I think I first met my good friend and fellow redneck DJ family member PrEssHa (aka Matthew Thomas McGiveron) at the Produkt Dance studio in south Seattle where a Friday night’s festivities had slid right over into the next afternoon, and we were all lazing about, smoking and drinking and listening to music and dancing on the big splintery floor. “PrEssHa, play some techno! PrEssHa, play some dub step! PrEssHa, play some glitch!” It didn’t seem to matter what genre it was; what the people wanted was what the people got and for hours Matt delivered it with a slick style and a smile. 

Since that afternoon I have gotten to know PrEssHa and have learned that his easy nature and recurring smile are part of his fun personality as much as his extreme versatility is part of his performance. One of my favorite experiences was around midnight at Operation Apex out on Vantage River, I was asleep and cuddling in my tent with a couple friends after a crazy day, and my girl Lynzie nudges me. “Do you here those bass beats?” she said, “It’s PrEssHa.”

Sure enough, booming down the sandy river beach and right into my ears was the unmistakable sound of PrEssHa throwing down some heavy bass about two hundred yards away, coming from beyond the tree-sheltered d&b stage from the insanely windy and cold beach stage. I got my ass up out of the warm tent, put on a few more layers, grabbed the long PVC pipe I like to twirl and RAN to the beach where PrEssHa was playing. There with the maniacal wind and crashing river waves, amongst the campfires and beach rocks and tripping party kids, I danced, under the fat moon and the star-lit waves. It is one of the many dance floor experiences imprinted in my brain forever. By the end of his set a whole crowd of people had gathered to dance to the bass, inclement weather be damned. It was the best set of the weekend which had no shortage of good music and talented DJs. 

I told PrEssHa the next day that you know you are a good DJ when people get up OUT of nice warm tents and brave the 50mph wind and RUN to hear your set- but there are many more reasons why PrEssHa rocks. Here they are:

PrEssHa is one of the most versatile DJs in Seattle and throws down sick beats from techno to hip-hop to dub step to breaks to electro house to drum and bass to glitch hop. Immersed in the party and responsive to the desires of his audience, PrEssHa loves to create a scorching dance floor riot and you will find him in clubs all over the city having as much fun as the dancers getting down to the blazing beats.

A musician from a young age, PrEssHa picked up sheet music at 13 and quickly learned to play everything from the trumpet to the drum kit. His first foray into the world of electronic arts came when he discovered the turntable in Myrtle Beach while pimping for the US Navy, and he lit up the barracks nightly with a pair of Gemini belt drive turntables and a pieced-together pawn shop mixer. A DJ was born.

Starting off from a background mixing hip hop with classic rock, PrEssHa soon discovered breaks and was hooked on the hefty, chunky, dance-friendly beats. The DJ name of PrEssHa fell on him, literally, when a huge chunk of ceiling and dust collapsed onto the decks during his set. Staying cool and collected and not missing a beat, he continued to play and the MC at the party dubbed him PrEssHa, for playing under it. Adding more significance, the capitalized letters in his name stand for Pure Electronic Harmony. Indeed.

Back home in the Puget Sound area, PrEssHa kept partying and could be found on a nightly basis carrying around a simple set of Technics, a pair of Kenwood house speakers and a Fisher amp, making him a welcome sight at house party after house party where he would rock out for the love of the game. His talent and passion gained some promoters’ attention and soon PrEssHa was brought in to play shows for big names in the local hip-hop scene- Tech N9ne, Spice 1, Twista. He made his mark at his first main stage event, Apocalypse, at the Qwest Field Events Center with headliners Darude, Omar Santana, and many others. PrEssHa would soon be playing all over Seattle, his name on the lips of club kids and partygoers citywide.

PrEssHa currently holds residences at Noc Noc and The Jet, and regularly lights dance floors on fire at Trinity, Last Supper Club, Contour, Heavens, and many more clubs around Seattle. He has opened for Donald Glaude, Simply Jeff, Keith McKenzie, Adam F, Bachelors of Science, and Ninjatunes “Nanquan”; his first release “The Interpretation” had over 1,000 copies on the streets followed up by his new mix CD “The Resolution” which is out now, booming out of speakers all over the city streets.

PrEssHa was also voted to “The Best of 2007” on The Vortex 89.5, an electronic music program loved in Seattle and known worldwide. He also recently experienced Burning Man for the first time, and like all great artists was heavily inspired by the vast array of music on offering and came home to Seattle with a new appreciation of the wide variety of music coursing this planet’s veins as well as a renewed love for down tempo.

Right now this most diverse DJ is deep into the mid tempo, dubby, glitch-hop sound that is sweeping the West Coast, and as one of the pioneers of the un-named, bass-heavy genre in the Seattle electronic music community PrEssHa will most definitely continue to lay new twists to whatever he is playing, and we will no doubt continue to dance.   

Catch PrEssHa tonight at Botsessionz at Heavens, or on December 4 at the Crimson C where he will open for novaTRON and KJ Sawka at BASSNDRUMS.

The Produkt family throws a big crazy dance party the last Friday of every month at The REBAR called Analog, and this October the lineup is sweet, the candy corn is sticky, and there are tons of reasons you should come out and get down this Friday night! Here are my top 15:

1. It’s a Masquerade Ball! Guests are encouraged to wear all black and a mask. You know what happens when people wear masks, right? Things can get a little nutty.

