The fifth annual Decibel Festival promises to be
amazing—much like the preceding four editions. This isn’t mere
boosterism, but rather a sober analysis of the talent-
laden
showcases dB director Sean
Horton and company consistently
book with epicurean acumen. Let’s assess the daily highlights for this
year’s glut of electronic-music/digital-media excellence. Note: Often
it’s the unknown (to you) artists who deliver the most stunning sets;
acts overlooked here could be awesome. Alas, Decibel merits a booklet,
not 800 words.
Thursday 9/25
Deconstructing Pop @ Neumos
Japanese producer Tujiko Noriko lends a skewed sensuality to electro
pop’s oft-
pristine, asexual veneer. Polyglot trio
Jahcoozi
rinse out slinky, dubsteppy triphop, featuring Sri Lankan singer Sasha
Perera. Teutonic electro-pop maven Barbara
Morgenstern
extrapolates upon Neue Deutsche Welle and Cluster’s pastoral mid-’70s
output.
Peloton Release Party @ Sole Repair
Aron Schoppert’s Seattle label Peloton christens its first release,
Bicycles Are Your Friends, with a killer bill. American techno
magus Stewart Walker jets in from Berlin to lay down the PhD-level
minimal science, and [a]pendics.shuffle (one of Ken Gibson’s many
monikers) uses madcap techniques to deflate techno’s seriousness while
keeping the sonic palette very odd. One of Seattle’s most-slept-on
tech-house producers, Mister Leisure (Matt Corwine) combines ingenious
sound design with acute dance-floor-igniting knowledge. INCITE!, dB
founder Sean Horton’s latest persona, has been generating positive buzz
with his live dance-centric sets.
Friday 9/26
2008 Dirty Dancing @ Neumos
Toronto electro-trance-house phenom Deadmau5 is Beatport’s
most-downloaded artist, but I’m not really feeling his fluffy/plinkety
tracks. Italy’s Luca Bacchetti (Wagon Repair) and Portland’s Let’s Go
Outside (Soma Recordings) both bring a harder, weirder vibe to
tech-house than the hyped headliner. YMMV. Chicago duo Santiago and
Bushido exude that archetypal, unhinged Dirty Dancing dynamic.
The Trinity @ Sole Repair
Thirtysomething Midwestern techno muthas Jeff Samuel (formerly of
Cleveland and Seattle, now living large in Berlin), Derek Plaslaiko
(now in NYC), and Jerry Abstract (now in Tukwila) can bang you
senseless or finesse you into swoons with their deep crates of 4/4 DJ
tools.
See The Score for more info on the Optical 1
audio/video showcase at Northwest Film Forum. Data Breaker highly
recommends William Basinski, whose decaying drones waft like a sacred
kind of Muzak.
Saturday 9/27
dB in the Park @ Volunteer Park
Seattle house subversives Jacob London, local electro-funk jesters
Truckasauras, and L.A. bassbin mobsters Glitch Mob are sure to make
this a raucous romp in nature, punishing the fresh air with relentless
beats.
Detroit Techno: Past, Present &
Future @ Neumos
Donte Parks details Carl Craig’s magnificence in this week’s music
section (page 33); check it! Craig’s DJ set is destined to be
scrutinized (and danced to) with maniacal zeal. Audion—Matthew
Dear’s severely acidic techno alias—shows no mercy with his
sawtooth synth textures and hiNRG rhythms that conjure op-art
maelstroms of sound. Seattle/Detroit/Amsterdam producer Orlando Voorn
channels Underground Resistance’s rugged yet emotional brand of
techno.
See The Score for more info on today’s Optical 2
showcase at Northwest Film Forum. Data Breaker highly recommends
microsound-manipulator supreme Kamran Sadeghi.
Ghostly International @ Baltic Room
A night of nuanced, melodic electronic
music from the
celebrated Michigan label, led by Seattle’s Lusine (rigorously sculpted
IDM and ambient) and the Sight Below (Gas-powered, pop-ambient bliss).
Californians Deru and Tycho round out the bill with exquisitely
crafted, dreamy, post–Boards of Canada head-nodders.
bRave New World @ Chop Suey
Decibel has a rep for highbrow fare, but this nü-rave blast
from the Shameless/Antarctic Records camp featuring headliners LA Riots
offers a slightly lower-browed get-down to lift your spirits to a
neon-bright fever pitch. Expect more sweat than you’ll find on liberals
during presidential election night.
Sunday 9/28
dB BBQ @ Havana
Get souled out while you chow down to broken-beat/nü-soul-jazz
troupe SunTzu Sound’s sweet bill, which includes KEXP’s reggae/dub
savant Kid Hops, hedonistic brainiac DJ Caro (Seattle’s Randy Jones),
and one-mensch Detroit electro-soul band Jeremy Ellis, who gives you a
little bit more, a little bit more.
2008 Ambient @ Triple Door
Bask in the (mostly) beatless beatitude of Helios, Deaf Center,
Eluvium, and Stars of the Lid’s Brian McBride (the last of whom is
accompanied by a string section). Their compositions hover at the
compelling juncture between tranquility and trepidation. If there’s a
heaven, these sensitive musicians’ expansive, moving tracks spin in
heavy rotation there.
2008 Decibel Festival Finale @
Neumos
Going out with the proverbial bang, as usual, Decibel puts the
cherry on your
Sunday with Fax, one of Mexico’s top
experimental-techno producers; XLR8R cover-star and L.A.
future-jazz/hiphop beatmaker Flying Lotus; and London grime/dancehall
extremist the Bug (featuring toaster Warrior Queen). Expect Germany’s
Supermayer (Kompakt Records linchpins Superpitcher and Michael
Mayer) to deliver the climactic techno/house KO with a DJ set that will
likely leave festival-goers as spent as the U.S. economy. 
Visit www.dbfestival.com for more
information.
