Echofluxx 14 had a whole different vibe from the preceding year, even though it was in the same place and many of the same people were there. This is a tribute to Dan Senn’s ability to keep everything fresh and new from year to year. It is a festival about which very little can be predicted. A big plus to my thinking, having been to many festivals over the years that were cookie-cutter versions of themselves, even though different people attended and different pieces were played.
This one, the fourth annual, opened with well-known Prague artist Phaerentz, whose set was as solid as you might expect. So you might have been able to predict that much at least. His set was almost forty minutes long, and, after some noodling at the beginning (factory-type sounds, as was appropriate for that space) settled down to a throbbing drone that made me think at the time, “I hope this goes on for quite some time.” It did.