- After last year's successful event, Decibel had a lot to live up to in 2009. But for their sixth annual edition, they more than delivered. RA sent out three correspondents to report back on the happenings of the weekend. This is their perspective on what went on in Seattle late last month.
Thursday
Ghostly 10
How appropriate that one of New York-based Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang's Ford Tauruses, with colored lights shooting out from every corner, was hanging overhead in the Seattle Art Museum lobby during Decibel's opening party: It made the place feel even ravier than the music. Michna's set worked through scratchy cut-ups before moving into heaving dubstep, cut with that old trump card, Squarepusher's "My Red Hot Car"—a bassy strategy that keynoted lots of other music this weekend. In the screening room, Tycho's glacial electronic shoegaze, occasionally accompanied by a Moog synth player and a guitarist, earned appreciative hoots and whistles between songs; back in the lobby, a similar response greeted local techno hero Lusine, who got the floor going with selections from his new A Certain Distance.
- Michaelangelo Matos
Sweatbox
Even with many vowing not to go overboard, the pressure was on to deliver some action to stir-crazy crowds on the opening night of Decibel. Seattle's Sweatbox crew satiated ready festival-goers with a techno showcase where Mikael Stavöstrand's warm minimal sounds coaxed bodies into moving, but maintained anticipation right up until he dropped "Waiting for So Long." The undulating bassline and sexy vocals perfectly set up Derek Plaslaiko to take it to the next level. Halfway into his set, the dance floor was manic. Riled crowds were unabashedly speaker freaking, pogoing, and woo-hooing . Though there was no afterhours advertised for Decibel's opening night, the sparse venue was littered with fliers for a Sweatbox afterparty featuring Spinoza and Big Bully. So much for easing in.
- Ava Hegedus
dB in Dub Pt. 1: Past, Present, and Future of Dub
DJ/Rupture missed his flight, and we arrived at Neumos as Echospace was in the middle of an extended set that began an hour early (sadly). The deep dubby techno was lovely and atmospheric. UK dub godfather Mad Professor took over and MC'd his own traditional reggae/dub set. Despite the leisurely pace, his charisma and regular communication with the crowd kept the room involved. Benga's anticipated closing set drove the room wild from the first blast of extreme sub-bass, and he kept the room moving with plenty of grinding, wobbly dubstep. Several attendees covered their ears as they gleefully danced to the thunderous, pounding beats—the kind of gut-punching bass that makes your face vibrate. I quite literally gagged passing the bass bins, which is exactly how a great dubstep set should be experienced.
- Elly Rifkin
Friday
dB in Dub Pt. 2: Dubstep Massive
Dubstep truly is everywhere—in this case, at a psychobilly bar. With netting up to keep drinks out of the hands of under-21s (the show as 18-plus), Motor was actually an appropriate locale for Decibel's big dubstep bang-a-thon. N-Type ripped through an obviously anthemic selection, dropping some old-school jungle to relieve things a bit, though when he downshifted back into slow and heavy new stuff, he did so without strain, and he closed, appropriately, with Major Lazer's "Pon de Floor." Caspa came next and played a similarly paced set, complete with his remix of Deadmau5 & Kaskade's "I Remember" and the Chase & Status grinding relic of Nneka's "Heartbeat," but while it was more explosive it was also more one-note: all that throttling low end began to seem kind of cheesy after a while. Nevertheless, the kids—many of them hippies: long live the American west coast—ate it up.
- Michaelangelo Matos
Latenight Renegades / Fubar Showcase
One nice thing about Decibel is the proximity of the venues, particularly the corner of 10th and Pike Streets where attendees can easily bounce back and forth between Neumos and Sole Repair. Dilo's thumping, sexy swing drew in people milling between the two venues, some of which must have been taking a break from the beating being administered by Robert Hood across the street. The place was packed by the time [a]pendics.shuffle took the stage, but the real energy came when Dilo returned and the two played together as Cascabel Gentz. The collaborative performance brought out an enthusiasm in the crowd as [a]pendics.shuffle and Dilo fed off a shared excitement for melodic spacey vocals, long echoes and random bars of quarter time staccato beats.
