Oak City Move is a podcast on WKNC's 88.1 FM-HD1 Raleigh where we highlight people and organizations creating positive change in the triangle and beyond. Oak City Move can be heard on air every other Monday on 88.1 FM-HD1 Raleigh or online at wknc.org slash listen. For episodes and more information go to our blog at blog.wknc.org or follow us on SoundCloud at WKNC 88.1. Hello 88.1 WKNC Raleigh.
The song you just heard was Sweaty Linen by Surf Ninja 3. I'm Sophia Magnanini, your host, and you're listening to Oak City Move. Today we're joined by a very special guest, Kai Riedel, the director of Slingshot Festival of Music and Electronic Art. First up, I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to join me.
Sure. If you, for listeners who may not be familiar, if you want to say a little bit about yourself and also can you like describe what the Slingshot Festival is and what makes it unique? Sure, sure, sure. So I moved to Durham about 10 years ago to run MoogFest, which was a music and electronic art and technology festival.
And I had originally started Slingshot in Athens, Georgia, but when MoogFest wind up leaving Durham or just stopping, people were asking me what we should do next. So I restarted Slingshot in Durham back in 2021. And so Slingshot is a mostly electronic music and electronic art festival.
And that means we focus on electronic music, composers that work in electronic music, people that integrate technology in their music, and people that like to, you know, work with sounding creative ways. So there's dance music, there's technology, there is ambient music. We're kind of a home for all those people working in that sector.
Yeah, that's really cool. Especially I feel it's kind of hard to find a festival where there's so many of that together, unless you're like, going to these big festivals that are like, far away, California. So that's really cool that you're bringing it to Durham, which is so local.
And have you kind of seen it evolve since the beginnings? I know it's only been a couple of years. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've been doing Slingshot.
This is our 10th edition coming up. I did four editions in Athens, and then I guess this will be our sixth edition in Durham. But the, you know, the wedding of music and technology has been kind of evolving over the last 10 or 15 years, anyway.
So a lot of these events are kind of integrating, you know, technological aspects, workshops, you know, technology into their music performances, basically. So we just, we kind of invite performers that have that as part of their repertoire, people that are pushing technological boundaries, people that are interested in the art of sound, as well as the performance of sound, if that makes any sense. And so the wedding of music, art and technology have always been kind of, they've been brewing together for a long time.
And now they're inextricable. And so, you know, we'd like to give the triangle basically an opportunity to see that on a smaller scale than some of these bigger festivals, but at least a window into that world. And of course, there are a lot of DJs and these kinds of things as well, that perform.
So it's been a great place to have this kind of festival emerge, because there's not a lot of that happening in the triangle. So we've received a really warm welcome. And the community that comes out is incredible, actually.
Yeah, that's awesome. Especially since I feel like, yeah, the 21st century music and technology have become so intertwined. And so it's really cool that you get to see all these performers showcase that to like, almost the highest ability, which is really, really cool and see new things, see like experimental stuff, which is just really cool.
Yeah, the other part we try to do is we focus on the international community. And that means people coming from all around the globe to perform a slingshot. And that is something that sometimes is missing in the triangle, this kind of international integration, if you will.
So we have performers from Mexico, Indonesia, Europe. There's a whole litany of people. So we're internationally focused.
We're artist run, basically. The people that run it are a bunch of artists. We sometimes even perform a slingshot ourselves.
And so yeah, that kind of intersection of internationality and technology and music is kind of how we go. Yeah, that's really cool. That kind of leads into my next question.
I was going to ask, what kind of like artists or performers are most usually seen, like can attendees expect to see this year? Or if you have some favorites or want to share something about? Sure, sure. Yeah. You know, there are some people that work, that are DJs, that are coming, that create their own music.
So they're not just DJing other people's music. They're actually DJing music that they create. And so we like to kind of encourage people that produce their own music, opposed to just DJing other people's music, quite honestly.
I mean, there are some highlights, there's people I've been trying to get to come to Durham for a long time, that are now coming. One artist, her name is Sofia Cortes, she's Peruvian. And she, you know, just a great electronic composer, a great singer.
