- It's not overstating the case to say that Form Arcosanti is one of the most physically dramatic festivals in the world. In 1971, the architect Paolo Soleri created Arcosanti as an urban laboratory in the Arizona high desert, about an hour north of Phoenix. He situated apartments around amphitheaters and plazas, pouring concrete domes and massive arcs deep within desert canyons. Jumping forward more than 40 years, the indie band Hundred Waters cruised through Arcosanti on tour. They became so taken with the site they vowed to return for the release show for their 2014 album, The Moon Rang Like A Bell. Through some sponsorship sleight of hand on the part of the band's management, a completely free, invite-based festival sprang up in Soleri's functional utopia last year. 2014's low-key, 250-person affair tripled in size to this year's three-day event, but the laid-back, convivial feel remained intact.
Arcosanti's expansion is both a good and a bad thing. Over the course of the weekend, busy artists like How To Dress Well luxuriated in the three-day break, holding court in the utopia's mostly vegetarian dining hall and taking part in impromptu hangs backstage. This attitude also applied to the programming. As Hundred Waters curates the event, the artists were booked loosely from their circle of friends. To their credit, this cadre spans from their OWSLA label boss Skrillex to LA modular scientist M. Geddes Gengras, but the days started somewhat slowly—acts playing between midday and 4 PM weren't particularly memorable. Skrillex was night one's unannounced guest, following Machinedrum's Vapor City live show and a unscheduled DJ set from The Range. The latter worked through his slo-mo positive trance jams as word of Skrillex's appearance spread through the main stage's concrete terraces. Skrillex stayed away from bombastic, nasty drops, opting instead for a party-rocking set, dropping the vocoder intro to Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic" alongside his own production for A$AP Rocky, "Wild For The Night."
As is often the case with SXSW, most dance artists peppered their sets with hip-hop. Jacques Greene, spinning at an unannounced afterparty near the site, played current radio smashes like Fetty Wap's "Trap Queen" interspersed with dreamy, off-kilter vocal house. The weekend was notably light on DJs in general. Some party-minded audience members seemed confused by a prevalence of loop pedals and ambient sounds. On Saturday, RVNG Intl. act Bing & Ruth played a minimalist piano set in the golden sunset. The setting and performer seemed an ideal match, but in practice, his Terry Riley-esque vamps felt too ephemeral, swallowed up by the wind whipping through a WWII-era parachute over the stage. Later that night, Holly Herndon ripped through claustrophobic, cubist acid, replete with her own uncanny valley vocals. Her obsession with the techno-present felt at odds in a post-hippie utopia where residents subsist making ceramics and bells.
The same could be said for Pharmakon's noise set on Sunday afternoon. Pharamakon, real name Margaret Chardiet, is one of the noise scene's brightest new stars, touring with establishment acts like Michael Gira's Swans on the strength of her cathartic performances. She banged on contact mic'd metal slabs, eventually climbing through the daytime crowd shrieking black metal-influenced vocals. In the ample downtime between sets, campers and day pass-holders could hike the property. Moog set up a soundlab of vintage and new equipment and filmed artists fiddling with prototype gear against breathtaking vistas.
The ad hoc programming came into focus on the final night, with M. Geddes Gengras, Julianna Barwick and How To Dress Well playing one after the other. Gengras, who wryly told me he'd be playing a "greatest hits set," huddled behind his suitcase modular in a Grateful Dead shirt, throwing subtle textures into the night. Barwick layered her soaring alto over piano. How To Dress Well's music is polarizing, yet his performance demeanor positioned him as Arcosanti's unofficial mascot. Before starting art school R&B tearjerker "Set It Right," he vigorously thanked the soundman, the crowd and nearly every act who played.
Photo credit: Jennifer Medina