Mountain Oasis Announces Full Schedule

Mountain Oasis takes place in Asheville, N.C
from Oct. 25-27

October has only just begun, but my head is already spinning over how much awesome shit is happening throughout the next few weeks. Ever since the inception of Moogfest I've wanted to get out to Asheville to check out more music. With the exception of one mind-bending Sufjan Stevens show, I'm basically ignorant of the fantastic venues that are in the gorgeous mountain town. But come Oct. 25, I'll be immersing myself in one of the most promising festivals I've seen in years. Mountain Oasis is the newewst festival in the AC Entertainment family, the same folks that organize Bonnaroo, Forecastle and in previous years Moogfest. This year the company chose to drop the Moogfest moniker in favor of a new festival--although Moogfest will continue in April--that boasts one of the most unique schedules I've seen all year.

When news was released that Neutral Milk Hotel would be playing a full band performance in Asheville for Mountain Oasis I was literally speechless. A festival that calls itself an "electronic music summit" booked one of the most revered and reclusive indie rock acts in the past two decades and followed it up by announcing powerhouse acts like Nine Inch Nails, Bassnectar and Animal Collective. Mountain Oasis has one of the most well-rounded lineups on the festival circuit, they've managed to pull in an insane amount of high-profile electronic music while giving enough folk, industrial, experimental and indie rock to keep everyone entertained.

Yesterday the festival announced their full schedule, which naturally has quite a few conflicts that will surely make the weekend a unique experience for every attendee. There's so many combinations of acts to see that it's highly unlikely that any two people will share the same experience, which is one of my favorite parts of this festival. The amount of people that are pissed off that Neutral Milk Hotel will be performing at the same time as Bassnectar on Friday night are probably minimal, but two entirely different crowds will surely be undergoing life-altering experiences at their respective shows. The U.S Cellular Center is home to the ExploreAsheville.Com Arena and Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, meaning that while Jeff Mangum is shouting and crooning "comforting things in your ear," Bassnectar will be satisfying all of your sub-bass needs in the same building. Stop and wrap your mind around that. People can go see the anti-folk musings of Daniel Johnston and follow it up with the hip-hop mastery of Deltron 3030 without even leaving the building. After catching the end of Bassnectar fans will have another difficult decision to make between the heady vibes of Baths or the brilliantly spastic sounds of the young producer XXYYXX.

Mountain Oasis brings Nine Inch Nails, Bassnectar and Neutral Milk Hotel to Asheville

Trent Reznor will pull double-duty at Mountain Oasis
with Nine Inch Nails and How To Destroy Angels
Photo by: Rob Sheridan

When news first broke about Mountain Oasis nobody really knew what to expect about the festival.  There was debate going on over whether or not Moogfest would get pushed to a different date (it did, April 25-27) and what kind of overlap these festival's lineups would have.  Mountain Oasis is entering a bustling North Carolina festival scene, after Hopscotch released a dazzling lineup last week it was going to be difficult to steal the thunder of the Triangle's premier festival.  But if Mountain Oasis' goal was to get people talking, they've certainly done it.

The festival seemed to be geared towards electronic music, but the lineup announcement that came this morning featured one of the most diverse and eclectic collection of groups that I've seen in recent memory.  Headlined by a re-united Nine Inch Nails, Mountain Oasis boasts EDM mega-stars like Bassnectar and Pretty Lights while simultaneously featuring indie-icons like Neutral Milk Hotel, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Animal Collective.