2. Sonny Chiba will be throwing electro from his fingers; this well-known and most-loved DJ has just a tiny bit of experience at these so-called “dance parties” 

3. Goner, aka the birthday boy is an up-and-comer in the impending inferno that is the Seattle techno scene. One to watch and not to miss.

4. Nordic Soul always delivers. It’s just that simple. Slick beats expertly mixed. You might recall a little party he threw last month called the Decibel Festival.

5. Noisemaker does what Noisemaker wants. Do you remember the last Analog that Noisemaker played? Yeah I thought so. 

6. LIVE ART with LIVE ARTIST Elizabeth. Live art + electronic music = vitamins for the soul

7. Produkt knows how to party. These cats are feral and one of the dopest, wackiest crews in Seattle. From kitchen sinks to impromtu underwear go-go guest dancers to body paint bikinis to orange cones to swords, they have more fun than anyone I know.

8. It’s Cassie’s birthday! Pressha is right: “CASSIE’S HOT!!!” And hot girls have hot friends, it’s a universal truth. And these hot chicks just happen to also be…

9. Produkt Go-Go Dancers! Mallory, Jess, Ashley, Asifa, Marni, Alex, Nefarious, Desiree- what go-go grab bag do we get this month? Any way you cut it, it’s a handful!

10. BECAUSE IT IS LATE OCTOBER and the usual feeling of mischief brought on by the dark of night is even MORE INTENSE this time of year and who knows what ghoulish spirits might be afoot or what may be lurking in the recesses of the evening to come and eat your soul…mwah ha ha ha!!!

10. Spirit Dancer.

11. REBAR is the dance club de la nuit and in this neighborhood you can get as loud and rambunctious as you want- plus there are lots of nooks around to sneak off to and curtains to get lost in. No one will know- you’re wearing a mask!

12. Matt Matsuda in full effect with his mad paparazzi skills documenting all the moments you won’t remember.

13. To get ready for the sweet afterhours going down with Nosaj Thing at 3AM- for venue info just ask around at Analog; I bet the blond chick going nuts at the front of the dance floor probably knows.

14. To drink and socialize, hel-lo.

15. TO GET DOWN! This is a dance party thrown by a dancing crew in a club that puts dancing first and is always one of my favorite nights of the month. Everyone is invited to join the party and celebrate life Produkt-style, so get your ass down to REBAR Friday night for Analog XV: Masquerade Ball!

Click here for more information about the Analog XV: Masquerade Ball. $5 Before 11PM, $7 After.

For homegrown innovation in collaborative performing arts, one can turn with confidence to Seattle’s Degenerate Art Ensemble. Their latest, Silvering Path is up through this weekend at the intriguing experiment in urban reclamation, Free Sheep Foundation.

Ninjas attack the Weeble Wobble - a dreamer (as vividly expressed in the video work of Leo Mayberry) wearing a fantastic musical dress (made by Anna Lange and Circus Contraption’s Colin Ernst). The foes have a wonderfully percussive battle. See below for a glimpse of the dress being tested out.

Next we watch the beautiful, seemingly circuitous relationship between the sower and the slug princess in a film by Ian Lucero featuring the fiber work of Mandy Greer (whose work was shown this summer at the Bellevue Art Museum).

And finally we meet the slug princess in person (donning Greer’s impressive work) and learn a bit more about her in a dance solo by Haruko Nishimura with live music by Jeffrey Huston and Joshua Kohl.

The show was unique and wonderful, so hurry out to see it. Pick up your tickets before hand, too, as it has sold out every night so far. Finally, be prepared to imbibe as there are very distinctive cocktails to be experienced as well.

Here’s that weeble wobble dress test footage:

Weeble Wobble 4 from joshua kohl on Vimeo.

Today I interviewed Chadwick Dahlquist who is the musical director for the production of UFO the Puppet Show (a comedy). Watch him here as he explains this great Seattle event. This event starts Thursday Oct 9th at the Theatre Off Jackson (409 7TH Ave S, Seattle). Oops!!! One correction to the video: Chadwick says the show starts October 8th but it actually starts October 9th (Thursday).

Music to this short clip by Chadwick Dahlquist

About the puppet show:

An Epic production of miniature proportions! UFO the Puppet Show will finally draw the veil from the mysteries surrounding the Roswell Incident of 1947. You may think you have the answers but you’ve never had THESE answers!

Note: All nudity is papier-mache derived…material may be disturbing for young audiences.

For more details go to: http://culturemob.com/events/5615026

WOW, WOW, WOW. What a weekend. What a swirling mess of art, what an epic adventure in electronica, what a bad-ass dance festival, what an fantastic experience to have shared with friends. I had one of the best weekends of my life, and yall know I have a hell of a lot of great weekends.

Seattle has just been injected with a reinvigorating shot of electronic adrenaline. I keep hearing the word “inspired” roll off the tongues of the many friends who came out. DJs are talking about taking their art in new directions and dancers got their groove back. All the local performers that I saw really threw down, bringing up their game and refusing to have anything but a killer time. The visiting artists I have spoken with since this weekend had a blast in our city as well and loved the Seattle crowds that showed up; it was really neat for me to see all the different performers out and about checking out other artists and their work. The sound everywhere was excellent (why can’t we have this all the time?) and I discovered new music from around the world as well as from locals which has changed the way I see the world, as good art should. Score.

