Electric Eclectics, a festival of experimental music and sound art beloved by the Wavelength crew, takes place just a few weekends from now (July 29-31) on the Funny Farm, not far from bucolic Meaford, Ontario, 3 hours northwest of T.O. The Wavelog presents a guest post and EE preview by devoted festival-goer, Adam Hvisc...

Drive a few hours north of that huge Canadian city that lots of people think is really cool, you’ll encounter a bunch of cookie-cutter suburbs, scattered fields, concrete fortresses of consumerism, some pleasant windmills, and one of the best little musical surprises I’ve ever come across in this here land.

I’ve sat many nights at my electronic writing device getting sidetracked and apathetically condoning my lack of effort and execution in writing about this musical surprise. Frankly, a part of me wishes not to inform others about it; that’s a bit of the selfish and snobbish music explorer in me. But it’s like a secret mushroom picking spot in Scandinavia — if you’ve ever had one. You don’t want it compromised and over-reaped. If I tell you about this festival and you dig the hell out of it, maybe that’s one less patch of grass to pitch my tent/a bit longer wait in line for poutine (they even have a poutine dog! I think you can figure out this recipe)/less airspace to flail my arms 'n’ legs in physical confirmation of music appreciation/maybe that last L band shirt is sold and now I gotta shrink an XL/a friendly beer is intercepted before it reaches my trajectory/one less girl smilin’ my way/or a dude’s laugh preoccupied well prior to my zinger... But then again, music and especially festival life is nothing without you, me, us, him, her, and them... so check out this festival, this is Electric Eclectics!

Last summer I was wandering about the Internet and saw two intriguing words side by side, “Electric” and “Eclectics.” Quickly realizing it was an experimental electronic music festival, I knew it garnered further inspection. Having spent a bunch of recent years doing my personally tailored European music festival circuit (which included an old bit
of tarmac in Slovakia; a football pitch North of the Arctic Circle; 100,000+ people in Danish fields; a family-friendly downtown Oslo, Norway affair; and a hidden gem of a tiny festival named after “naked” in Denmark), I felt it proper to give more of a chance to my local Canadian turf.

Electric Eclectics is exactly what a music festival should be. Hidden away in some little known spot; a few hundred people who aren't forced to miss music while worshipping a beer tent or cash machine line-up; tents scattered about; dancing out in the woods; a little stage with sudden musical surprises and sounds that you question but can ultimately accept; and art and “art” strewn about in installation form or just placed on a pole, silo, or field. Oh, and also “Tous les Garçons et les Filles” by Françoise Hardy being projected on the side of an old truck trailer at 1am... something so calming about that song.

My Electric Eclectics experience last year was one of limited prior research. I didn’t spend time scouring photos of the festival or reading past band names. I just got off work early, had my bags, tent and beers packed ready to go, and to flee the commonalities of my mind and society and enjoy this festival with whatever it may entail. I only knew of a couple of bands before it, and thought I better not spend too much time doing music homework before I embark. Quite often an open-minded and cleansed eardrum is the best pathway to musical discovery. Although I did check out something called Gardenia before last summer’s festival, I only bring it up because the guy responsible for these cool sounds randomly ended up being my tent neighbour. What a great and humbling aspect to this festival: when not on a little wooden stage, the musicians are right there with you experiencing the same scenery and environment.

I drove up alone and quickly met a great group of festival friends/musicians to laugh, drink, philosophise and party with. Actually, there’s a bit more to that story. On the drive up, as soon as I got in closer proximity to the festival area, I was rushing a bit on the country farm roads to make it for one of the first few acts: Friendly Rich & the Lollipop People (they have a cover of the Littlest Hobo theme song “Maybe Tomorrow” — it’s amazing!).

In my vehicular haste, driving up and down little hilly roads, I asked myself, “Who would leave five garbage bags strewn across this road? Some forgetful, litterbug farmer?" Then I soon realized, as the “garbage bags” parted ways upon seeing my car, that a family of raccoons was now in grave danger. I slammed on my brakes and skidded a bit, as my front bumper corner struck an adolescent raccoon. I got out and watched the racoon flail and breathe one last breath. I still feel quite shitty about that. Another kilometre or so and I was entering the festival grounds. I pulled up to a random yet inviting patch of grass, saw a group of people/tents and inquired if it was cool to set up my tent there. They said yeah, and I quickly responded, “I just killed a raccoon.” Seems I really needed to get that off my chest. Long story short, this fantastic group of new friends and I had a great weekend of beers, music, dancing, jokes 'n’ laughter, swimming, greasy spoon breakfasts, and grocery/shop outings in town... all because of Electric Eclectics. Life just makes more sense and hope at a music festival, especially one of this smaller D.I.Y. size and huge avant-garde heart.

Electric Eclectics is this July 29^th to July 31^st 2011, at the Funny Farm up in Meaford. Explore more at http://c3r.ca/electriceclectics5/

— by Adam Hvisc