![“There’s so much good music coming out of [Seattle], it’s ridiculous.”](https://i0.wp.com/www.thestranger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413586713-soundcheck-570.gif?resize=500%2C351&ssl=1 "“There’s so much good music coming out of [Seattle], it’s ridiculous.”")
- BROOKLYN BENJESTORF
- “There’s so much good music coming out of [Seattle], it’s ridiculous.”
Sharlese Metcalf is an auditory being. When she hears the sound of a song she likes, everything vanishes but the song; a state of radar envelops her and she becomes only ears. As host of KEXP’s local show, Audioasis, Sharlese is a well-studied authority and a huge proponent of Northwest music. She knows what’s happening musically in the region, and has since 2001, when she began DJing on Green River’s KGRG Local Motion show. If you want to know Northwest music, get to know Sharlese Metcalf. See her in action DJing at Chop Suey on October 30 for Black Weirdo and on November 23 at Kremwerk for her cold-wave synth-pop night called False Prophet. On the video front, Metcalf and Bobby McHugh of World Famous have begun curating a quarterly Northwest music video showcase for KEXP and Northwest Film Forum called Videoasis. The October 22 presentation is Halloween themed.
I spoke with Metcalf at her Capitol Hill apartment, but I also had a cat psychologist named Jake meet me there. An extremely territorial Siamese cat named Sade lives with Metcalf—she hisses and attacks everyone but Metcalf. She wants her to herself. Metcalf had expressed interest in working on things with Sade, so I called Jake to see what could be done.
When you DJ, how do you pull sets together? How do you find the threads to make it work? What factors in to the songs you play next?
When I first started thinking about what a DJ actually does, I was at my friend Ramiro’s house. He runs a crew and a record label called Uniting Souls…
The next Videoasis will happen on October 22 at Northwest Film Forum. Click here for more info!