And I TOLD YOU dB in the Park with the Glitch Mob was going to be insane- and the freaks and robots definitely showed up! Thank you my friends!

It seems like I should be tired or hungover or something, but right now I feel refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to go. Which is a good thing, since I leave for Thailand tomorrow morning- but before I leave, I want to share with you my impressions and adventures of the past weekend. I made it to nineteen showcases, one conference, and three unofficial afterhours, two official afterhours, hung out with Jahcoozi until 8AM, had fun messing around with Deadmau5’s head, ate crab wontons with edIT and Boreta, and I am still standing. And glowing. And ready for next year.

DAY 1:

My Decibel began officially at Grey Gallery on Thursday night where the Oi Vay boys were warming up the lounge with their sexy beats; Struggle was up top spinning and Eddie was dancing around like the lovable soul he is. This was not to be the last time I ran into this Seattle legend shaking his ass during the weekend- that boy gets down, for real.

I hung out at Sole Repair for a bit where Team Peloton was tearing it up; I tried bouncing back and forth into Neumos but the opening acts were all a bit too slow for me/not my cup of tea/kill me now and I kept finding myself back in Sole Repair where the dancing was goo-od mmm mmm. Those boys know how to make the people DANCE!

I like being able to see the DJ and so hung out upstairs which had more room for the freaky dancers with flailing arms, like me. Around 1AM when INCITE! aka Sean Horton went on we all donned mustaches to wish him a happy birthday (not sure where the mustaches fit in- though I do know a lot of French bicyclists with beards). I am a big fan of Sean’s new moniker and hope to see more of his more aggressive and visceral style soon in the future. I really enjoyed Stewart Walker as well, he was sweating and dancing to his beats almost as much as the wild crowd was.

Then I RAN back over to Neumos where Jahcoozi was running slightly late but noshing on snacks downtstairs in great spirits; I have been a big fan of theirs for a while and this was one of the acts I was really stoked about experiencing. Sasha and Oren took the stage and proceeded to turn the club on its head- what started as a half-full room of looky-loos ended in an all-out dance brawl. MC and rapper Sasha kept jumping down into the crowd and we all gathered around her like we were third-graders on a playground and she was the cool girl, dancing in a circle and getting down and getting dirty. She WAS the cool girl, and with her I-don’t-give-a-shit dance moves, heavy crowd interaction, sharp lyrics and mad trumpet skills she won over everyone there as did Oren, backing her up with his keen beats and electric bass.

Jahcoozi’s performance was definitely one of the highlights of the festival for me and I have heard the same from several people. And for the love of God can people stop comparing Sasha to MIA? The only thing they have in common is that they both rap and neither one of them are white- and there it ends. Sasha’s intelligent lyrics blow MIA’s out of the water- open your ears and listen and you will see the cliched comparisons are just the work of lazy music journalists.

After the Jahcoozi show we all went and kicked it in the Green Room where we talked to them about their trip up the West Coast (Seattle was their favorite show, ahem), Berlin (the scene there is as great as you think it is) and tried on Sasha’s sweet fur hat. I made the bands.tv guys and my coworker Cedric wait until about 3AM for the live streamed interview, but finally Jahcoozi was ready and we had a quick chat for the camera before all heading off to Sean’s birthday party in the loft above Grey Gallery which was rockin’ and hot and sweaty, just like a good afterhours should be.

Then we left with Jahcoozi and partied all night until breakfast hour back at the Best Western Executive Inn. The food sucked.

DAY 2:

On Friday I was up for the lunchtime dB Conference on (duh) music journalism where I got insights from writers from XLR8R, Resident Advisor, the Stranger and more. One striking fact of the panel for me was that in a room of about thirty artists, only two were female, myself included. Where the ladies at? Next year, how about a panel on the dearth of female artists in the electronic arts?

Making my Friday was a delicious French-toast crepe and Wasabi Bloody Mary from Grey Gallery; highly recommended if you like your hangover with pickled okra and a very, very clear head.

That night I returned to Grey to catch a little of the Kulturszene DJ lounge before heading over to Neumos for the Dirty Dancing showcase where Let’s Go Outside was tearing it up. I love this DJ for his music and for this. I wanted to stay but my heady bass-freak self propelled me all the way over to the Baltic Room for the Native State Showcase; this venue is the perfect match for the Dark Lords of Native State. Welder was keeping the crowd wobbling and soon KiloWatts was shaking the whole earth with his structured and driving brand of crunky bass- this sound pioneer gave one of the best performances of Decibel, for sure. The people were lapping it up like kittens. Evil little kittens.

It was hard to pull away but I had to head back over to Neumos for Deadmau5. I lost track of how many times I went back and forth between the Baltic and the Pike Street area; I walked it at least four times, took a cab twice, drove at least once and bummed a ride a couple of times. Once I took a hoola hoop.

