Patti Schmidt, curator for MUTEK electronic music festival, talks about the politics surrounding raising the visibility of women in electronic music.

Femmecult attended the 11th annual Decibel Festival of Electronic Music, Visual Art, and New Media in Seattle, Washington. Here is our review of selected performers including Steffi, Midnight Magic, JusMoni and many more.

Femmecult features DJ Dweomer mix featuring women in electronic music. The show originally aired on Portland’s XRAY.FM radio station for the Zodiak Klub show.

UK based electronic music artist, Plum (Shona Maguire) is an electro-pop producer and multi-instrumentalist celebrating the release of her fourth album, Besty Thunder. It’s received high praise online and off and we were happy to catch up with her and chat about everything from her incorporation of field recordings into her songs to her fascination with the sound of earthquakes.

Portland based electronic music artist, NeveroddoreveN (Heather Tucker) is early in her career as a solo artist but already turning quite a few heads with her original work and live show. Her work can be classified as dark wave and synth pop, drawing inspiration from notable industrial and postpunk synth bands of the 80s among others. She is a talented and expressive vocalist and her live performances are known to feature live video projections and dancers as well. Femmecult got a chance to pick her brain on her creative process and that gnawing feeling one gets when creativity becomes stagnant. Femmecult: Where are you from? NeveroddoreveN: I was born in a tiny town in Texas near the border of Louisiana. But I grew up in Houston, TX from the age of 2. Femmecult: What is your musical background? How did you get started? NeveroddoreveN: I am not formally trained. I’ve had no schooling in music. I was mostly a vocalist up until about 2 years ago. After being in a handful of bands from the age of about 22 I decided to go it alone. I find that working with others can be a lot like being in a relationship. You like someone more than they like you or vice versa. I was either looking for a way out of whatever band or completely heartbroken when whatever project didn’t work out. Not that I’m against collaborating now but it’s so much easier to answer to yourself with artistic endeavors. Also, I’ve never been less stage shy than when it was just me…..representing what I want to make…..from start to finish. Believing in it more. Standing by it, you know? Femmecult: Please comment on your musical style. NeveroddoreveN: Downtempo dark synth? Electronic droneloop sample? I...

It’s nothing new to see electronic music festivals and events with less than 10% of it’s performers being female and many ask why this is. Most believe (including those who book these events) that it’s because there just aren’t enough women out there making music and would like to leave it at that. The Female Pressure network, dedicated to raising the visibility of women in electronic arts and established 15 years ago with over 1300 female members, takes issue with this argument. We decided to do an experiment, and count the male / female ratio of many of the most visible electronic festivals and record labels, and this is what we found.                     The results of the study have been gaining media attention and sparking conversation. It shows that even 15 years after the establishment of such a large network (over 1300) of female artists that we are still only being given 10% representation at these many times publicly funded festivals. These numbers showcase the fact that the creative potential of female artists are being overlooked. Something has to be done to raise the visibility of the work of female artists, for the sake of presenting an accurate view of the social reality, and for the sake of inspiring future generations of artists. In response to these disappointing numbers, the Female Pressure collective decided to create a music festival that might address the underlying dynamics of imbalance, and begin an open dialog that addresses how we can all develop solutions for a more gender-sensitive music industry. The first annual Perspectives Festival 2013 was held in Berlin on September 12 and 13. Workshops, panel discussions, and lectures were held that served as a platform for the...