As summer comes to a close and the school year begins, the energy and excitement remains at a high as the “Pygmalion Music Festival”:http://pygmalionmusicfestival.com/ celebrates its seventh year of performances in Champaign-Urbana.
On September 21st through the 25th, the festival will showcase indie rock musicians from the international scene as well as the local area, said Seth Fein, Pygmalion’s founder.
“I think that’s a really important aspect of the festival,” said Fein, “being able to give local bands an opportunity to play on big stages with internationally known (touring) bands.”
Headliners include Explosions in the Sky, Cut Copy, Braid, MiMosa, Toro y Moi and more, said Fein.
“I’m really looking forward to checking out Toro y Moi. I missed him at Pitchfork and heard it was pretty fantastic,” said Michael Iacoponi, senior in ACES. “I’ll never get tired of seeing Cut Copy live, gonna cut a rug at that show.”
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Not only does the festival include international artists, but it also showcases emerging local musicians, such as Pamela Machala, The Dirty Feathers, Space Police and Iron Tigers.
“I’m really looking forward to Pygmalion this year,” said Pamela Machala, performing musician. “As for my songs, I’ll be playing some piano pop — think Ben Folds as a chick.”
As in previous years, Pygmalion will not be held in one central location.
“It’s different than an outdoor summertime festival in that primarily the shows take place in venues, primarily the Canopy Club and then smaller venues on campus like Channing-Murray, Red Herring and Caffe Paradiso,” said Fein.
For the first time, however, there will be an outdoor show on Saturday, September 24th in celebration of Polyvinyl Records’ 15th Anniversary, said Fein. It will be held behind the HighDive in downtown Champaign.
“That should be a really new and fun way to keep the festival growing, keep it fresh and add something new,” said Fein.
Another new feature this year is the addition of DJs among those performing.
“I want to present DJs as part of Pygmalion because I am smart enough to know what the temperature is in the national music scene,” said Fein.
Some of these DJs include DJ White Rabbit, DJ Kosmo and DJ SOLO.
“Each year (the festival) has gotten progressively more dynamic and bigger in scope,” said Fein. “I don’t want it to get too big. I want it to reflect Champaign-Urbana and its intimacy, but I think we can always grow in certain ways to make sure it remains fresh.”
This year, Fein expects around 7,500 attendants over the course of five days — a sum much larger than the 20 wristbands sold for the fest’s first year in 2005.
In terms of tickets, audiences can choose between the Pygmalion Music Festival pass, which grants five day admission to every show, currently priced at $65 each and tickets for individual shows, which range in price. In some cases, there is solely a cover charge at the door, said Fein.
“It’s a very unpretentious music festival,” said Fein. “You can see the bands really well and all the shows are pretty small, so anyone who attends is going to get a pretty intimate experience … I like to pride myself and the festival on that.”