I really didn’t know what to think of Deadmau5- I am familiar with his music and had done some research for a pre-Decibel article but had never seen him live and really didn’t know what to think of Mr. Joel Zimmerman. Downstairs at Neumos he was chilling and connecting the mad wireage inside his now-blue Mau5head, whose ears are a lovely velour, fun to rub, and insured. He was feeling a little pain from the night before in Edmonton where he and his manager had tied one on, but there was no hint of that at all when the Mau5 took the stage, because-

Deadmau5 completely blew me away. His performance was my biggest surprise of the festival. Dance-floor transcendence, and you know what I mean. I tend to fall into the brainwaves of “oh, everyone in the world likes this artist, so he must really suck”- but Deadmau5 simply wrecked mad destruction; the dance floor was so freaking packed you hardly even had to dance- all the people around you just moved your body around for you, and all you had to do was give yourself to it. I really don’t think Joel knows how good he is, despite all the Beatport awards and accolades; all he cares about is getting back into his studio and making music. No really, that is all he cares about.

However we did convince him to head over to the Church of Bass for the Subsequence afterhours and arrived just in time for the very last of Kris Moon’s set and then proceeded to get sticky with Phidelity whose psychedelic robotty-bass grooved perfectly with the dark dance church, all decked out for the festival with sweet black light art. We then got a second dose of Brendan Angelides aka Welder who performed this time as Eskmo, who is a dreamy poet of electronic intensity- I don’t know what world he comes from, but I want to buy a ticket.

DAY 3:

Saturday morning started with a trip to the airport to pick up my very favorite producers in all of the universe- edIT and Boreta of the Glitch Mob. Sadly I missed a lot of Decibel in the Park but I heard that Noisemaker laid it down proper, as usual. I rolled up in style with my precious cargo around 4PM just as Jacob London was finishing up and Truckasauras were getting set up with their Americanakitsch: gold Zelda cartridge, Uncle Sam hats and all. Who wants to bet that was Maker’s Mark in that plastic cup?

Truckasauras was good but I live for the Glitch Mob and now my dear children, you can see why. I think I personally called every single one of my friends and told them to go to this performance or I would kill them. And over a dozen of them came up and thanked me afterwards for the mind-blowing experience. edIT and Boreta (and Kraddy and OOah, the missing mobsters) create something new with each live show; you either get it or you don’t, and something tells me the mass of people dancing their asses off for an hour and a half GOT IT. Burner breaks, glitch hop, laser bass, Crunkedouthyphyfunkadelicpsybrokenwhomphopmusicforbasssluts or whatever you want to call it; the Glitch Mob pushes through boundaries like they aren’t even there (like the spoon) and they have a hell of a time doing it.

Great success! Decibel in the Park was mad fun, just like you knew it would be. The fact that the showcase was free added to the aesthetic and I know of at least one person who asserted that the Glitch Mob changed his life (me too). I hope to see more outdoor shows at Volunteer Park and of course, more freaks.

After a nap and a shower I headed over to Grey Gallery quickly to say hi to the Sweatbox and Knight Riders kids (I LOVE TECHNO) and then got myself to the Baltic Room where I made yet another exciting artist discovery at the Ghostly Showcase: Deru, who was taking things on a dark and twisty turn there on the dance floor. The dirty sounds got me all worked up which was just perfect because I hopped a cab up to Chop Suey where things were CRACK-EN’ in mad firecracker style. In the hot-as-hell side room Swank was ripping it up like a pirate and Sean Majors followed suite, keeping the energy ramped up, and over in the main room LA Riots started laying crazy on the crowd who flipping loved it.

Once again I was forced to pull myself away from the bRave New World Showcase and head to Neumos for Carl Craig; the end of Audion’s set had the people bursting in bubbles and then THE DETROIT LEGEND stepped up- and this is where I should stop writing. I danced for his entire set like a raving madwoman, like a lunatic with no lunch, like the insane devotee of the cult of dance that I am. I don’t know what tracks he played, I don’t know what he mixed in or how he did it, I don’t know his no-doubt long list of props, awards, and accolades. I was dripping, dripping with sweat, it was in my fat eyes and stupid smile which did not wear off all night (and is in fact still there right now).

This is what I live for, why I stay hours late at my office writing for you, why I go out all the time in search of it- it is why I do what I do- so that I can have this divine experience, and it is no less than that. My brain stops working completely and the music takes me over and I experience something that I cannot find elsewhere- not from a person, not from a drug, not from anything else on earth. THIS IS WHY WE DANCE. THANK YOU CARL CRAIG. No really, I love techno.

After three days of dancing of course I wanted to dance more and headed to a friend’s afterparty first; the dubstep was icky-icky but just not what I was searching for so I trolled down to the Church of Bass once again for yet another WOW experience and discovered yet another new favorite performer of the festival: Dixon. Oh. My. God. You would think the people on his dance floor had been sleeping for a thousand years instead of going for three days of Decibel. Taimur Agha kept it bangin’ as well and I left after several more hours of epic dance trance- a very very great day in the life, right?

DAY 4:

After a respectable amount of sleep I was up on Sunday I made it to Havana’s just in time to catch Sun Tzu Sound, though not so for the barbeque from Austin which was long gone. This Texas girl was very sad, although the bartender had stashed some chicken back so I did get a little fix of homefood. I wasn’t expecting to dance, just to relax, but the warm, tribal sounds echoing out of the parking lot had a different idea, and soon I was getting down with a few others in the shady pink parking lot- so perfect for a city barbeque. Jeremy Ellis was out chillin’ in his sweet yellow suit and red ponytail and jumped in for a minute to play along with SunTzu. People kept strolling by the gates, watching us dance and listening to the beats and wondering where they took a wrong turn in life. (Yeah it was at the intersection of Mainstream Avenue and Live-For-Art Street).