You know, it's going to be a rare opportunity for people to catch her because she, a lot of these people would never come to North Carolina, if it wasn't for us. Just because there's not really a vessel for them to land into. So am I excited about her? For sure.
We're bringing an artist from Uganda named Authentically Plastic, who I've always enjoyed their work. It's experimental. It's got an African tinge to it.
It's a little bit hard, hard hitting, but it's singular, and it's okay. So I'm looking forward to seeing both those for sure. And then there's some ambient artists that are coming.
We have a strong ambient program always. So we try to incorporate that as well. So I'm really excited about everybody.
But I'm especially excited about seeing those people, for sure. No, I love that, especially since a lot of them are international. That's really cool, because it's like, not only are they getting the chance to play for a different crowd, but people that wouldn't be able, like you're saying they wouldn't come tour here originally.
So it's also giving the local people a chance to see all new music. Yeah, that's the goal. It's also nice because a lot of the local performers get to play alongside these international performers that they would have never had that opportunity to do as well.
So I like to intermix the local and regional scene and with the international scene so we can highlight things that are happening around the triangle as well. Yeah, I love that. Because then also it's like a very nice community and artists can build off one another, like learn from one another, which also kind of goes into, it's kind of similar to my last question, but how do you go about curating such a diverse lineup of musicians and visual artists? Is there a kind of formula to it, or you kind of just go with the vibes? Formula.
I wish there was a formula. If there was just a formula, we'd just plug it in. We have not gone completely AI on the creation process yet.
But I've been booking festivals for over 10 years now. A lot of the booking agents know things I'm interested in, so they kind of offer things that might be interesting. But I'm also keeping abreast of music around the globe all the time.
And I'm very humbled because we have really anybody we want to come to Durham right now because they've appreciated the community we've developed. And I try to find a balance between people that maybe just like DJs and people that like more composerly electronic music and more abstract or experimental. So I try to do a cross section between all of those in the hopes that people bump into things that they might normally might not have to begin with.
They love Sofia Cortez, they know her music, they're coming to see her, but inevitably they're bumping up against other music that they didn't expect that maybe can open their ears a little bit. So the goal is to really integrate people, expand their listening palette, if you will. Yeah, that's awesome.
I know you're doing a lot of good leading into my next questions. Okay, perfect. Let's go.
This is not scripted, I'm sure. For real. But I was gonna ask, how do you see Slingshot playing a role in shaping the local music and art scenes in like Athens and Durham, wherever you guys usually do the festivals? Yeah, you know, we've worked with dozens and dozens of local musicians, ambient musicians, DJs, experimental artists, pop musicians.
We like to give the platform, share the platform with them. I've seen a lot of amazing examples of partnerships coming out of that where people's careers have been able to grow because they were involved with us in some capacity. And that makes me really happy that they were able to make connections or go on tour with people or just learn about new music in other ways they never have been.
So it's been great. There's a lot of talent in North Carolina. It's a little bit all over the state.
But the other part of it, and it does this for me too, because I play at Slingshot as well. It challenges me in a new way, quite honestly, because not only do we need support and other ways of hearing, but at times your own practice needs challenge. You need to kind of be challenged.
And I don't mean in a competitive way. I mean, just to be challenged about what your own capabilities are. And sometimes when you see other performers from different places that are doing rad stuff, it gives you ideas.
It helps you hone your craft more. It helps you kind of expand what's possible. And so we try to do that for people in the local scene as well, just to have them bump up against different music that expands their wheelhouse.
Right. That's really cool. Very inspirational, especially for, I can imagine, people who go to the festival that aren't really, that weren't originally that into electronic type music, but then hearing it and seeing all the different genres that it brings, and it kind of plants seeds in their mind of, oh, I really like this artist.
Or like, oh, this is really cool. Let me try something like that. Similar.
Exactly. Exactly. And again, like, you know, I usually perform a set at Slingshot myself.
And I will tell you, I try to do better because I know that the quality is high, you know? And so I put a little more effort into my set, even though I haven't had a lot of time to work on it at the moment. God bless me. But it just, you know, I'm a little bit of a school of like stones that rub together, fall off each other.
And so, you know, we need to be inspired. We need to be challenged. We need to, you know, we need all those things to grow.