- Ava Hegedus
dB Afterhours: The Deep End, Pt. 1
After the clubs closed at Seattle's oppressively early shut down time of 1:30 AM, the crowds were antsy for some late night dancing. Holger Zilske (AKA Smash TV) was first up in the post-club timeslot and succeeded in getting the audience in an ecstatic mood. About halfway into the following set, Bruno Pronsanto (a former Seattle resident) boosted local pride and the energy level on the dance floor when he dropped his remix of Caro's "My Little Pony"—one of the best-known tracks from Seattle's Orac Records. Though the 4:45 - 6:00 AM set kept Drumcell from going quite as hard as he's known for, his sound effectively took the night into a darker, more mysterious place.
- Ava Hegedus
dB in Dub Afterhours
Paintings of naked women, semi-private, red velvet-lined nooks (in which a number of dB'ers made out), a jumbo bed in the middle of one room: Little Red Studio is an after-hours kind of place, a relaxed, kitschy site for music whose defining feature is its (what else?) big bottom. I arrived at the tail end of local drummer KJ Sawka's live-jungle set, just in time to hear DJG take over with quick, playful, rock steady dubstep, the timbres playing around on the high end rather than the low. Joy Orbison's "Hyph Mngo," at precisely 3 AM, mixed nicely with the direct but mysterious tunes surrounding it. Pinch followed soon after, his beats and bass shadowboxing rather than pummeling: even when he's in stampede mode, it's more insinuating than overwhelming.
- Michaelangelo Matos
Saturday
Pan Ambient Cascadia
Saturday afternoon was all about getting lost in the music of the Pan Ambient Cascadia showcase as we melted into leather couches in the sunny lofted space at Sole Repair. Spectators drifted in and out of sleep to the sweet sounds of ambient, drone, downbeat and downtempo. Gunshae was finishing up as we arrived, with Kuma Graham on laptop and Eve Mori on "dub oboe." They were accompanied by the soothing sounds of harpist Vanessa Stovall. This showcase occurs but once a year in a different city around the world, so it was a bit heartbreaking that the event was so under-attended (likely due to a high ticket price, even for the All-Access festival pass-holders). Spacetime Continuum's spellbinding live set was definitely the highlight. The music was cosmic and ethereal, and Jonah Sharp expertly mixed celestial sounds in and out of chilly minimal techno reminiscent of Monolake.
- Elly Rifkin
Bass Lovers Unite
Daedelus is a showman. Manic and a bit show-offy, he rocks a shiny grey suit, red tie and long sideburns, and is winning onstage even if his music remains kind of anonymous. BBC dubstep queen Mary Anne Hobbs is less showy—sharp-cut blonde bangs, simple black outfit—but she made a great entrance, walking onstage, flipping a switch, music suddenly appearing and then doing a happy, smiling leap: It's on! It was, too: Hobbs played smartly, ranging wide and marking turf with everything from bully-boy near-techstep to the ubiquitous "Hyph Mngo" (her second selection). Mala, who followed, was more bruising: his marching beats and throbbing bass felt near-militaristic. But he didn't quite bludgeon, letting some air into his set via Jamaican sound bites and gleefully sinister atmosphere.
- Michaelangelo Matos
Disco Casse
While there was no shortage of print hoodies and florescent Nike high-tops at the Disco Casse showcase, this was not your typical bandwagon blog-house affair. CLP's Phon.o was nowhere to be seen, so partner Chris De Luca performed solo. His mix of electro-house, dubstep and glitch got everyone committed to thrashing their bodies, setting the stage for Brodinski to blow the party up properly. His 3 CDJ set perfectly rode the line between crunk techno and popular club music, taking the dance floor over the insanity threshold early on with a ridiculously catchy track that sounded like some sort of twisted rave circus. Keeping true to the Shameless spirit, Brodinski went bananas and kept people bouncing and yelling until the very end.