Still hungry from my teaser barbeque experience, I drove over to the Triple Door to the Ambient Showcase for a little Deaf Center and a cheese plate. At the second door I ran into Akira Rabelais and we had quite the lovely wine experience all backed up with some creepy-ass music that would chill my bones right off if I played it late at night at my house and would no doubt inspire me to turn on every single light that I could. I think they call this kind of music “haunting”.

I went to this Ambient Showcase on the recommendation of everyone who has ever told me in my life to slow down- which is like 8000 people. I did, and it was as lovely as the wine I shared with Akira. I hung on for a little of Eluvium and then took my leave to go get down for one lovely last night of Decibel- it was time to dance!

Over at Sole Repair my favorite people in the world, Innerflight, were getting things started with J-Sun and then Kadeejah Streets up on the decks and swinging hard and low with their music- I don’t know who loved it more, the DJs or the crowd below. Upstairs once again in the gallery the dance freaks were rocking it; the crowd wasn’t as thick as it had been for the weekend nights but for those of us there it just meant more dance floor, because the music was definitely right up there with the best of the weekend.

Again- tough choices- I left to catch Flying Lotus who was incredibly entertaining and a gentleman to boot. He has to be one of the most talented and critically-acclaimed artists of the weekend, and for good reason. The Bug and the Warrior Queen didn’t so much do it for me, I loved the heavy vibrating bass but couldn’t seem to get into it and found myself outside socializing more than dancing- which shouldn’t happen in Shilo World (see Carl Craig above).

Supermayer brought it back for me though with their adorably clever musical attitude and I would have rocked out until the sugar-sweet ending- but m.0 was on fire next door and I wanted to blaze with him. I walked in to Sole Repair to see him in the middle of the dance floor with his trademark giant smile and seriously talented beat-mastery. Fantastic, beautiful, and epic. m.0 is the shit in this town plain and simple and is only going up, up, up, and Seattle will be right behind him with a big “Hell Yeah.”

After two I headed out for my fourth afterhours of the weekend where once again the music was top notch, the crowd was off their heads with excitement, Flying Lotus was chilling on the windowsill and I danced until I was wringing out my shirt AND JEANS. Wringing out my jeans, people. I was in bed by 6:30AM which didn’t quite give me the sleep I needed to be all perky and Shilo-like by my office meeting at 10AM- but I sure as hell was still dancing on the inside, as I will be for a while, thanks to Decibel Festival.

And thanks to you, everyone involved which is about a billion people, from the director down to the kids who shucked out money to see a show and over to the bouncer sweeping up cigarette butts. The electronic music community here in Seattle is alive and well, full of passion and smiling faces, exploding with talent and gaining more adherents every day. We must harness the excitement and enthusiasm for our music that you are all feeling right now and use it promote the talented artists among us, to work for more and bigger music venues in Seattle, to support newcomers to our scene, and to share with others what electronic music has meant to us, which more than can be put into words.

I too am inspired not only by all the new music and art in my head but by the fact that one person with a little help from friends can make a huge impact on the international electronic arts community which we are part of; mad mad props to Sean Horton. Thanks to everyone who handed out a flyer, reposted a Myspace bulletin, told a friend about the festival or simply showed up and danced. Rest assured that people returned home with respect for the Seattle electronic music community in their hearts, and I am honored to have been able to contribute to this epic electronic arts mania riot love dance fever weekend we like to call the Decibel Festival. Thanks you.

And now I ask you a favor- I would usually go back and add in links back to CultureMob.com for all of the artists, venues, and events as well as going back and editing the hell out of this write up at least three times, adding clever remarks and innuendos.

However I seriously have a flight to Thailand in less than twelve hours and should probably go home and start packing.

So if you would, my friends, check out CultureMob.com- register if you haven’t already, make a comment, and find out about local events coming up in Seattle and all over the country. CultureMob is all about promoting artists and venues and you will no doubt find some sweet events you didn’t know about, not only live music events but art, comedy, movies, sports, theater, and more. Sign up and make Shilo happy- well, happier. ‘Cuz I’m floating on beats right now.

Click here to go to CultureMob’s listing of upcoming Seattle electronic music events.

That’s it! I am off to Thailand. Catch you on the flip-flop. And one last time until next year, Happy Decibel.

I returned to Seattle Sunday night around 8PM from three days of camping, dancing, partying in tents and jamming out to sick electronic music like next week was Armageddon, going on about three hours of sleep with a car and a face full of sand, sunburned shoulders, river hair, a pack full of wet clothes and muddy shoes. There was only one thing I was up for-

Sunset Seattle: the Decibel Festival prefunk by Innerflight at Golden Gardens, of course!

Why? Because Innerflight can party, and I KNOW THIS.

So I raced out to my favorite Seattle park just in time for the beginning of Novatron’s set as well as for the onslaught of pouring rain, which in fact seemed to be having precious little effect on the dancing crowd who had obviously been living it up all day long. Nova was laying it down fat and bassy like the people like it and having quite a bit of fun himself, and dancers were straight getting down in the downpour, rocking it hard right out in front of the sound master. Dancing in the rain on a beach to Novatron was the perfect cap to an excellent weekend, especially as the experience included recognizing friend after friend in the darkness next to me smiling, grooving, shaking the wet right from them and reveling in the warm cozy feeling that is the Seattle electronic music community.

