F.A.R.M FEST Music and Arts Festival Preview
Future of Artistic and Revolutionary Minds
July 22-24, 2016
Paradise Lakes Campground
Hammonton, New Jersey
For Tickets: http://www.farmmusicandarts.com/tickets/
Written by Michael Tucker
For the third year in a row, F.A.R.MFEST is offering up one of the tastiest lineups of the summer. Featuring a bumper crop of innovative EDM artists, along with an array of superb musicians from other genres, groundbreaking visual artists, and body/mind/soul enhancing workshops. And with all of this going down in one of the dopest venues around, FARM FEST is one that you won’t want to miss. With an exquisite blend of innovative beats and organic, live violin sounds, the headliner, Emancipator is one of my favorite artists to experience live. Featuring the brilliant beat patterns and production of Doug Appling and the virtuoso violin skills of Ilya Goldberg, Emancipator’s live shows are that rare, magical blend of hip-hop dance, psychedelia, and rich, soulful, emotional experience. If you haven’t checked out Emancipator’s latest musical offering, Seven Seas, I highly suggest doing so: it’s truly a journey you’ll want to take. Also, not to be missed this time around are The Floozies, two brothers who put on one of the best dance parties going. Their signature electro-funk sound is sure to keep the crowd at Paradise Lakes grooving and smiling. Savoy will be bringing their high energy and (hopefully) their spectacular laser show to the mix as well. A veteran of the last two FARM FESTs, Liquid Stranger, is going to be bringing his face-melting, experimental, genre-merging sounds yet again this year. Trust me-when I say you don’t want to miss this set. I’m also particularly excited about the abominably freaky fun of Yheti, the positive sounds of Brightside, the super-group, CIA, featuring members of Particle and the Disco Biscuits, and Baltimore’s own, Soohan.
If EDM is not your thing, don’t worry—there is plenty of variety. Aqueous are coming to FARMFEST this year with their groove rock sound. I saw them play one of the best sets at “the too incredibly good for words” Mad Tea Party Jam 5. I can’t wait to get down with them again. Jamtronica kings, Tweed, are also showing up on this year’s lineup. More musical goodness will be brought to this year’s festivities by Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band, Dwight and Nicole, and Greener Grounds.
Visual artistry is an integral part of the festival experience. FARMFEST is featuring a stellar crop of innovative visual artists this year. As always, bring some art supplies of your own and join in the creativity. Festivals are always a great way to be inspired and re-connect with your inner artist.
Workshops that nourish the mind, body, and soul are a big part of the FARM FEST experience. I’m always excited to go to a festival that offers more than just a party. One of the highlights of last year’s event was the plant walk given by Dan de Lion of Return to Nature, during which I learned so much about how to communicate with plant intelligence and how to visually figure out a plant’s medicinal qualities. This year’s event looks to be even more chock full of wonderful workshops, including more plant wisdom from Dan De Lion, information and entertainment from David London about magic, a talk about Naked Geometry, and much, much more.
Last but not least, did I mention that that venue is one of the dopest that I’ve seen? Paradise Lakes Campground is in a pristinely beautiful pine barren, overflowing with natural beauty. And-it features a beautiful sandy beach with a lake. Last year the main stage was right on the beach. I’ll never forget watching people enjoy music as they lay on floaties on the lake. I can’t wait to get back to Paradise (Lakes) again this year, and I hope to see all of you there! Come grow with us!
We talked to festival organizer Patrick Ryan about how the festival started and what we can expect for this year:
How did FARM Fest begin?
Farmfest started as a group of really good friends all getting together at a coffee shop. We deciding that we wanted to bring together our skills as artists to create a festival which we all loved so much surrounding the psychedelic scene with new music and arts that were separate from the norm. It was created in one of our friends farm so that’s where “Farm Fest” came together. It was a rainy night but our whole county of party goers and music fans alike showed in attendance for a packed out evening using a wagon as a stage and big party tent to cover it with lights and speakers. Artist from jam to hip/hop to electronic gathered all under one stage from grassroots backgrounds around NJ coming to make it happen. After we had a couple of pr- parties the next year we decided there was a deeper meaning behind it all rather than just a farm, an acronym, Future of Artist and Revolutionary Minds, where new age thinking and event creating all come together and the arts and ideas and music all blending in as one.
How is FARM Fest different from other festivals?
We want to separate ourselves from other festivals by having new and innovative ideas surrounding the ideas of free expressions, to be able to govern ourselves in our own minds, and to speak of awareness and conscious ideas of new living while pushing the limits in arts and music alike with experimental ideas all blending the two together. Creating sounds that aren’t normally heard before, performance arts that have never been really seen before, speaking of ideas that have never really been spoken before, and reaching people that have never really been reached before. Bringing new culture and expressions together in dysfunctional functional family
How do you choose the artists on your lineup?
We choose the artist on our lineup based on uniqueness of the artist, and based on other acts in the experimental scene, we want artists that come from a multi genre multi performance background that creates for a diverse experience and covers the bases for all psychedelic music appreciators alike.
Who is an act that you are excited to have this year?
I think having acts like Boom Box and Emancipator are very interesting to have and there melodies are very comforting to all listeners who want to just groove and move, vibe and dance, but I’m excited about the different bass artists we have this year as well, including the different live bands we have really make it hard to choose a favorite. Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul band open for Bernie Sanders at his rallies which really is going to be empowering to here and the jam funk, reggae music we have is so unique and multi dimensional it’s going to be fascinating to hear.
What do you hope people take away from their experience?
People need to come together in this time of need and build connections separate from their average lives, embrace the weird.
Tell me about the venue at Paradise Lakes.
Paradise Lakes is a beautiful campground in Hammonton, NJ based right in the pine barrens of New Jersey, deep in the woods with a beautiful stage beach view where you can swim and play in the lake while enjoying the tall trees and the country side with friends and family. We will have lots of workshops on permaculture, yoga, meditation, activism, healing space, and Body/Spirit awareness will be on the grounds, with live painting, wire crystal wrapping, and Art installations all in display allowing for a interactive dimensional experience.
How much are tickets and what are the options?
Tickets are at 135 right now but they go up to 165 the week of the festival, but there are many opportunities to get involved like our ambassador program where if you sell 6 tickets to your friends for a discounted price you get a free ticket and if you sell 6 more you get a full merch package which includes a t-shirt/tank top/hat pins/FARM fest hat all packaged in! There will be a VIP experience this year with an exclusive in house stage where there will be secret artist sets on display.
Website: http://www.farmmusicandarts.com/
For tickets: http://www.farmmusicandarts.com/tickets/
