(11.11.08) THE first time I attended Seattle’s Decibel Festival was in 2005. At the time I lived in Austin, and the primary draw was to see Fennesz. Since then, I have relocated to Seattle (for unrelated reasons) and have attended the festival regularly. While each previous year offered at least a few of out of town artists I was eager to see for the first time (Speedy J, The Dead Texan, Bola), this year’s line up felt a bit underwhelming despite the more than 120 performances across 11 venues. Still, I was very excited, recognized I was not familiar with much of the line up, and took on the whole event in an exploratory manner. The four sleep-deprived days filled with performances, panel discussions and running around with friends, new and old, were perfect for that exploration. They offered sounds, sights, ideas, and experiences that will be reverberating within me for sometime to come.
One of the greatest things about the festival, from a local perspective, is the effect it has on the Seattle electronic music community. People get excited and inspired. This was evident opening night at local label Peloton’s release party in celebration of their first release, Bicycles Are Your Friends. Even competing with equally strong showcases in two other venues, the label’s party at the comfortable loft space Sole Repair was packed with support creating the unfortunate side effect of a slow moving line outside. Still, the wait was worth it, and the night a blur of nice live techno and house from Stewart Walker, [a]pendics.shuffle and INCITE! (aka Nordic Soul, Decibel founder Sean Horton), ending in fake mustache wearing madness in celebration of Sean Horton’s birthday.
Running concurrently with the Peloton showcase was the equally intriguing Communikey showcase hosted by enthusiastic and sincere folks from Boulder, Colorado. I only caught a bit of the showcase before running off to see Stewart Walker, but the perfect opening DJ set of dub’d out techno from Alala.One and live music from Les Freres Courvoisier was enough to convince me I need to attend this year’s Communikey festival. Unfortunately I was unable to catch Mexico’s Cubenx at the Communikey showcase. Luckily he dropped some live techno at an afterhours party later in the week.
The strong start of the festival carried over into Friday night with quality live music from Let’s Go Outside and a fantastic DJ set from Jeff Samuel. However, it was not until Saturday night that I caught an act that positively overwhelmed me and surpassed any expectations: The Sight Below, opening the Ghostly label showcase and riding the feedback trail of My Bloody Valentine. Shortly after the performance, many comparisons were made between The Sight Below and the ambient, pulsing project Gas. Fair enough – though the performance had a level of feedback and intensity I am not accustomed to hearing over 4/4 beats. The Ghostly showcase also featured a very well received A/V set from Tyco. While the video was beautiful, the music, though extremely pretty and well produced, was too similar to Boards of Canada for my ears. I suspect, however, in the future I will find myself appreciating his audio work, especially since I admire his poster art and graphic design (as Scott Hansen/ISO50). I made a hard decision and skipped out on Lusine in favor of seeing Carl Craig, who of course was good. The night finished out with a charming, mellow, low key after hours set from two members of Balun, a performance I continuously find myself recalling and smiling about (Thank You!)
Contrasting the unexpected set from The Sight Below was a very disappointing set on Sunday from The Bug. When the music was going, it was sick and heavy, but the frequency of abrupt stops and backspins made it impossible to get lost in. It was like someone baked and provided the most amazing cookie, only to steal it back before it could be enjoyed – over and over again. I am still looking forward to hearing what he produces next, though listening to his music may best be done at home.
This year offered some excellent additions to the festival like the awesome free-to-the-public concert at Volunteer Park, culminating with a crowd-pleasing Glitch Mob performance. The weather was fantastic, people were numerous and happy, and the music from Seattle acts Truckasaurus and Jacob London was a perfect fit. It is hard to complain about handclaps and acid on a nice day in the park (thank you Truckasaurus!), and it would be awesome to see this style of event happen in Seattle more often. There was also a BBQ and a networking brunch, neither of which I attended much of, though Caro’s set at the BBQ was filled with strange, fun vocal-infused acidic techno.
The Friday and Saturday early evening Optical (audio/video) showcases were nice and while I did not catch the headliners either night, I did discover some new artists I had never heard before. Offthesky’s (Lexington) music was dreamy, nostalgic and easy to float along with, nicely complimented by Boulder video artist h.dot’s natural and humanistic imagery. Vance Galloway (Seattle) opened up day two with a heavy, droney set via prepared guitar and digital processing that would have been equally as appropriate for a noise show as an electronic music festival. Kamran Sadeghi (Seattle), who performed at Decibel a in 2006 as Son of Rose, changed the mood of the showcase significantly with Raster-Noton friendly audio/video performance of tones, rhythms and (mostly) black and white contrasting images.
The final day’s ambient showcase was held at the Triple Door, one of the best venues in the city. With the clanking backdrop of evening dining, and in the presence of exhausted “drone soldiers” (as Brian McBride called us after enduring hours of ambient), it was at this showcase that some of the most intense(ly slow) music of the festival was performed. Deaf Center and Eluvium both presented textured drones and piano, Deaf Center falling more in the cinematic realm and Eluvium continuing the shoegaze aesthetic, sans beats, of The Site Below the night before. I have to admit that it was easy, so late in the festival, to space out to the point of landing face down in a plate of Pad Thai, but sticking it out for the majority of Brian McBride’s set (before running up the hill to catch Flying Lotus) was well worth it. Like the last time I saw his band, Stars of the Lid, his performance also featured a small string section and very slow sliding, beautiful waves of sound.
The festival did not end for me until early Monday morning, thanks to an amazing night of music with Cubenx and a non-stop DJ set from Michael Mayer and Superpitcher. All in all, Decibel Festival was a fantastic time and I could write on and on about the amazing local and visiting artists, showcases, and experiences. This year’s highs for me included performances from: Alala.One, Les Freres Courvoisier, Cubenx, Stewart Walker, [a]pendics.shuffle, INCITE!, Eddie, Struggle, D’Jeronimo, offthesky (A/V) , Jeff Samuel, Kilowatts, Let’s Go Outside, Jacob London, Truckasaurus, Glitch Mob, Carl Craig, Vance Galloway, Kamran Sadeghi (A/V) , Deru, Caro, Flying Lotus, Deaf Center, Eluvium, Brian McBride, Tyco (A/V) and members of Balun. There were also nice video performances from h.dot, Scott Sunn, Leo Mayberry, and Scott K. James. Had I been more hardcore, with a little added time travel and teleportation ability, I would have enjoyed (based on personal hopes and the comments of others): Tujiko Noriko, Jahcoozi, William Basinski with Scott Pagano, Jerry Abstract, Lusine, Jeremy Ellis, Fax, Kris Moon and Dave Pezzner.
Perhaps next year there will be folks performing between venues, out on the street; I can only hope that the festival will take over my neighborhood as much. The best part of it all now is getting to hang out in Seattle with the community that makes Decibel possible, enjoying the afterglow and riding out the effect the festival has on the local scene.
For more info about Decibel Festival, visit their website at dbfestival.com
- Decibel Festival
- Glitch Mob & Jacob London live photo’s courtesy of Thomas Fang.