And we are a community, which today is no longer defined by tradition or geography or family but by interest- and we love the beats, baby. Whether you are a househead, a techno freak, a drum and bass fanatic, a wonky dubstep lover, a breaks ninja, electro warrior, a spirit dancer or just a total bass slut like me, we all share a great passion for electronic music and the community created around it, and we should not take it for granted. We understand how very important creative expression is to human beings. Dancing is my religion, and it is all the promoters, DJs, dancers, producers, party-throwers and guys who haul heavy-ass speakers that enable me to indulge in the most important thing in life, having fun. Thank you.

And you can thank them by showing up at the Decibel Festival, not only for the big names like Deadmau5 and Carl Craig but for all the locals involved in the festival as well. Go to the free DJ lounges going on each night at Grey Gallery, indulge in a little more of the freaky beat goodness that is Novatron at the Sensory Effect Showcase, and check out all the other local performances including the Innerflight Showcase taking place Sunday night at Sole Repair. Get a pass so you can hop around the whole weekend to all the venues and not miss anything, and let’s show ‘em how we roll in the 206. And tell the musicians who make your life better just that; your words feed their souls and you know those starving artists need a burger now and then.

If Innerflight’s prefunk was any indication of what will ensue at Decibel, get ready and load up on the morning-after Emergen-C, because all those freaks were going wild in the rain, and I was proud to be one of them.

For more information including the full lineup and artist information for the 2008 Decibel Festival of Electronic Music Performance, Visual Art and New Media taking place THIS WEEK in Seattle, click here.

To read my guide and showcase picks for the Decibel Festival, click here.

To visit the official Decibel Festival website with all the juicy goods, click here.

See you on the dance floor.

Seattle Weekly’s annual local music festival REVERBFest hits Ballard like a guitar smashing down on stage, scattering its glistening goodness to all around. From the Bit Saloon to Mr. Spot’s Chai House you will find Seattle’s hottest artists as well as up-and-coming musicians pouring their souls out all over the neighborhood, and you can get in on the action for less than $10!

It all goes down Saturday, October 4 but wristbands are on sale now for $8 advance/$10 at the door ($5 advance/$7 at the door for minors) and for the cost of two lattes you get access to nine stages and over 65 local bands. Ballard was built for pub crawls, so grab your friends, get a wristband and keep the Seattle music scene blazin’!

Find out more about REVERBFest here or check out the lineup below for the full run-down; click on the artist name for performance and venue information. My top pick? Truckasauras.

REVERBFest 2008 Lineup:

Elder Mason
Ripynt
C-Leb & A-Bro
Kim Virant
Thee Sgt Major III
Hazelwood Motel
Blood Red Dancers
The Monday Mornings
Sweet Potatoes
Zach Harjo
Kublakai
Sage
Panda & Angel
Herman Jolly
The Crying Shame
Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden
Arbitron
The Knox Family
Bob Wayne and the Outlaw Carnies
Husbands, lover your wives
Ian Moore
Keg
KEXP Audioasis Live
The Braille Tapes
The Lonely Forest
Michael Vermillion
Canary Sing
Brothers of the Sonic Cloth
Pufferfish
Bacchus
Lonesome Rhodes & the Good Company
The Rainieros
Wizdom
Black Whales
Little Penguins
Onry Ozzborn & the Gigantics
Boat
Emeralds
See Me River
Gatling Gees
Man Plus
Police Teeth
Truckasauras
Guns and Rosetti
Mono in VCF
Piece
Red Jacket Mine
17th Chapter
Team Gina
Trombone Cake
Orbitron
Massy Ferguson
The Curious Mystery
The Valkyries
Aqueduct
Madraso
North Twin
Neon Nights
Diminished Men
The Quit
Grayskul Feat Candidt & XP
Shim
At The Spine
Dragstrip Riot
The Moondoggies

Everyone I know is getting really excited about the upcoming 2008 Decibel Festival taking place on Capitol Hill from September 25-28 which brings pure electronic arts mayhem to Seattle with over one hundred artists performing in twenty-four showcases at almost a dozen venues.

So how do you figure out where to go and when? Ideally you could make duplicates of yourself and see every single performance; alas, I wish for this every freaking weekend and the technology isn’t quite there yet. Short of cloning yourself, make a plan or just take my recommendations!

Keep in mind that I love anything riddled with bass, particularly breaks, glitch-hop, crunked-out hyphyness and anything hip hop-infused; I am in an extended techno phase and really love to dance and to support my locals. I know my showcase picks will leave a lot of talented performers out but sometimes in life you just have to choose.

So with that in mind, here is my plan of attack for Decibel Festival 2008. True, to keep up with me on any night much less during a festival you need a supernatural amount of energy; my secret is plenty of hard living: drinking, smoking, dancing, and of course hella double espressos, straight up.

Your comments are more than appreciated below, please leave one and let me know what you think.

1. BUY A PASS. This is a festival by city kids for city kids, proper-like. With a festival pass you will be able to bounce around from venue to venue with your friends, checking out all the artists you are interested in and catching all the headliners who will be staggered throughout the night, just like outdoor festies. But you’re in the city, not BFE, so you can enjoy the beats all night long and then grab some Jack in the Crack and go home, take a sweet hot shower and curl up in your bed before doing all again the next day.

