, art, text and technology and how they interact with each other Making this a requirement for artists who otherwise often work in isolation allows something unheard of to arise. And with free admission, it also allows you to experience familiar event spaces in a completely new way – after, for example, Tube, Rote Sonne, Haus der Kunst and Gasteig, the Muffatwerk is now included for the second time, including the two-part hall, Ampere, café and the courtyard. According to the patron, around 10,000 to 15,000 visitors can look forward to “two days full of sensual impulses”.
Basically, you can also see many well-known players from the Munich indie pop scene here, such as the female musician collective Barska And The Factorymelancholy experts like Leonie singsstadium popper in small format like New RivalsMunich Hamburger School branches like Rocket reviewGeneration Z fighters like Dirty Red Bandanaship-hop freethinkers like motive about various freestyle and beatbox champions, and bands who are looking for the sound of tomorrow in their retro role The Slow Nights (60s to 70s), Tydes (70s to 80s) and Covves (Shoegaze).
The visitor is immersed in video art digitally and analogue.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
And then there are those musicians who see themselves more as pop avant-garde, who live out their thirst for exploration with the endless possibilities of sound production using digital or analogue synthesizers. For example the live electro groups Back To The Bone, Rock Hyrax or in a merger exclusive here Loowfizzz and Effic music. Or Loisach Marci, for whom his alphorn and folk music were never enough, and who has since multiplied his range of styles electronically (here together with techno-jazz Big band Dachau). And Laura Glauber is committed to accessibility – including with her synth-pop band Lauraine She knows no limits when she samples the sounds of her prosthetic leg.
“Barska And The Factory” isn’t just about music either. The video artist Nimfa will stage her appearance.
(Photo: Anna Stangl)
Others approach it with almost scientific ambition: like Mathias Kettner, who calls himself “The Man with the Machine” because of his cable cabinet wall (partly developed by himself). Or a synth pioneer like Kurt Ader, who created fantastic soundscapes on his first Mini-Moog back in 1977. Or Ulrich Müller, who developed from a rock musician to an installation artist, composer for experimental radio plays such as ballet, electronics engineer, music author, theorist and university lecturer.
Screwdriver at work: Mathias Kettner alias “The Man with the Machine”.
(Photo: TJ Krebs)
All of them – including the former “techno prodigy” Martin Matiske, who once played at the legendary club Ultrasound as a twelve-year-old – are being challenged and promoted by a trick that usually makes club nights shine brighter and more exciting: video artists like Sicovaja, Dreschwerk Collective, Futurefoto or Zava are assigned equally to each band and allow listeners to see the music in a completely new way, with film samples, graphic art, animations, lighting, live camera recordings, or, like the Swiss-Costa Rican VJ Patrick Aere, also through AI-generated ones Pictures. Every concert becomes a unique sensory experience.
Get to the buttons: The audience can try out sound generation with the synthesizer themselves.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
“Digital analog” is always sensory overload. This doesn’t stop at the concerts: There are also discussions with cultural politicians, art installations, a film screening of “Demoszene” works, whose goal since the home computer era has always been to get the best in sound and graphics out of the hardware and thus (rather unrecognized) to UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage. And there is the synthesizer carousel of the fictional character Mr. Schneider in the gray coat. Every visitor can plug in cables, press buttons and turn wheels themselves – and be surprised by their own innovative power with the sound on the headphones.
Digital Analog Music Festival, October 6th and 7th, Friday 8:30 p.m. – 1 a.m., Sat. 8:30 p.m. – 4 a.m., Munich, Muffatwerk, www.digitalanalog.org