The popular perception of Seattle's Decibel Festival is that it's dominated by highbrow techno and experimental music. Those elements definitely factor into the fest's program, but there's far more to it than that. At any given showcase during this annual celebration of electronic multimedia arts, there's bound to be just as much dancing and whooping as there is chin scratching and serious contemplation.

A striking change to this year's bill is the preponderance of dubstep and other bass-centric producers and DJs. Although Decibel director Sean Horton contends that Decibel has been high on low-end-­intensive electronic music since its 2004 inception, it appears that this year marks an increase in attention paid to musicians and DJs prowling around the sound spectrum's lowest realms.

"People forget that Decibel has been booking 'bass-centric' music for the past six years," says Horton. "Modeselektor, Glitch Mob, Tipper, Flying Lotus, Kode9, edIT, Jahcoozi, Deadbeat, MachineDrum, the Bug, Meat Beat Manifesto, Dabrye, and CLP, to name a few. Hiphop and dub have always been at the heart of the music I love, even more so than techno, ambient, and experimental forms of electronic music, which so many people seem to pigeonhole Decibel into for some reason. Dub was what gave birth to everything that electronic music is now known for, and hiphop is what influenced me to start listening to electronic music in the first grade."

Point taken. However, Decibel 2009 is undeniably stacked with more dubstep artists (Benga, Martyn, Mala, N-Type, Boxcutter, Caspa, Pinch, etc.) and dub-inflected techno producers (Echospace, Voodeux, the Sight Below, etc.) than were previous years' lineups. In addition, outright dub specialist Mad Professor, dub-informed pan-globalist DJ /rupture, and dub/dancehall vocalist DJ Collage will perform (the latter with Monkeytek). To that end, Decibel is hosting two "dB in duB" showcases and a "dB in duB Afterhours: Dub Mutants." And in a real coup, Horton is bringing in BBC Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs, who's become perhaps the world's foremost tastemaker and disseminator of dubstep and its myriad mutations. She'll be anchoring the "Bass Lovers Unite" showcase with Megasoid, Daedelus, Nosaj Thing, and others.

This is a momentous move for Decibel, because dubstep has been evolving in so many exciting directions over the past few years. It's one of the few musical genres in which progress and mutation seem to occur practically on a monthly basis, as artists explore new rhythmic and tonal territory with ravenous zeal. Dubstep's compositional structures and sonic elements haven't solidified yet, although the subsonic bass wobble has established itself as a signature trait. Dubstep can be heady, highly atmospheric, and texturally abstruse, but it's also deeply physical music, often featuring sadistically punishing beats and swarming bass tones that vibrate cells as much as they move asses (and sometimes bowels, be careful out there). This is the stuff Timbaland, Kanye West, and other mainstream hiphop producers likely will be jacking in 2010.

Does Horton feel like he's taking a risk by booking so many acts in these styles?

"First off, out of over 100 acts, only about 10 are actually considered to be dubstep artists," he notes. "Just to put it into perspective, we're booking just as many ambient acts this year, so it's not really that substantial a portion of the festival program as a whole. You also have to account for the fact that we've added five new venues and 10 additional showcases this year. If you eliminated the dubstep portion of the festival, we'd still be 20 percent larger with this year's program compared to previous years."

One local figure who's excited by Decibel's emphasis—however slight its founder thinks it is—on bass-heavy fare is Ill Cosby, a skilled producer/DJ who runs the Car Crash Set label and hosts the Cosby Show Nights program (Tues, 8–10 pm CST) on glitch.fm.

Cosby's thrown himself headlong into the vibrant electronic-music talent pool that's arisen through what critic Simon Reynolds calls "the hardcore continuum" (2-step/grime/glitch-funk/dubstep, etc.) because "This is a convergence of everything I like about electronic music: It has loads of bass, staggered and swinging rhythms, and most of all, no rules on structure, which keeps everything fresh and surprising. I find that music, dance music in particular, that adheres to a strict structure can become stagnant. Music—like Zomby or Hudson Mohawke—that seems almost lawless is thrilling to me."

Unsurprisingly, Cosby's most anticipated acts are Nosaj Thing, Mad Professor, Benga, Boxcutter, and Caspa, as well as the "Muti Music Showcase." He's also stoked about Hobbs, he says, "As she broke the dubstep sound to a wide audience and has been a large proponent of the recent L.A./'West Coast Rocks' sound," of which Nosaj Thing is one of the most deft practitioners.

Speaking of Hobbs, it's amusing to observe that a 45-year-old former punk/heavy-metal-oriented music scribe for Sounds and NME is now recognized as one of the planet's most prominent advocates for innovative electronic music. The sounds this popular DJ favors are "unified by [their] elemental nature and spirit of defiance. Electronic music moves forward in thousands of small scattered steps every day all over the world, and it's the sense that you never know what's around the next corner, especially with artists like Kode9 and Flying Lotus, that keeps it so exciting."

As with so much electronic music over the last 20 years, London has been the source of much innovation. Does Hobbs have any theories why?

"Like L.A., London is full of immigrants from all over the UK (and the world) who've given up conventional life in their home towns and have come to charge at their dreams," she says via e-mail. "If you are serious about success, there is no better way to position yourself than at the heart of a community of kindred creative spirits."

Regarding her Decibel set, Hobbs says that it'll be in the vein of the bold new Wild Angels comp on Planet Mu, which features tracks by beat futurists like Untold, Rustie, Legion of Two, and others.

"I'll try to represent as many different flavors and textures of the sounds I love as possible, but still build a set that will burn on a dance floor. You will hear the spirit of Wild Angels coursing through the set, but it will be a slightly tougher interpretation."

So in the wake of all this talk of bass's wondrous transformative properties and salubrious effects, we wonder what technical audio steps Decibel is taking to ensure that its venues will properly represent these extremely low frequencies. Horton is prepared. "We're outfitting all the clubs that are hosting the 'dB in duB' showcases (Neumos, Motor, Little Red Studio) with the same high-end PA reinforcement that Decibel has become known for utilizing, including plenty of extra subs (KV2 Audio, Dynacord, McCauley, etc.). Rest assured, there'll be massive amounts of bass at these venues."

In keeping with its tradition, Decibel's palette is diverse and talent-rich, but in 2009, it appears that bass will be the place. Never has so much depended on the subwoofer.