2. EXPOSE YOURSELF. To new artists, that is. The list of performers looks daunting and there are no doubt quite a few that you haven’t heard of yet. Decibel is the perfect opportunity to stick your ears in on some performances you normally wouldn’t, and since you bought a pass, why not?

3. BRING YOUR FRIENDS. Electronic music changed your life and it is your duty as a human being to share your love of this art with some of your friends who don’t quite get it yet. Are all your friends are already obsessed with the electronic music like you? Party parade down Broadway.

4. DON’T BE STOOPID and get wasted; festivals require party planning. You don’t want to be going on two hours of sleep when your favorite DJ hits the stage. Drinking water, eating, and sleeping do wonders for human beings. You should try it sometime.

5. WEAR EARPLUGS. Custom sound systems will be brought in to all the venues to make them louder and more ribcage-rattling. Life is good. But even speakerfreakers like me want to be able to hear past the age of 40.

SHILO’S SHOWCASE PICKS:

Please click on the showcase name for a description, venue information, and full artist listing. Each showcase has several performers and I am just listing the ones I am really interested in seeing. My number one choice for each day of the festival gets a ***.

THURSDAY

dB DJ Lounge with Oi Vay: D’Jeronimo, Struggle, & Eddie (Grey Gallery) - These friends keep the Seattle scene sweaty and thriving.

Peloton Release Party: [a]pendics shuffle, Stewart Walker, and INCITE! aka Nordic Soul (Sole Repair) - Dance-centric CD release party for those with the Fever5000. Wear comfy shoes.

***Deconstructing Pop Showcase: Jahcoozi (Neumos) - JAHCOOZI IS THE SHIT. Everyone from the Glitch Mob to Modeselektor samples this Berlin trio with the outspoken frontwoman du jour. Their live shows are insane and this is Jahcoozi’s first time on the West Coast. Heaps of people are looking forward to this performance as the highlight of the festival. 

FRIDAY:

Dirty Dancing Showcase: Deadmau5 and Let’s Go Outside (Neumos) -Deadmau5 is only the hottest producer in the universe right now, and I met Let’s Go Outside a few weeks ago at Hengst where he really tore it up and then actually did go outside.

Sensory Effect Showcase: novaTRON (Lo-Fi) - Hello! novaTRON kills it, always, and repeatedly. 

***Native State Label Showcase: KiloWatts, Welder, Nalepa, Shen (Baltic) - All four performers at this showcase have mad skills; Native State is Bluetech’s label and this is the big show for bass sluts who will have the best night ever because right after this showcase is the…

dB Afterhours Subsequence: Eskmo, Phidelity, Kris Moon, Rob Noble, Skoi Sirius (Church of Bass) - Starborne is putting on this afterhours which will shake and destroy you from your dancing toes to your mind melting out of your ears. And we all know the Church of Bass is the perfect spot for 4AM dancing!

SATURDAY

***dB in the PARK: Noisemaker, Manahan, Jacob London, Truckasauras, and edIT and Boreta of the Glitch Mob (Volunteer Park) - If you go to one performance the whole week of Decibel, this should be it. It is FREE, it is OUTSIDE, there will be lots of FREAKS, and it features artists who are pushing forward the leading edge of the sounds of electronic music. I wish I could make every single person I know experience this event, and I truly want to see all of your faces and bodies on the dance floor beside me going nuts.

dB DJ Lounge with Sweatbox and Knight Riders: Ctrl_Alt_Del, pantycontrol, Dr. Mr. M. and Travis Baron (Grey Gallery) - These cats will be slinging techno or “techno sex” as we like to call it on the dance floor, when the words come out right, anyway.

Detroit Techno: Past, Present, and Future: Carl Craig (Neumos) - The Legend! And by Detroit Techno, I mean Real Techno, of course. 

db Afterhours Saturday: Cheap Sunglasses (Church of Bass) - Over on nwtekno.org, people are straight freaking out about this showcase; I am not familiar with all the performers but it sounds like one hell of a party and I will be there.

SUNDAY:

dB BBQ: Jeremy Ellis, Kid Hops, SunTzu Sound (Havana’s) - We all know Kid Hops’ sweet reggae does wonders for the body and soul on Saturday morning after a long Friday night; come chill and relax or even chillax with friends, good music, and brisket. If you don’t know what brisket is, then you really need to be at this BBQ stuffing your face beside me. Hint: They are flying it in from Texas. 

Innerflight Showcase: m.0, Kadeejah Streets, J-Sun (Sole Repair) - So Innerflight took a big plane to Burning Man, but do they have big plans? What is next for the collective? I don’t know but I really love these guys.

***Decibel Finale: Supermayer, The Bug feat. Warrior Queen, and Flying Lotus (Neumos) - OMFG. For real? Can we handle this? I am going to LOVE finding out.

These are the showcases I am going to try to hit at the Decibel Festival. I will probably miss a couple and wind up seeing a few others, somehow get lost on Capitol Hill at least once, find several unofficial afterparties, drink a lot of orange juice and gang up with to a roving band of marauders in the city seeking our next transcendent dance floor experience, find it, and continue on in quest of more.

I love electronic music. 

If you have any questions about the 2008 Decibel Festival, visit the festival’s website here or hit me up at shilo@culturemob.com or the next time you see me out, which will always be tonight.

