The year of 2010 has already brought some exciting music to my ears, particularly in the realm of electronic music. In February, I attended UNSOUND Music Festival in New York City and my life has never been the same. This week, I’ll be attending Boulder-based Communikey Festival of Electronic Arts (April 15th-19th). If you are there, you will see me dancing, smiling, laughing, talking, hugging— just having a darn good time. If you are not there, (your loss), you can read about my first Communikey experience.

Communikey Festival, a nonprofit organization and collective of musicians, multimedia artists and event producers, is in its third year and biggest year yet. Communikey puts on events that provide a creative forum for the electronic arts scene. Electronic arts go beyond the sphere of music, as Communikey seeks to stretch the boundaries of sound and visual art, with multiple interactive workshops (childrens and adults), lectures and panel discussions. They also focus on building bridges between cultures through new emerging digital art. As their website notes, Communikey “fosters the exposure of global digital media to both local communities and traveling enthusiasts.” This year, Communikey is partnering with a number of Eastern European organizations, (note: Dis-Patch) bringing in talent from Serbia and Poland. There will also be acts from Canada, Mexico and artists from throughout the United States.

What’s great about Communikey is their efforts in building cultural bridges and their constant engagement with the Boulder community. The events of the festival are not held at one single venue, but will begin Wednesday night at Bombay Bistro.  A number of the events of Communikey will be held at the ATLAS Institute on the CU Campus, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, The Fox, Fiske Planetarium, Cluster Studios (Denver), Boulder Civic Plaza and, of course, at the Communikey Headquarters located at 1825a Pearl Street.

Communikey is not only bringing in talented electronic artists from all over the world, but also taking a mindful approach to their festival model. They are are focused on environmental sustainability and have developed a zero-waste program as well as  having a number of bicycles for artists, staff and festival goers to ride from venue to venue. Yay for electronic music and mindfulness! Communikey proves that in this day and age, you can have a relevant voice in both culture and environment.

Check out the Communikey website for full program information. And if you live in Boulder, have some free time and want to be a part of one of the fastest growing festivals in North America, be sure to attend at least a few of the events.

Here are a few of the acts I am most looking forward to seeing:

The Books: make me speechless.

WoO with visuals by Incredible Bob. [Serbia] WoO is a guitar and synth player that works with/manipulates objects like phones and radios to create organic, ambient soundscapes.

WoO + Izvanredni Bob, Come Blue from mfru on Vimeo.

Dave Aju, [San Francisco] producer making minimal, techno, house, dance music with elements of jazz, R&B and hip-hop.

Montreal based Akufen rips up a whole slew of samples and smoothly makes them into a dance party with this track.