Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore to 2019 Moog Innovation Award – Rolling Stone

Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore will receive the 2019 Moog Innovation Award at this year’s Moogfest. A ceremony for the prize — which honors artists who exemplify the “bold, innovative spirit” of synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog — will take place Friday, April 26th following Gore’s keynote conversation with Mute Records founder Daniel Miller.

The annual music-technology festival kicks off Thursday, April 25th and runs through Sunday, the 28th in Durham, North Carolina. Previous Moog Innovation Award winners include Brian Eno, Bernie Worrell (Parliament-Funkadelic, Talking Heads), Devo, Gary Numan, Bernie Krause and Thomas Dolby — the latter of whom will perform and present at the 2019 event alongside Questlove, Mount Kimbie, Kimbra, the Field, William Basinski and Matthew Dear, among others.

Moog Music will celebrate the festival’s Thursday launch by unveiling their latest synth: Matriarch, a four-note, paraphonic analog model with built-in sequencer, arpeggiator, stereo ladder filters and stereo analog delay. The company previewed the instrument in a promo video featuring electronic producer Max Ravitz, multi-instrumentalist Lisa Bella Donna, Assassin’s Creed composer Sarah Schachner and Paris Strother of R&B act King.

An exclusive Moogfest Edition of Matriarch is available to pre-order through April 28th via Guitar Center, either online or in-person at the Moog Pop-Up Factory; these special models will be the first 250 to ship from the Moog Factory. The regular version will be available to pre-order through authorized Moog dealers worldwide starting Monday, April 30th.

On Thursday, festival organizers released a video on the Matriarch demonstrating its myriad functions and abilities.