This year Decibel Festival is proud to present a very special performance by renowned electronic music pioneer and educator Kim Cascone. Considered by many as the godfather of American glitch, Cascone has released on a wide variety of labels, including Raster-Noton, Mille Plateaux, 12k, and Sub Rosa, while running his own Anechoic record label in San Francisco.

Opening the showcase is Seattle’s experimental/ambient artist Phønøn.

For the last 3 years, KBCS 91.3 FM has stacked their Friday night line up with an eclectic mix of electronic sounds and for the first time is presenting a live broadcast of all 3 programs from the Decibel DJ Lounge. City Soul, Variations and Trans Europe Express cover the entire pulse of the electronic underground with the sounds of house, techno, broken beat, dubstep, disco and more.

KBCS 91.3 FM has been the Seattle area’s only community radio station for the last 30 plus years. KBCS-FM is a listener supported, non-commercial, community radio station, operated as a public service of Bellevue Community College. Our purpose is to entertain, educate and involve a diverse community of listeners with a variety of music, cultural and public affairs programs. Most of our hosts are community volunteers. Our programming takes you on a musical exploration from jazz, blues, and folk to modern global hip hop, electronica, reggae, and dub. We present Democracy Now!, The Takeaway, The Michael Eric Dyson show and other cultural and public affairs programs. KBCS is the only station in the Greater Seattle Area that offers ongoing training opportunities.

For live streaming, archived audio and playlists, visit http://www.kbcs.fm

City Soul
[9p - 11p]
Music from Tokyo to London, Detroit, Rio, and beyond, highlighting sounds from underground clubs, independent recording studios, and the streets of the world. Hosted by AC (The Rub – LoFi), Atlee (SunTzu Sound ) and J-Justice (SunTzu Sound ). Follow the City Soul podcast at http://www.citysoul.org

Variations
[11p - 1a]
From the Northwest to the global web community, uncovering the creative sounds of dub step, house, IDM, dance, electro, tech groove, and electronic beats. Your host is Gregory D’Elia .

Trans Europe Express
[1a - 3a]
A sonic journey into the European underground, featuring an eclectic mix of IDM, electro, ambient, experimental, and other sub-genres of electronica. Your host is DJ Dragan.

Thanks Again for all the support

Headlining the showcase is a live set from Harvey McKay from Glasgow, Scotland. Harvey is a fireball at the controls. Experiencing him drop one of his ripping live or DJ sets is bound to rob you of your voice and leave you sore for days, with a smile on your face all the while. He’s been on the rampage since getting picked up by Soma Records less than two years ago, having also popped up on Perc Trax, Klientele, and Slant.

Milkplant and Sone, directors of From 0-1 Recordings, will be teaming up with Slant label head and Soma Quality Recordings artist, Let’s Go Outside, for an epic 2×4 tag team set. That’s three more hours to add to their combined thirty-five or so years of DJing experience.

A transplant to the Northwest, John Massey has been attempting to damage eardrums for over thirteen years. Growing up in Flatbush Brooklyn, moving to LA as a teen, and ending up in Seattle, he’s been involved in just about every genre in both production and DJing; and he’s always done it well. At “BANG!”, we’ll be treated to a techno-centric set that will deliver all his influences and exemplify true DJ skills.

Closing the night is the debut performance of Cyan Wave, the collaborative effort of Justin Byrnes and Keith Kelley (aka Kynd). In Cyan Wave, these seasoned producers have abandoned old formulas and moved forward into new boundaries and sounds with fresh ears. Expect light-bending black hole, sub-oscillations encased in a galvanized techno exoskeleton from this truly live, spontaneous performance.

