Favorite Daytime Events

All photos on page by Nick Minieri

America and the Netherlands: A History of Dance Music in America and the Netherlands @ MMMMaven

One of the best features of Together is its inclusivity, specifically with informational talks and workshops on dance music and culture. One of the highlights included a discussion with Mark van Bergen “who literally wrote the book on Dutch Dance music,” according to Together founder David Day, who was also part of the panel. Rounded out by legendary Boston DJ Bob Diesel, Van Bergen spoke about his publication of Dutch Dance, outlining some of the historical facts contained within it.

The talk shed a good deal of insight on the roots of Dutch electronic music while also linking it with parallel American scenes like that of Detroit. Avoiding pretentiousness by providing information digestibly, the panel aimed to educate whether the attendants had vast or limited knowledge of dance music. For anyone attending Together that wanted to dip their toes in the electronic world, it was a welcoming privilege.

-SG

Synthesizer Petting Zoo @ MMMMaven

Have you ever heard a great act play a set and wonder, “how did they make those sounds?” The Synthesizer Petting Zoo is where you can take a hands-on approach to figuring that out. With equipment from big names like Roland, Moog, Novation and more on display, you could spend up to four hours twiddling knobs, tapping pads, and beeping around on hardware you’d otherwise have no access to unless you were willing to take a significant dip into your savings account.

-HG

The Workshops of danger!awesome

In honor of Together, the generally stripped-down interior of the Middlesex Lounge was reimagined with the trendiest of New York clubs as inspiration, complete with blackout panels fitted over the windows, color-sync lighting installed on the walls, and a massive, projection-mapped pyramid hanging from the ceiling. The festival’s beloved Triune pyramid (above), along with many of Together’s other visuals, were thanks to local maker space danger!awesome, who were also host to a number of great workshops for more of the festival’s tech-friendly attendees. Between talks on sequencing sound and light, dissecting a subwoofer, and… uh, plastic men of the future (see below), danger!awesome rapidly became our favorite spots for “fun science” in Cambridge.

– GG and TG