Seattle producer 214‘s Cascadian Nights harks back to the ’90s era of electro, when the genre began to acquire a darker tone, taking on some of the more inventive textural and rhythmic traits of vanguard IDM producers like Cylob, Phoenecia, and Ceephax, and Detroit mavericks like Drexciya and Dopplereffekt. (Andrea Parker issued Cascadian Nights on her esteemed Touchin’ Bass label [www.touchinbass.com] digitally July 19 and on vinyl July 27. The former has eight tracks, the latter four.)
A major part of electro’s appeal is its ability to sound both funky and inhuman, sexy and stiff-limbed as fuck. Some of the most effective electro sounds as if it’s the work of very horny automatons. This essential paradox lends electro its peculiar retro-futurist appeal, especially in the 21st century, long after the style’s early-’80s genesis. Nowadays, creating fresh-sounding electro is one of the greatest challenges an electronic-music artist can face. 214 (aka Chris Roman) attains that arduous goal on Cascadian Nights. Case in point is “Lost in Place,” a nearly 11-minute excursion that recalls the tensile, springy rhythms of early-’80s electropunk pioneers Liaisons Dangereuses, but launched into deep space via some Model 500–like tone science. “The Manglers” is another highlight, racing at a swift pace down some exhilaratingly ominous alleys in a Blade Runner–esque cityscape.
On Cascadian Nights, 214 has done the damn near impossible: made a contemporary electro album that’s neither in thrall to Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” or Kraftwerk’s “Numbers” nor so abstracted that you can’t get down—in all senses of the phrase—to it.
Don’t be deceived by Nobody‘s modest-to-a-fault handle; he’s a formidably distinctive musician and selector. In recent years, Nobody (Los Angeles producer Elvin Estela) has worked some board magic for motormouthed MC Busdriver‘s RoadKillOvercoat and Jhelli Beam and SoCal battle rapper Nocando, and put in some quality time behind the decks at the fecund and fiery beat laboratory that is the Low End Theory weekly. He’s also remixed artists as diverse as the Postal Service, the Free Design, and Phil Ranelin. On top of those activities, Nobody’s cut five solo albums and released an excellent full-length with Niki Randa as Blank Blue titled Western Water Music Volume II that exemplified his rhythmic and head-trip-tic inclinations in one focused blast.
All of this creativity seeps into Nobody’s DJ sets. He’s extremely knowledgeable about old psych and garage rock, astral jazz, and hiphop from all eras. The man’s taste is irrefutable and his pedigree unimpeachable. I once called Nobody a “Timothy Leary of the Technics,” and that description still holds. 
DJ Nobody performs Tues Aug 3, Lo-Fi Performance Gallery, 9 pm, $5, 21+ (with WD4D, Introcut, Hideki, Sean Cee).
I had the pleasure of hearing 214 play out at Electric Tea Garden a few weeks back. BRING ON THE DANCE. We need to get him to play at Decibel Fest. Is he on the line up?
i was at that show at etg and yeah, 214 fucking killed it. i was surprised he wasn’t in the line up for decibel this year.
Thanks for the kind words! I’ve not been asked to play unfortunately, so it’s not likely. Electro gets no love, doesn’t matter if you release records.
Dave – Thanks very much for the write up! Glad you enjoyed the album.
Might be worth adding- Decibel doesn’t seem to align itself with much local music, regardless of how many quality local producers pop up. Sad, no local pride :/
That being said, 214 is definitely one of the guys that ought be showing others how we do it in Seattle. Decibel could be such a good chance for that (so many people outside the scene attend the festival) but there has to be a mindset change first.
214 WILL be performing at this years Knightriders event coinciding with Decibel, keep your ears tuned and more info will come available soon.
Actually, 8 of the 27 Decibel Festival 2010 showcases are local showcases (30%). That seems like a reasonable balance to me.
Announced local showcases:
– Made Like a Tree: http://www.dbfestival.com/made-like-a-tr…
– TRUST: http://www.dbfestival.com/trust-showcase…
– fwd thinking organisms (alga rhythms out of Portland): http://www.dbfestival.com/fwd-thinking-o…
– bubblin’ showcase (Portland): http://www.dbfestival.com/bubblin-showca…
– Boat Party (Uniting Souls): http://www.dbfestival.com/the-mothership…
@ Cootz
No local pride? Are you kidding me??? The only thing that is sad here is your ignorance. Have you bothered to even follow this year’s Decibel line up? Per usual Decibel is 50% NW artist (46 out of 92 artists) and out of that 46, 32 of those artists are Seattle based INCLUDING 214. Since our inception, we’ve ALWAYS been supportive of local music and if you look at are line ups over the year’s you’ll see that at least 1/3 of our line up is always Seattle based, which is more than you’re going to find with other festivals in this city or any city for that matter.
Sorry you didn’t get booked, but if you’re going to publicly spread lies about Decibel, you better have your facts straight.
I give thumbs up for Alga-rhythms and Bubblin for sure, good to see them this year, didn’t know. Been in PDX for both, good shit.
Lies, really? Publicly spread opinions, perhaps? Mine are not unique in the least. I don’t completely disagree with you either, see your stance, but it doesn’t seem like local pride. The Decibel one-offs pick from 3 openers again and again as far as I can tell, who are great but it keeps me from going out to them that much. Last month it seemed as though only 1 name of the locals I hadn’t seen play at past fests. Perhaps you see what I was saying. If that changes more, good. I support that. I support surprise at 214 not booked getting him booked.
Glad about lots of the festival nonetheless, but Decibel more supportive of local music than any other festival, really? I assume you’ve been to DEMF? I think Erica spelled it out well- a reasonable balance, I’ll accept that.
@ Cootz
First off, you had NOTHING to do with 214 getting booked. We’ve booked him multiple times in the past (Broken Disco and Decibel) and simply haven’t announced all the artists or showcase yet (still a month and a half out).
So now your arguing that we book too many of the same local artists? So what is it? Not enough locals and not enough new locals?
Anyone that knows the festival knows that book artists based on their sound and how they will fit with a particular showcase, which I’ve made abundantly clear since year 1. I’m not going to throw together a bunch of unrelated artists, which is a recipe for disaster. If it’s a Hotflush showcase, it will feature Hotflush artists. If it’s a D25 showcase, it will feature Detroit artists. If it’s a Made Like A Tree showcase, it will feature Seattle artists. Showcases can be based on region, label, genre or promotional organizations and the organizations that we work with, we’ve worked with for years as partners. There’s a lot of time and care put into the curatorial process.
Have I been to DEMF? I was raised in the Detroit area and have gone to DEMF 3 out of the past 4 years. I also know the Paxahau crew well and know they get the same bullshit critique about “not booking enough locals” so I’m not surprised we do as well (people bitch about everything they possibly can, especially online). If you look at our line up, there’s WAY more locals represented than at DEMF, which is pretty astonishing considering Detroit is the motherland of techno and that is the focus of the festival.
I never said I personally had anything to do w/ 214, but I think a chorus of voices chimed in and, at the time, he didn’t think he was booked. My feeling, and what I stated, is that’s a GOOD thing, that there’s a response.
You’re right, people criticize from all angles, especially online. I understand having passion about this, its probably what you are most proud of and entrenched in. I was saying specifically, yes, not a lot of branching out within Seattle, very insider-y from an outside perspective.
The one time I was at DEMF it was a beautiful collection of Detroit artists at every turn, I find it hard to believe that locals would criticize it. Different experiences for different people, grass is greener. I’m not going to press my case any more and respect your personal response.
back to music, please. go buy my album. i need food =]