FROM 0-1 RECORDINGS

From 0-1 is a conceptually based techno record label and artist collective from Seattle, WA, USA. From 0-1 is dedicated to exploring the space that exists between the archetypal zero and one; this digitally represented duality of nature through habitual studio collaboration, event promotion, and album releases. Others simply describe it as “fantastic”. Pulling support from industry luminaries such as Speedy J, Perc, and more, From 0-1 is quickly outgrowing its Seattle skin.

http://www.from0-1.com/

SLANT RECORDS

Slant is a Portland-based label founded by Soma Quality Recordings artist Let’s Go Outside. The label focuses on releasing music which triggers deeper moods in the mind and spasms in the body. The roster draws from a truly global pool of talent ranging from the young and virtually unknown on up to techno’s household names. Slant features 12″ vinyl and download releases from artists Let’s Go Outside, Edit Select, Rico Casazza, Jerry Abstract, Revy, Apricot, Bryan Zentz, Harvey McKay, Rafael Garnica, FreqModif, Michael J Collins, Emiliano Papetti, and more.

http://www.slant-records.com/

a two deck boat party featuring…

ON THE LOWER DECK
Johnny Fiasco
Pezzner
Jeromy Nail

ON THE UPPER DECK
J.Phlip
J-Sun & Packy
Ramiro & Deepvibez

Boarding begins at 2:30pm. Boat departs at 4pm. Returns to dock at 7pm.
Cash-only Bar
Free street parking

“Uniting Souls has contributed to setting standards as to what the Seattle electronic music community has to offer on a local and international level. It is because of organizations like Uniting Souls that Seattle is rapidly becoming a favorite stop among touring electronic musicians. With e-mail, cell phones, cheap flights, and declining costs in music production, and the explosion of information technology, the face of the global music community is rapidly changing, but it is collectives like Uniting Souls that are evolving right alongside to help define and retain humanness in the often impersonal world we’ve created.”

-The Stranger (Seattle’s Largest Weekly), Speaker Freak (Apr 25 – May 1, 2002 )

UNITING SOULS

specializes in creating world-class events designed to build community through musical and creative statement. Uniting Souls originated in San Francisco in 1997, soon expanding to Los Angeles. Founders Ramiro Gutierrez and Mikey Tello subsequently produced over 100 shows in the Bay Area, and several more in L.A. throughout the late 90’s, quickly gaining a reputation for top-notch events with incredibly good vibes!

In the year 2000, Ramiro and Uniting Souls’ new home became Seattle. Since then, we’ve produced over 500 events in the Northwest, featuring top-tier local, national, and international talent, including Mark Farina, Derrick Carter, Doc Martin, Little Louie Vega, Marques Wyatt, Johnny Fiasco, Kaskade, Miguel Migs & Lisa Shaw, Dubtribe Sound System, LTJ Bukem & MC Conrad, Inland Knights, and hundreds of others, laying the foundation for a strong, art-minded community, one which continues to expand with the passing years.

UNITING SOULS MUSIC

is an independent record label based in Seattle, specializing in house music. Evolving from Uniting Souls the event production company, USM features 4 consecutive sold-out releases, by artists including Alexander East, Olivier Desmet, Johnny Fiasco & Jon Lemmon (Willie Diggs), Mister Leisure, LawnChair Generals, and Brett Johnson. Our current 5th release is an original track by Jordan Strong, titled “Be The Light,” with a remix by veteran producer C-Pen.

Uniting Souls Music is fueled by our desire to showcase the talents of skilled producers within our friends & family, as well as in the community-at-large, whose vision, innovation, creative spirit, and affinity for expression through dance music yearn to be shared with the rest of the world!

Contact: ramiro@unitingsouls.com

Web: www.unitingsouls.com

The Pan Ambient Series celebrates five years of collaboration in music, food and art by joining forces with Seattle’s Decibel Festival and returning to our Cascadian roots. After bringing together the finest artists that Tokyo, San Francisco, Atlanta and Vancouver have to offer in the downbeat dept, the bass scientists at Vancouver’s Konspiracy Group have seen to put one fist in the air for the Cascadian revolution. Celebrate five years of change from the horizontal position with an afternoon of some of the Northwest’s finest producers. Ambient’s not dead, it’s just chilling out and some of the worlds best is on your door step.

Admission price includes food and beverages

Seiche (Memex Recs, Seattle)
http://virb.com/seiche
A seiche (pronounced /seɪʃ/, or approximately saysh) is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, bays and seas. The key requirement for formation of a seiche is that the body of water be at least partially bounded, allowing natural phenomena to form a standing wave.

