With all large indoor gatherings still postponed due to COVID-19, we were so grateful to be able to once again present a free digital reworking of 24-HOUR DRONE, this year presented with Wave Farm’s WGXC 90.7 FM. 

From Mellotron to reconfigured turntables, from an augmented Oud to haunting resonance that seemed to reach out from behind a screen, we thank the boundary pushing artists who dove so fiercely into the realm of drone, transporting us with both ethereal and discordant sounds evocative across an emotional spectrum. 

New to this year’s DRONE AT HOME, Jon McCarthy of contributing local artist collective Inter(air) produced the DRONE AT HOME audio/visual livestream on Twitch, which featured 10 hours of new sound and visuals from this year’s artists streaming parallel to the audio broadcast on Wave Farm’s Standing Wave Radio and WGXC 90.7-FM. 

Nearly 1,000 different people watched from all over the world (double the capacity of its preceding in-person event) and tuned in over 2,000 times. While we celebrated from different corners of the globe, the connection we shared through the healing power of sound was palpable. 

Thank you to Wave Farm’s WGXC 90.7 FM for their curatorial contributions and technical expertise in all things radio. Their steadfast commitment to recording every 24-HOUR DRONE since 2015 allowed us to present the Archive Audio Block of this year’s virtual stream. Having access to historic Basilica moments at its most experimental and experiential is an invaluable resource, especially during this new era of digital connection.

And of course, thank you droners for holding onto the magic of DRONE. With exchange and communion at its core, DRONE connects listeners sharing experiences across oceans and airwaves, and hopefully soon, within the halls of our industrial art factory.

The full playlist of individual sets will be posted online soon. For now, you can listen to the audio here, or watch the livestream in sections on Facebook. May the drone go on.

“Now we know how important festivals like these are, not just during the times that they’re being performed as entertainment, but during times of isolation, fear and the scary unknown that reality and chance sometimes must provide for us.” – Maria Chávez, DRONE AT HOME 2021 sound artist 

“The DRONE AT HOME event offered a much-needed opportunity to kind of reconnect with some of my Drone Not Drone folks in putting together our collective piece for the event. I felt like we were able to feed off of one another and able to share that artistic and synergistic energy in ways that I haven’t felt really at all over this last 18 months or so, and I feel very thankful for that.” – Alex Bissen (IOSIS), Drone not Drones, DRONE AT HOME 2021 sound artist 

DIRECTLY SUPPORT DRONE ARTISTS

Consider supporting our DRONE artists and collectives by buying their music and following their future projects.

Canada Resonance Agency (featuring Cares, Beard Closet, Indweller (Colin Fisher and Ilyse Krivel), David Jones, Steff Juniper / Quivering, Mandelbrut, Matt Nish-Lapidus / New Tendencies, Red Panel, Xuan Ye) // Maria Chávez // Brian Dewan + Ross Goldstein // Drone Not Drones (featuring Luke Heiken, IOSIS, Neon Menhirs, John Marks, Crystal Myslajek, Meredith Gill  and Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice )// LaMont Hamilton // Inter(air) (featuring Matt Luczak, Keri Toye (Sound VVitch), Tom Christie (Fraternal Twin), Nick Levine (Jodi), Drew Piraino (Primitive Air), Samuel Johnson (Somethingless), Mitch Van Dusen), Jared Ashdown, Jon McCarthy // Le Guess Who? presents Prana Crafter & Richard Bolhuis // LUMEN PROJECT (featuring Fadi Tabbal, Julia Sabra, Mathias Landæus, Yasmine El Baramawy, Vincent Bahar, and Nathan Larson)// NRRF B(b) Radio (featuring Jonny Farrow, Anna Friz, Stephen Germana, Sarah Knudtson, Jeff Kolar, and Peter Speer)// Chloe Alexandra Thompson