This year’s finale is by far the most ambitious closing line up we’ve ever concocted. With 3 Northwest debuts from some of the world’s most respected performers / producers (Alter Ego, Reagenz and Tim Exile) we’re definitely saving the best for last.

Alter Ego (aka Roman Flügel & Jörn Elling Wuttke) could very well be the most influential underground dance act on the planet. With 8 monikers and nearly 100 releases over the past 17 years, Roman and Jörn are beyond prolific. Their past two full length releases “Transphormer” and “Why Not?!” tore through the techno world with a much need ferocity, spawning over 20 individual 12”s and 30 remixes and from a wide array of artists, including Tiga, Modeselektor, Supermayer, Carl Craig, Robag Wruhme, Ricardo Villalobos, Josh Wink, and Eric Prydz to name a few. The duo’s legendary 2004 club anthem “Rocker” went on to become one of the best selling dance tracks of the past decade, foreshadowing the next wave of electro-infused techno and electro house (i.e. Deadmau5, Boys Noize, Justice, D.I.M., Digitalism, Simian Mobile Disco, etc). With headlining slots at nearly every major European electronic music festival over the past 5 years, Alter Ego are finally making their way to North America for a debut set at this year’s Decibel Festival.

Much like Alter Ego, Move D and Jonah Sharp (aka Reagenz) are as prolific as they are influential. Move D (aka David Moufang) has been releasing music since 1992. With over a dozen monikers/collaborations and releases on some of the most important labels in electronic music history (i.e. Warp, Astralwerks, Fax and Compost), Move D has become a staple in the underground electronic music. Quite possibly his most important contribution however is his own Source imprint, which in 1994 released Reagenz, a collaboration between him and Jonah Sharp. As Spacetime Continuum, Jonah took electronic music into expansive new territory in the early 90’s with his Astralwerks releases “Sea Biscuit” and “Alien Dreamtime”, both of which fed into a burgeoning psychedelic movement in electronic music. Like David, Jonah founded his own imprint, Reflective, which later released the Reagenz album in the US. 15 years after the initial release, Reagenz is reuniting with a brand new full length release on Reflective and debut NW performance at the 2009 Decibel Festival.

Tim Exile is Warp Records latest wunderkind. His critically acclaimed live performances are based around sample based improvisations via digital looping techniques, similar to fellow Warp artist Jamie Lidell. Where Exile shines is his ability to construct complex dance rhythms and soundscapes in realtime, reminiscent of Autechre and Aphex Twin. Exile’s performance at this year’s BLOC Festival in the UK was considered by many to be the most impressive set of the entire weekend. Watching Tim perform is an experience in itself.

Opening the show are two previous Decibel highlights, Jerry Abstract and Kero. These two Detroit area natives have released on a plethora of labels ranging form Shitkatapult to Bpitch Control to Kero’s own Detroit Underground Records. If you’re a fan of leading edge electro, techno and IDM, we recommend getting there early for these two incredibly rare live sets.