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.