And sometimes in North Carolina, there aren't tons of other opportunities. And so it just helps. Hopefully it just expands everybody's, you know, horizon about what's possible.
Yeah, it expands the scope of creativity almost, which is really cool. I try. I try.
And it also gives you a window about what's going on on the international community as well, because you don't have access to a lot of these things. And during Slingshot, you have kind of a concentrated access to a lot of these performers. And it helps, you know, it's economical, if you will, to go check these things out once a year, things like that.
Which is really cool. And I bet, yeah, they're going there. There's just so many different people that's like you might not have heard of that are just so, so cool.
And especially the international. Yeah. And also the people that come out are always inspiring.
And the people, the community that comes out, just them alone. You know, there's been years where I'm like, man, this is just too hard to do. I just like, it's just hard sometimes, especially here in Durham sometimes.
And then the event happens and I see the people that come out and just their enthusiasm, their presence, their own creative aspect they bring to the festival. It always re-energizes me. And I'm always like, okay, let's go.
Let's go again. Here we go. Which is, yeah, really because the festival I feel like is so different from, I mean, of course, there are the music festivals where it's just kind of like the bands, like the jam bands and such.
But this, I feel like, has such a different energy to it. And it's so many different types of energy, which is really cool. And I can only imagine the people coming out.
Really cool. Really great people. They're lovely.
They're lovely. And I'm always so grateful for them. And, you know, I think anybody that runs these kind of endeavors, sometimes it gets really hard to do.
And then you'll get a message from somebody that them coming out really meant something to them or things like that. And it's just, it's really special. Honestly, it's really special.
And we're also, we're an artist-run festival. So, you know, our sound people, our producer, myself, like we all actually all perform at the festival too. So I like this idea of like us putting it on the line as well.
Because it just, you know, it's easy to be a selector or curator, but when you have to put it on the line yourself in front of your peers, it helps really make sure you're walking the walk as well. Yes. Yes.
And it's terrifying also, by the way, but it kind of evens the playing field out. Yeah, it does. It's like, we're not only asking for me to perform, we're here to kind of like expose ourselves as well.
And, you know, it's just, it can be stressful because you're doing this whole thing and then also performing on top of it. So don't get me wrong. It's a little insane, but I like this idea of it being artist-run and categorically inclusive.
And just like, we're all in this together a little bit. Is your artist name also Kai Riddle or do you have a... Right now, I just go under Kaibo, K-I-B-O, which is a nickname my friend has for me. And that's just because I literally was like, when you're trying to figure out a band name, it's always like you're racking your brain.
I mean, if anybody's ever put a band together, like the name is always this like, oh my, you know, and so, and I've named, I've been under pseudonyms that are just terrible in retrospect. It's like, oh my God, this is, so he was like, just call it Kaibo because my name's in there. And so I just said, that sounds good to me.
Let's just roll with that instead of something super heady, things like that. No, yeah, I love that. That's how I'm rolling.
That's how I'm rolling right now. No, that's it. I really do like that name too.
And also, Okay, thank God. For any listeners that go to the festival and want to check it out, Kaibo. Right, yeah, there it is.
Out there humbling myself by the hour. But my next question was kind of, electronic arts are a big part of the festival. And can you kind of tell us how it's kind of shaped, or technology shapes the festival experience, or if there's any kind of interactive installations or immersive experiences that are planned for this year? Yeah.
Yeah. So the way we're, we've done immersive experiences in the past, the way we're doing the electronic art part this year, are people that work in sound are going to be running some workshops and things like that. So there's a, there's a duo from Indonesia that actually hooks up plants, and takes the data from plants and then makes music out of that data, these kinds of things.
We have another person called Rose, R-O-S-E, that's going to do a workshop on site about some of their production techniques. And there's another some other sound installation things happening. So it's a little less visual this year, a little more sound based in the tech sphere.
But our goal is to increase the visual aspect of things. We, we work with the fruit, I don't know if you've been to the fruit over here. I have not.
It's a big, a big art warehouse, basically. So, so the goal is to gradually use it more and more immersively. And of course, there's lights and there's lasers and blah, blah, blah.