What is better than heady electronic music, a dance floor full of freaks, and live art being created on hot chicks? Not a lot- add some alcohol and I think you have a party on your hands!

Last night’s Get Tha Funk Out at the Crimson C was a spectacular and swirling mix of the Seattle underground’s finest; with live art created by Grym and head party pimpstress Lynzie. Go-go dancers were the canvasses; they stopped shaking it just long enough to get radioactive elephants, tripping musical notes, and random abstractions painted on their chests, arms, stomachs, legs, and faces.

Photographers Matt Matsuda and Ev were bouncing around taking mad pics, and besides the live body painting going on there was also several artists’ work being exhibited including works by the amazing Burgandy as well as the photography of Matsuda.

DJ sets by A.J. Spider Sorbello, Roman, Noisemaker and PrEssHa kept the night bumpin’ until two in the morning with what was certainly the best music going on in Seattle.

On to the pictures:

It’s a hard job, but somebody has to do it.

You know you want to see more photos-

There are more from Cedric here, and check out Matt Matsuda’s clever pics here.

CultureMob.com is an events website and as such does not dip its toes into the wonderful world of le restauranteur. This is good; I love to eat almost as much as I love to dance and would no doubt wax Proustian for pages and pages on my favorite wasabi or taco truck or happy hour pizza.

However the Teatro Zinzanni is not dinner- it’s an event, where they just happen to serve up a gourmet five-course food experience along with the cirque, comedy, and cabaret. Dinner is intertwined with the performance, and the whimsical and dreamlike nature of the evening makes you feel like you are an essential element of the circus troupe and will be leaving on their gypsy caravan right after dessert with the rest of the clowns and acrobats. Before you even realize it the show has begun; as you order wine and chit chat with your date you notice that quietly the actors have infiltrated the floor and are slowly wandering between the tables, straightening forks and being freaks.

The Teatro itself (in it’s new location in Lower Queen Anne) is actually a 18th-century antique cabaret tent brought over from Belgium specifically for the Teatro Zinzanni, and you definitely want to arrive early so you can cruise the sweet boutique and try on all manner of feathery and sequined caps, sexy cat-eye masks, gaudy baubled necklaces, dark velvet capes, rhinestone tiaras, rainbow boas, and satin top hats. Properly glittered-up and adorned you can now make your way over to the bar for an aperitif, take a picture with your friends dressed like a vaudeville performer, or get your face painted with sparkly swirls. An evening like no other is about to begin.

You are shuffled into the circular interior of the theater that is filled with all manner of tingle-making things and people, dripping with all the atmosphere of an Old World burlesque revue from the craziest dream you ever had. On acid. In the Middle Ages. You halfway expect to see monkeys jump out of the ceiling and start tap-dancing on your table with the silverware and napkins.

The new Teatro Zinzanni show is called “Quest for a Queendom” in which the stooge-licious Queen Wilma of fantasyland Zinzannia searches high and low for a suitable beau. You get to laugh along with her and dazzle at the acrobats, clowns, and aerialists. The seats in the middle of the floor are the best, of course, although here you run the risk of participation in the show itself; in other words the Queen might choose you to inspect for a possible courtship. And she is one picky woman (though really aren’t we all?).

Each of the five courses was an amazing lip trip, starting with a chevre/fig/cracker/melon amuse-bouche. Next up was a luscious fire roasted tomato and red pepper soup served with a dollop of avocado cream, its consistency hovering somewhere between pureed and chunky and heaven. The summer salad included crunchy green beans and multicolored tomatoes under a zesty vinaigrette, and my main course was the grilled wild-caught albacore tuna with a smoked paprika crust- another divine encounter. Follow this up with a caramelized peach tart dotted with blueberries and black coffee, drench it all in a couple of bottles of red wine and you have a dinner fit for a queen and her king, if she can find one. With the amazing spectacle happening all around, Teatro Zinzanni could skimp on the food quality and you probably wouldn’t notice- but this was one of the best chi-chi dinners I have had in a while! And did I mention I love to eat?

All the performers are amazing; some are hilarious, some are buffoons, some are stupidly talented gymnasts, and some are just freaks. I particularly enjoyed Les Castors (the Parisian acrobats) and the Chinese strap aerialists. It could have been the wine or the thirteen years of gymnastics classes in my past, but every time I see aerialists twirling and hanging from the ceiling I think, “I could do that!” Is it too late to run off (to Queen Anne) and join the circus?

Stealing the show for sure was the Queen’s manservant Manchester and his unwieldy brocade codpiece. Played by Seattle’s own Kevin Kent, Manchester is a hilarious not-so-straight man that takes care of the bumbling Queen during her quest. His smart-ass comments and spot-on facial expressions keep the whole show rolling, as well as the audience; you will walk out wishing you had a manservant named Manchester to keep you on task, crack jokes, and embarrass everyone around you.

The Teatro Zinzanni is an experience unique in this world; only Seattle and San Francisco have the pleasure of this performance, a crazy dreamland where they entertain you and feed you and send you back out into the real world with sparkles in your eyes and a smile on your face. The audience interaction is one of the best facets of the evening, and whether they are painting your face or encouraging you to slow dance along with the actors, you are part of the show. You leave having been dipped in the culture of Zinzannia- and it tastes delicious! 

Quest for a Queendom runs through October 19 every Wednesday through Sunday evening and the experience is one that will never be forgotten, even after all that wine.