X-41 (Vancouver)
http://www.myspace.com/xfourtyone
X-41 is the non-linear ambient side project of Vancouver’s Square Root Of Evil, spawned in conjunction with the notorious PixelWrangler. Smoothing out the splattered 8-bit riddims of SROE, X-41 invokes a natural drift across a modern landscape of analogue dreams. If the glacial pace of the milky way could sing, it’d sound the tones of X-41.

Seattle Art Museum – South Hall:
Michna, Lusine

Seattle Art Museum – Auditorium:
The Sight Below, Tycho, Clark Warner

For nearly a decade now, Ghostly International (and its dancefloor-centric little sibling, Spectral Sound) has done much to erode the outdated constraints of musical genre, releasing album after album of eclectic, creative work from artists occupying the ever-dissolving boundaries between music, technology, and visual art.

We have been celebrating this special birthday in cities all over the world and our next stop is Seattle.  Kicking off one of the years greatest electronic music events here in North America we have been invited to hold the opening Gala for Decibel Festival at the Seattle Art Museum.

Featuring exclusive sets from:

Tycho / Michna / The Sight Below / Lusine / Clark Warner

Please note: There are a very limited amount of pre-sale tickets still available for the Auditorium portion of the Ghostly 10 : Decibel Opening Gala showcase. While the pre-sale tickets might run out, that is by no means is an indication that you won’t be able to buy a ticket at the door. The pre-sale tickets are in limited quantity to allow for All Access passholders, many of whom may not actually use their pass for a seat at this event. In fact, there is a very good chance you will be able to purchase tickets if you arrive early. We recommend arriving at 6pm and getting in line to buy a seat. The South Hall portion of this showcase is and will remain free to everyone. See you at the showcase!

Heyoka begins your healing journey with his gurgling and grinding strain of psychedelic beats, the bass drenching your body in heady reverb as light cosmic sounds bubble out of your brain and lift you to another plane. Mimosa’s sexy, dub-infused basslines continue the warm expedition through a beautiful, beat-soaked soundscape, slapping you ever so lightly now and again to make sure you haven’t slipped into oblivion. The founder of Muti Music, Dov, pushes through boundaries with an elevated and emotive sound; his diverse and adaptive style marks the experience of this San Francisco mainstay. Finally an-ten-nae puts the crunchy cherry on top with his slick blend of broken beats, freaky funk and twists from tomorrow, completing your dosage of music as medicine.

Warning: This medicine has been found to be highly addictive and can lead to spastic convulsions, particularly on the dance floor, often resulting in ecstatic joy and a feeling of complete freedom.

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.

There is no better example of this sound than that of the New York duo Koen Holtkamp and Brendon Anderegg (Mountains). Through their own exceptional works and the releases on their Aperstaartje label, Mountains have established themselves as the forerunners of a new hybrid sound that situates itself between the plucked acoustic guitar techniques of Americana legend John Fahey and the subtle electronic textures of labels like Raster-Noton, 12k and City Centre Offices.  A rare west coast performance from this duo will undoubtedly be a memorable part of this years’ program.

Sharing the bill, Decibel is proud to present Kranky Records recording artist Benoit Pioulard and his own particularly gorgeous merging of acoustic song writing with electronics.

Opening the showcase is none other than Type Records mainstay Goldmund (aka Helios) who will be performing muted, elegiac, shimmering neo-classical piano works that suspend themselves in the air and the listeners mind.

Accompanying video artists for AMERITRONICA include Christina Vantzou of The Dead Texan, 12k/Anticipate Sawako and Seattle’s own esteemed Scott Sunn of Tracer Visuals.

]]> http://www.dbfestival.com/optical-3-ameritronica/feed/ 1 http://www.dbfestival.com/optical-2-showcase/ http://www.dbfestival.com/optical-2-showcase/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:32:18 +0000 DecibelFestival http://www.dbfestival.com/?p=643 For the second installment of OPTICAL, Decibel will be hosting debut performances from three artists known for exploring the boundaries between technology and art through beautifully sculpted sound design, subtle texture and animation.

Tokyo born Sawako has been composing digital compositions for Taylor Deupree’s 12k imprint for years. An A/V artist, Sawako’s focus has shifted from video to sound, but she’s always found a way to marry the two. Though digital in format, her music contains an organic warmth that has become synonymous with her name.