But, but, but on the technology front, we're working more kind of on the sound front this year, people that are doing interesting, so like more sound immersion than visual immersion, if that makes any sense. Which that's really cool, because also, I feel like you can you get a lot of visual immersion from different things. But sound immersion, I feel like is very, like unique, especially the ways that you're describing the different events that you guys have planned.
That sounds really, really cool. Yeah, I mean, and we're all sound, we're sound obsessed. You know, let's just be honest over here.
So, so, so we just kind of work in that domain. And I mean, there's some visual stuff, but I'm excited about some of these people that are trying to push the sound in new ways and how they can demonstrate that for people, how they can get people involved with things like that. That's really cool.
Have you had any challenges? Or well, of course, there's probably tons and tons of challenges, putting a whole festival together. But do you have any challenges with blending the different artistic mediums? Or does it kind of mesh together in its own way? What's the most rewarding part? That's a great question. That's a great question.
I mean, a lot of the curation comes from my worldview, which is all these kind of different genres are related, and are intermingling in certain ways. And the aesthetics may, what the sound is maybe different, but the aesthetics and the approach is somewhat similar. So, you know, we wind up usually running the ambient stuff a little bit earlier in the evening and some of the harder stuff later in the evening.
So it has a nice graduation. And there's some pop musicians even coming. So, you know, there is a little bit delicacy on how to kind of make it all work together.
But after doing this for so long, like I've kind of figured out how to put things against each other or how to program it. So it feels like it's one worldview, just expressed in a bunch of different ways, if you will. Is it always easy? No, because the fruit is set up as a warehouse.
So we have different rooms in the warehouse that we're doing. And so if somebody's doing soft things in one room and really loud things in the other room, it can be hard sometimes. But this is really, you know, this is an event for sound and music lovers, really.
And so, you know, if you have that attitude going into it, it tends to make sense as you go along, because that's the primary driving force and worldview. Less about, you know, does it all evenly match? It's more about, you know, some sound obsessed people that are, you know, seeing this myriad of ways, sounding, expressing stuff around the globe, quite on an electronic music, basically. But that is just so unique.
I feel like I could that would also be really cool, like being in one set and kind of hearing another set and it like merging. You know, it does merge. So, yeah, people wind up jamming together, even though they don't know they're jamming together sometimes.
But yeah, you know, we have and there's also some softer things, you know, that play early evening. So it's not all hard kind of dance music. There are people that work in more soft mediums and more ambient mediums that are there.
So, you know, we're yeah, it's a it's a it's a family of music, but there's a bunch of different types, if you will. I wanted to ask, where do you see Slingshot kind of heading in the next few years? And also just like the relationship between music, technology and art, as well as the festival kind of gains more and more traction? Yeah, yeah. Good question.
I mean, we definitely want to expand in other venues in Durham and things like that, like try to integrate the whole of North Carolina here, quite honestly, because we're working with different museums and in different places and things like that. So I'd love to really unify North Carolina and just have everybody kind of concentrate here once a year in the triangle for people that are doing all this kind of work, because a lot of creative people across North Carolina, you know, we're also going to be doing some stuff in India and Brazil. That's really cool.
Yeah. So we're doing a small Slingshot event in India next year, something in Brazil. So we we expand that way as well, because we just that's our worldview.
We have connections there and people have asked us to do things. So I would love to do that. I would love to do more immersive installations in Durham, but also things outside of North Carolina are also important to us, quite honestly.
I think it's part of our worldview to interact with the international community. And so it's very natural for us to partner with people in different parts of the world, because, you know, Durham is not the most advanced music center, if you will. There's a lot of great music.
But as far as like pushing music forward, it's not really the center for that. And so obviously, we like to maximize things here and bring as many people together here. But we also are looking at different countries and even different states to expand in as well.
As far as music and technology, just to keep answering your question, were you going to say something? Oh, no, no, no, you're all good. Okay. I was going to say, music, art, technology is slowly becoming not irrelevant, but everything's so fused together that that's why we call it music and electronic art.
Because all music has some electronic art components to it and vice versa. But there are a lot of technologists we've worked with in the past that do data visualization, do sonification of data, these kinds of things. So maybe bringing those people back to the triangle a little bit.
