This Tuesday, Moogfest released its first announcement about its 2017 festival, slated for May 18-21 in Durham, NC. Tickets are on sale now, with festival passes start at $249.  New Themes and New Evolutions In its first announcement, Moogfest dropped its Program Themes, which include several from previous years, including Transhumanism, Technoshamanism, and the Future of Creativity. Moogfest introduced a few new themes as well. "Hacking Systems" explores the resurgence of the technological Maker Movement and reflects on its growth and evolution. "Protest" examines the role of the arts and music in innovating towards a more just technological future. "Sci-Fi Wishes and Utopian Dreams" inquires about the relationship between imagined futures and the lives we live, which are becoming, for better and worse, increasingly embedded with technology.  Future Thought Brings Top Presenters Moogfest also announced several speakers it will bring for "Future Thought," the component of the festival that features speakers, presentations, special performances, and workshops. Activist and soundscape designer Moor Mother will perform and give a workshop on "how to methodologically time travel with sound." There will also be a "Sleep Concert" performed by Laraaji, a presentation from Nona Hendryx on Wearable Music Technologies, and a workshop led by Visible Cloaks on generative technologies and serendipitous operations.  This year will once again feature durational performances, this time around from Moor Mother, Jas Shaw (Simian Mobile Disco), who explores sounds of disco, house, and techno production, and Nick Zinner and The Haxan Cloak, which joins Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Zinner with Bobby Krlic of the Haxan Cloak, who produces strange, evocative music that skirts the line between dreams and nightmares. Stranger Things Sweeps Durham One of the events likely to get the most buzz this year is a performance from the musicians behind Netflix's hit SF/80s throwback series Stranger Things, Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of S U R V I V E. The pulsing, music was a character in its own right during the show's first season, illuminating corners of the series's dark world and its menacing parallel dimension, the Upside-Down. The soundtrack, edged with equal parts nostalgia and futuristic innovation, has been nominated for a Grammy. (Stranger Things also just released three free new tracks on BitTorrent: get them here.) See the full Moogfest announcement here. More information will be released on Tuesday of each week. We'll keep you posted!