High Voltage: WIUX Culture Shock 2009

Prepare to get your culture shocked like never before, Bloomington. The annual WIUX-run all-day festival will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday in Dunn Meadow. The free event will include performances by nationally known artists Destroyer, Four Tet and Extra Golden, as well as locals TremFu (guess what that’s short for) and Found Objects.

The event will take a less-is-more approach this year by featuring fewer but better-known artists and starting later in the day, said WIUX Special Events Director Carrie Sloan.

The Union Board helped by sponsoring Destroyer, the nom de plume of Canadian indie rocker Dan Bejar, this year.

“We decided to work together by each sponsoring a particular artist,” Sloan said, adding that the festival’s new format would give it “a little more bang.”

Instead of the multiple-stage setup of previous years, each act will perform on one stage, beginning with the local bands. Patrick McMinn, IU senior and guitarist of the experimental duo Found Objects, has attended Culture Shock every year since coming to IU.

Last year’s lineup of Beach House, The Dodos and Pattern Is Movement was “stunning,” he said.

Excited about artists like Dan Friel, whom he described as “melodic noise music; abrasive and kind of catchy,” McMinn said he also looks forward to beginning the day by performing his band’s own music.

“We’ve gotten a reputation for being incredibly loud, which is something we want to uphold,” he said said, adding that the band tries to “pay attention to the actual pop song buried under the noise.”

Between acts, festival-goers can visit another new feature at Culture Shock: a vendor area with food from restaurants like Greek’s Pizzeria and Dats as well as local art.
Culture Shock coincides with the second annual Record Store Day, which celebrates independent record stores.

Appropriately, the event will include exclusive record sales and deals by Landlocked Music and TDs CDs and LPs.

Between sets, various performers will conduct short showcases including local DJs and the IU juggling club.

Donavan Gerken, an IU graduate and underground hip-hop DJ, said he has never been to Culture Shock before but plans to go this year for the festival’s eclectic mix of people and music.

“I can’t think of a better place than Bloomington for a thing called Culture Shock,” Gerken said. “For 2009, it’s going to blow every other show out of the water.”