During Moog Fest, in 2016 to 2019, it was kind of a hub for technology. So maybe integrating that a little bit more. But I think the conversation has to evolve.
A lot of people have been talking about music, art, technology for a long time. And I'm trying to think what the next step of that conversation is. So I don't have all the answers.
I just know that a lot of the festival models need to reauthorize themselves in a certain sense. And I'm trying to figure that out with Slingshot at the same time, with changing environments, with AI, with audience changing. There's a lot of things in the world changing, trying to figure out what the next move is.
That's really cool. Because as technology kind of grows, it also allows for all these kind of different new ways to make electronic art and also electronic music, which is going to be really cool to see. And also, it's really cool how you guys, it's a nice balance where it's like showing the international artists that it's like, we're not only having you guys come to us, but we're going to go and come to you guys.
So it's a nice kind of, it's probably really nice. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And it's, you know, there's a lot of interesting things happening all over the globe that a lot of us are completely unaware of, you know. Durham definitely isn't the center of all this and neither is the US.
You know, there's a lot of different things that are happening all over the globe that are completely incredible. The continent of Africa, what's going on in Brazil, Mexico and certain cities. India, like they're doing some amazing things.
And so it's humbling to ask to be a part of those things. And it, you know, we, it's the way information and creativity is traveling these days is so fast, that we are kind of all in this together, if that makes any sense. Not to sound too utopian.
But I mean, it's true. What advice would you give to artists who would someday want to be a part of a festival like this? And also for listeners who might want to get involved, what's the best way to support Slingshot? Yeah, I appreciate that. On the artist front, you know, I have a habit that I listen to everything people send me, which can take some time sometimes.
But, you know, I get random things that are info at slingshotfestival.com. People find our email, they send me them stuff, and I always listen to it. And what's been great about that is, yes, there's a lot of people that don't quite match. But I found some great artists, you know, through that.
We have an artist coming from Mexico named Muxi, which is M-U-X-X-X-E, kind of performance artist, very interesting musician and performer, you know, wrote me on just the info at Slingshot, and I listened to it. And it was like, this is great, let's go. So it's not all about just giant artists.
I'm trying to kind of uplift people that are doing things around the globe and locally. So I listen to it all. So the best way to do that is, you know, follow us on Instagram, see if you like what we're doing.
Reach out to the info at slingshotfestival.com if you're genuinely interested. Come out and join us, you know, in October, that would be great, too. And yeah, as far as support, that's how I would approach it.
Yeah. I get a lot of random messages. I try to respond to everything.
I really do. Sometimes as the festival gets closer, I can't respond to everything. But I'm always, you know, it takes a lot to kind of put yourself out there and say, hey, I'd love to be a part of this.
And that's no matter how big or small people are that that's always I'm always grateful for that. So, you know, even if it makes no sense to come, you know, I'm just like, listen, I listened. It was it was great for what that is.
It's not quite what we do, but it takes a lot. So we've all we've all been there in a place where we needed somebody just to hear us out. That's extremely important, especially for smaller artists, giving them the opportunity to work with something, especially with like some bigger artists or just to get themselves out there is really.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, it always helps if you're a musician to have a deadline is a great thing because you wind up getting your stuff done that you thought you were never going to get done. As we all know, this is not just music. So when people kind of sometimes might perform with us, they they know that that it encourages them to get their work done.
Myself included, by the way, I'm scrambling to get my own set to go. So I know it well. But yeah, I would love anybody's support.
You know, we're artists run, basically artists funded. So, you know, keeping that in mind, anybody can come out and support us is helping the cause. That's awesome.
That's so cool. And if you did just want to kind of give out a shout to the times of the festival as well. Sure.
The where it's at. Yeah, yeah. So we are October 10th to 12th in Durham at the Fruit.
The hours are pretty much 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on both those days. We're probably going to start a little earlier on Saturday. If you look on a resident advisor and look up Slingshot Festival, you can find our ticketing information.
We go you go to Slingshot Festival dot com and check out what we have going on there. Instagram. We're even we're on that as well.
So there's a few areas you can learn about what the program might look like. And then we're October 10th to 12th. There will be workshops during the day.
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