Picture the epicenter of the future of electronic music. Does Durham, North Carolina, come to mind? Probably not. Yet the down-home Americana town recently played host to what's essentially the UN of synthesizers.This past weekend some 30,000 people descended on downtown Durham for Moogfest, a four-day festival celebrating the future of music and technology, named for Robert Moog, who developed the first commercial synthesizer in 1964 and with it changed the face of popular music.
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The festival showed off the latest in music tech, like multi-instruments, smart drums, and user-friendly modular, and many, many synths. It hosted headliners like Odesza, Gary Numan, and GZA, and keynote speakers like virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier. This was all backdropped by the up-and-coming city, which is in the process of growing its downtown from street gangs to startups.Here, a selection of photos showcasing the wonderful juxtaposition between quaint small-town USA and the technological creative future.