- Ava Hegedus
dB Afterhours: The Deep End, Pt. 2
As we arrived at Church of Bass, Pezzner was warming the dance floor with plenty of deep, groovy house before Martyn took over. Impressively (and unexpectedly), he picked up where Pezzner left off, beginning his set with plenty of bouncy house tracks. He then expertly and gracefully transitioned his set into a thoughtful and well-balanced hybrid of deep techno and dubstep. Pulling off such a straddling of genres is no easy feat, but Martyn completely captivated the room. He then handed things over to Move D, who (also unexpectedly) delivered a party-rocking set ranging from driving deep techno tracks to fun classics like Pierre's "Fantasy Girl." At this point, exhaustion got the better of us and we headed home for some much-needed sleep. Reports indicate that Voodeux played a great set to close out the night.
- Elly Rifkin
Sunday
dB in the Park at Volunteer Park
Hula-hoops abound at Decibel in the park. So do families, dogs and soccer balls. The crisp, beautiful fall day was ideal, though the party-hearty breaks and bass of New York's Sub Swara featuring MC Jukali was far less so. The group's predictable samples (let's have a year-long ban on the Rick Ross "Hustlin'" a cappella, shall we?) and selections ("Hyph Mngo" at precisely 4:15) are tired, but give Decibel's programmers props for knowing what an all-ages crowd will eat up. Gaslamp Killer, on the other hand, is all over the place in an endearing way: his set is heavy on Zomby, he throws in Jimi Hendrix's "Fire," and gesticulates and bounces his enormous head of hair like a madman. Best stage patter of the weekend, too: "I'm gonna take it back to the dirt. PSYCHE, motherfuckers!"
- Michaelangelo Matos
Optical 2: Beauty In Binary
Christina Vantzou's performance at Optical 2 was an impressive display of thematic audio-visual art requiring thought and patience from the audience. Each scene moved very slowly, encouraging the type of introspection implied by the imagery itself. Colorful diagonal lines moseyed across the screen, subtly ballooning up before tapering off into oblivion. Old film footage gave the feeling that one was spying on various women, secretly catching their faces in careful contemplation. An image combined with a sound to suggest confidence, then the same image combined with a slightly different sound to suggest something much more eerie. The soundtrack furthered the theme of introspection with repeated, sustained tones layered on top of one another. Most sounds were midrange, but at one point the entire theater shook with the force of Vantzou's booming, drawn out low end.
- Ava Hegedus
Optical 3: Americatronica
The Triple Door is a plush sit-down theater with amazing acoustics and an Asian-fusion dinner menu—perfect for bodies weary from dancing all weekend. The music there on Sunday played out like a coda as well. Goldmund's quiet piano pieces, sometimes set against electronic strings and atmospheric whooshes, started precious but gained weight over his span. Benoit Pioulard, seated on the floor, relied on guitar, accordion, his whispery vocals and loads of effects pedals, reaching a nicely smoky peak near the end. Mountains were the big draw: Three people mentioned them to me separately, all noting that not many people knew about them. Their see-sawing acoustic guitar and wheezing organ drone was closer to psych rock than ambient, but for the resting faithful, this was no drawback.
- Michaelangelo Matos
Decibel Festival Finale
Live sets were the focus at Decibel's finale, and Warp's Tim Exile certainly expanded my notions of "live" performance. A skilled singer and vocal percussionist, Tim's set was largely improvisational. Live digital looping of vocals, beats on tweaked drum machines and crowd noises crafted drum & bass tracks, IDM, techno, and everything in between. At one point, he even performed in crowd using a headset mic and a circuit bent vintage video game joystick. Reagenz was the necessary comedown with Move D and Spacetime Continuum following things up with a sexy deep techno set. I particularly enjoyed the bits where Moufang embellished the tracks with riffs on his electric guitar. By night's end, the room was still packed for Alter Ego, who threw down an unrelenting set anchored by tracks from Why Not?!, working the crowd into a frenzy. We danced like mad to their raucous, bleepy, electro-infused techno until we practically dropped from exhaustion…until we managed to find an after-party, of course.
- Elly Rifkin
Photo credit
+Russ