Ghostband's Jon Davis prepares for Dystopia Days at the Bedlam

​"This could be an example of maybe unifying the electronic scene, and engaging the general community with it. Doing music in a place like Minneapolis where everyone is so familiar and with so many things going on, you have to make your events worthwhile, maybe special and comprehensive, and try not to make it where a person has to be some specialist to enjoy themselves."

And so, after wanting for some time to showcase local electronic music that "emphasizes performance over programming," Jon Davis took the opportunity of Welcome to Dystopia's opening weekend (go here for a preview of the play) to host a four-hour non-stop séance of 12 acts within the welcoming arms of the Bedlam Theatre. Dystopia Days could be compared, in miniature, to the recent Unsound Festival in New York, or the University of Minnesota's Spark Festival, and spiritually aligned with the shuttered Sursumcorda, fostering forward-thinking and left-of-center electronic music not normally heard in a shared space.

Following Friday night's opening performance of Welcome to Dystopia, sound designer Hot Tony and Jon Davis (Ghostband) will be collaborating in the show space, with a dance party in the cozy room and a lovely vibe throughout.

The following night, however, the meat hits the fan: 12 names, including Marijuana Deathsquads, Beseppy, Tentacle Boy, Playstation Playstation, Pelzwick, Nervous Girls...a cross-section cut with a cake knife. No mindless drug trip, this.

"This is the furthest thing from a Girl Talk show I can imagine," says Davis. Here's hoping.

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