Call it a comeback: Decibel is helping to bring UK techno experimentalist Actress to Seattle.
Call it a comeback: Decibel is helping to bring UK techno experimentalist Actress, among others, to Seattle.

Following a year-long hiatus, Sean Horton's Decibel organization has resumed booking electronic-music events in both Los Angeles and Seattle. (Horton moved from here to LA last year.) In keeping with Decibel's long-running aesthetic excellence, Horton has set up three crucial Seattle shows for the near future: Buchla-synth wizard and Orcas Island native Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (May 18 at Kremwerk), maverick Detroit house producer Kyle Hall (June 2 at Kremwerk), and British avant-techno enigma Actress (August 23 at Kremwerk). If you feel like a SoCal road trip, you can hit Detroit techno genius Carl Craig on June 9 at Union Nightclub and Chilean tech-house charmer Matias Aguayo on July 6 at Union, joined by Seattle's own Pezzner. After the jump, Horton explains why he brought Decibel out of cold storage after working a stint for Red Bull Music Academy.

Last July I made the announcement that Decibel Festival/Events would be taking a year off so I could focus on a new career opportunity here in Los Angeles. One of the requirements of that new role was that I had to cease any and all Decibel activity. It was an incredibly difficult decision, but after 12 straight years of producing the festival, I honestly needed a break. With today's announcement, that break is officially over.

With many of our key partners and a plethora of talent here, Los Angeles was always an obvious fit for Decibel to call a second home outside of Seattle. In recent months there has been a dramatic increase in both desire and opportunity connected to a possible Decibel Festival program in Los Angeles and I'm ready to ease back into planning mode.

Just as we launched Decibel in Seattle back in 2003, it is vital that we first connect with the local community through our one-off Decibel Events series. In our press release today we announced that we'll be kicking off Decibel Events in Los Angeles on June 9th with dB alum and Detroit Techno legend Carl Craig and LA Techno mavens Raíz, which we'll be following up with Matias Aguayo, Pezzner and Masha on July 6th. In addition we announced Decibel Events in Seattle featuring Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith with Raica on May 18th, and the return of Kyle Hall (June 2nd) and Actress (August 23rd). These are just the first many events we're planning for both Seattle and Los Angeles in 2017.

As for the Decibel Festival announcement, once we have dates locked in, we'll be making an official announcement.

Horton encourages anyone interested in being involved or attending Decibel events in Los Angeles or Seattle to follow the org online on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, and subscribe to the dB newsletter, the latter of which offers exclusive content and giveaways.