Arriving in Georgetown at Sonic Bloom 2013, we weren’t sure quite what to expect being excited and intrigued by the camping festival experience, anxious to attend the many performances/festivities planned for attendees.  The land was gorgeous. A raging river, crossed by two bridges separated the main music/vendor area from the main camping area, and a lake spread the stages along half of its bank. A forest blanketed the area, as well as an emerging sea of tents.

Thursday’s line up included Minnesota, Love & Light, Phutureprimitive, Sunsquabi, Future Simple Project, Atlantis, Cosmic Perspective, and yoga meetings. Love & Light had the sundown set, seen from across the lake. Their lively grooves and bright visuals lit up reflections in the lake with soul and color. As the night sky grew darker, the stars and multicolored lights began revealed between the trees. Phutureprimitive’s set followed, his bass struck a primal note amongst those gathered at the stage.

The much smaller Hummingbird stage also had an excellent flow the whole night, featuring The Digital Connection, Damnesia-Vu, plus many others. The stage itself was beautiful- handcrafted wood hummingbirds featuring log art enclosed by a cloth roofing draped over the crowd. A nearby hookah lounge and the Seed Dome afforded maximum relaxation nearby the more mellow stage.

We experienced relaXsonic’s Sonic Portal, a collection of gongs which pass vibrations along and throughout your body, and create a vibrational field around around you. It felt like an alien abduction lifting me through hyperspace.  The music was just scheduled to end early at 1am, so we headed back to our tent.  Unfortunately, it took nearly an hour to find our under-decorated tent without a flashlight in the pitch black!

A bit dizzy from last night’s intensity, we set out to explore the many booths and art exhibits that the festival had to offer. Notable tents and attractions included; The Seed Dome, almost as large as the second stage with beds and relaxing artwork; Apothecary, a smaller tent, offering personal & interpersonal advice and consultations; Tribe 13 Gallery, a long tent with exceptionally moving artwork from the featured visual artists; The New Earth Sacred Temple (NEST), a large nest with a decorative altar built out of nearby materials to relax and meditate in; and a live glass blowing station.

Artists painted live at stages and throughout the forest, surrounded by booths of unique clothing and merch. Many tables had special one of a kind items for giveaways, such as pipes, vaporizers, and collaborative paintings. After investigating these seemingly endless tents and attending a hooping workshop, it was 2:22 pm, the time of the official opening ceremony. Lux Moderna, a beautiful, “sonically-oriented alchemical priestess” was the officiator, and guided the crowd through a series of motions intended to orient one’s self with regard to the seven directions: North, South, East, West, Above, Below, and Within. This left the crowd wholly present, and joined by ritual. Poetry, speeches, and song followed. Eventually, this dispersed, and the afternoon programming commenced.

Opiuo, Andreilien, Random Rab, and Unlimited Aspect on the main stage, and Heavyweight Dub Champion, NastyNasty, Desert Dwellers, and ill-esha till late on the COdome stage.  Heavyweight Dub Champion began the rowdiest chunk of the progression, inside a giant jungle gym of a dome. Two live painters worked diligently on their second masterpieces of the festival on either side of the stage. Across the narrow bridge, Opiuo (having ditched a press conference earlier), proceeded to absolutely wreck the crowd with his liquidy glitch hop.  Once 5:30 am rolled around we were barely able to comprehend Desert Dwellers’ spiritually elevating psychedelia.

Awaking shortly after, a refreshing rinse and refueling propelled me to consciousness, just in time to attend a guided art meditation in the NEST. After an inward focusing, and a description of the vision behind the NEST, Nature (our workshop leader) guided us across the road to collect flowers and rocks from nearby to add to the temple.

Another gathering listened to a speaker talking about a new unified field theory developed by Nassim Haramein, a physicist.  The scope of the talk was limited, with many gaps leaving me curious, but this was understandable when taking into consideration the type of crowd the speaker was presenting this theory to.  Still quite fascinating, offering a huge shift in widely accepted science across the board if it turns out to be supportable with enough hard data.

I also attended a press conference with Bluetech and Random Rab.  They were quite enthusiastic about their musical evolution and current pursuits. Bluetech spoke at length about his sustainable growing procedures in Hawaii. Rab, when asked what had led to his change in musical style to what he calls heartspace, replied “I’m less pissed off now!”. Bluetech left to prepare his set, and the conference ended. His set was mellow, cascading gently from one beatscape to the next, with linear geometric figures intricately tracing behind him onscreen.

Next, Fractal Tribe, Lucent Dossier Experience, the Polish Ambassador, and VibeSquaD dominated the main stage. Ample performance artists contorted on steel constructions hung 5-10 feet above the stage: a hoop, a moon, a lotus, a top. Lucent Dossier proved to be the most unusual act of the whole festival. They combined acrobatics, skits, dancing, and aggressive dubstep drops paired with strobelike visuals. A lunatic circus act with such powerful backing beats was able to freak out everyone in the crowd a little. The last set we saw was Polish Ambassador David Sugalski’s occasionally bouncy beeptronica.

A slow morning progressed into a slow afternoon, during which I attended a workshop on aphrodisiacs called: Botanica Erotica. The speaker was knowledgeable, and had advice on connecting with yourself and your partner sprinkled into her speech. We avoided the windy storm which destroyed several camps, even tipping over a camper and throwing a tent into a tree! I was looking forward to the Michael Garfield slot (scheduled for 7pm), since I had interviewed him prior, and gained an appreciation for his art and music. I knew he was officiating a wedding between Andy Beyer and Michele Schenk, and I intended to be present to witness this and his surely lovely set to follow. It was a beautiful ceremony, unmarred by the negative natural forces attempting- and failing to bring the festivities down.

Once darkness fell, Akara took the main stage with a full quartet plus a singer. The fusion of gorgeous strings (always a winner with me) and light, warbling, accompanying techno drew me close, captivated by their finesse. Being the last set I was able to watch, as work early the next morning and a long drive prevented me from lingering later, the set still hangs in my mind as a gentle finish to an exceptional festival. Events such as the death, the tasering of a nude runner, and the presence of SWAT may have brought a somber cloud over the last few hours of the festival, but in my mind, the excellence of the entire production, music, art, and performance cast, as well as the happy memories I created far outshone any darkness present.

I would attend this next year, and would attend its followup festival, Arise Festival, without question.

MAGAZINE LINKS

1. Mujica Review: Sonic Bloom 2013 | Event Review & Photography
2. Michael Garfield | Interview
3. Sonic Bloom 2013 | Are YOU Ready!?