When the book detailing the history of Seattle electronic music is written (my agent’s shopping this lucrative idea as I type), Jerry Abstract will figure largely in it. Over the last decade, the Detroit transplant has created and DJed some of the area’s most potent, dynamic, and texturally inventive techno and IDM while serving as the world-renowned Decibel Festival’s creative director.
However, after two years of personal and professional turmoil, Abstract has decided to leave Seattle. “My intellectual and emotional ambitions have not been met, even after countless generous attempts to participate and share with specific people what it is that has always been the basis of community in my life: music and genuine friendship,” Abstract explains. Consequently, he will move in late June to Montana and then in October to Thailand, where he hopes to reinvigorate his life and musical career.
“I’m moving there because it was the last place I felt sheer genuine happiness,” Abstract says. “The plan is to focus on what it is that I love: to create, in its originality. I’m in discussions with labels and potential agents to get me over to Europe and Asia for some tours next year, and with Bangkok being an international hub, it will be easier and less expensive to travel from there. It’s a risk, but potentially a perpetually multipositive one.”
Abstract waxes optimistic about his career prospects and musical development. “I’m always evolving my musical tastes, and I have a very diverse and open-minded outlook on musical acceptance,” he notes. “I trust that being away from the mainstream techno scene will allow me to access more of my creative potential as an electronic musician. I will definitely continue my DJ career, and I’m quite interested to find out how my DIY initiatives will work out in that specific geographical region. With the closer aspects to Europe and Asia, I have no doubt that my DJ career will expand in a lot of fun and adventurous ways.”
What Abstract will miss most about Seattle’s electronic-music scene is the 2001–2006 era, when, he says, adventurousness and compassion overshadowed egomania and drama. “Seattle has become sterile and plateaued (I’m not the only one to see that),” he opines. “And there are many reasons for that, some out of our control (economy, shifting generations, American psychosis, etc.), but mainly because of general human error.”
Looking ahead, Abstract and Logic Probe’s Derek Linaman have finished mastering their first full-length, and Abstract has recently completed several remixes for a variety of artists that are scheduled for imminent release. He’s also planning to finish his LP for Germany’s Shitkatapult by year’s end, as well as a new LP as Former Selv. Abstract will be gone, but his legacy will resonate indefinitely. 
Jerry Abstract, Let’s Go Outside, J-Sun vs. Kadeejah Streets, DJ Sulli, Deepvibez, Patriq, Ramiro perform Sat June 12, The Islander, 1611 Fairview Ave E, 7–11:30 pm, $16, 21+.
Break news, an artist says that when he moved here everything was new and fresh and after 10 years it is no so.
Also in related news a local 35 year old man decides he wants to return to where he experienced “genuine happiness” and moves away to pursue a mid life crisis.
Say what you will, Jerry is, and has been, a badass round these parts for a long time.
Packeteer is a douchebag. Good luck to Jerry on his adventures!
Jerry should come out and name the people and promoters he feels have lost the plot. Nothing will change if you’re not willing to call out those who you feel are causing the problems.
Good luck on your journey Jerry!
@4: If we are really interested in reducing drama, then we should discuss concerns directly with the people involved, not air them in public…IMHO. Many times it is a misunderstanding. I think involving people in conflict unnecessarily is what caused the situation in the first place.
Go, Jerry, go! Risky, yes, but precisely what the doctor ordered. Go reinvent yourself!
@ET: Practice what you preach, sister.