Christina Vantzou is both a video artist and half of the Brussels’s based duo The Dead Texan. As a solo artist, Christina has successfully taken the subtle indie ambience of the Dead Texan along while exploring a more diverse visual palette.

Lissom (aka Tana Sprague) is a multimedia artist whose 2009 release on Dragon’s Eye Recordings was inspired by “the elegant complexity of organic forms”. In addition, Tana is panelist, musician and accomplished video artist that has been instrumentally involved with a number of organizations, including MUTEK, Decibel, Recombinant Media Labs and the Grey Area Foundation for the Arts.

The Main Room welcomes 3WS, the combination of San Francisco’s Ana Sia and Danny Corn, whose rough rumblings satisfy the body and the brain to simultaneously activate your limbs and uplift your mind. Mike Slott’s hip hop-influenced imagination and innovative future-funk wraps you in a dirty blanket of experimental movement, while Eprom kicks you in the face with fatty rawness – his slamming and crunchy twist on West Coast Sound is always a party favorite. Mimosa slides in next with sexy basslines and a thick psychedelic density, rolling deep like purple with a gang of dub-infused grooves.

The sounds will be smokin’ heavy in the lounge next door, where LA’s Take keeps the beats on a West Coast lean with his laid-back, acousmatic blend of hypnotic hip hop, otherworldly melodies, and space dust. Kotchy creates top-shelf pop reworkings with toes dipped in electro and hip hop; using live instruments he delivers sets as unpredictable as they are unique. Professor Steve Nalepa teaches us the true depth of dub and the grime of glitch from the beat blackboard, and J Roby of Portland’s Abstract Earth Project experiments with sounds that sooth you right onto the dance floor.

Come out and cloak yourself in delicious Dirty Velvet and realize how much fun getting filthy can be.

The Little Red Bistro will be offering a selection of paninis, sandwhiches, soups, salads until 6:00AM.   Starting at 6am they will be offering breakfast items as well as Mimosas and Bloody Mary’s for the 21+ folks.

]]> http://www.dbfestival.com/starborne-afterhours/feed/ 4 http://www.dbfestival.com/db-afterhours-the-deep-end-pt-2/ http://www.dbfestival.com/db-afterhours-the-deep-end-pt-2/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:07:42 +0000 DecibelFestival http://www.dbfestival.com/?p=612 After a night of intense clubbing come swim with us out to the “The Deep End” as we take you on a late night journey with some of the world’s most acclaimed deep house and tech house performers. Riding the success of last year’s “Earplugs” afterhours, Decibel has created the ultimate afterhours experience with this two-part international program. Church of Bass will once again be hosting what are sure to be two of the most talked about lineups of the entire 2009 festival, “The Deep End Pt.1” on Friday and “The Deep End Pt.2″ on Saturday.

Headlining “The Deep End Pt. 2” will be Heidelberg’s Move D (Warp, Source, Modern Love), Washington DC’s Martyn (Tectonic, 3024) and the Boston/Philadelphia duo Voodeux (Mothership) all of whom are making their Northwest debut for Decibel. Kicking off the party will be Tanner Ross (Dirtybird) and Seattle’s own deep house maestro Pezzner (Om, Freerange).

Please note, Church of Bass is an intimate venue, so be sure and plan accordingly to avoid lines or a possible sell out.

Get ready for the genre-bending, sound-blending styles of the Made Like a Tree collective. Their “Tree & Mountain” showcase brings together West Coast talent popular for cultivating unpredictable, majestic, and gorgeous soundscapes that unite blips, beeps and beats from around the globe. If you crave unique music with universal appeal, this show is not be missed.

San Francisco-based DJ and producer Dave Aju weaves fresh funk, house, hip-hop, soul and more, using unconventional sources and samples that are as expressive and sincere as they are novel. Seattle-based producer Codebase unleashes an energizing storm of electro, techno, and house that will keep you stepping, swaying, and guessing what is coming next. Made Like a Tree’s own Struggle and D’jeronimo (both DJing) develop unique blends of bass-heavy dubstep and house, tribal percussion, Latin grooves, and provocative electronica from soft to hard, smooth to grinding, hypnotic to ecstatic. This showcase will take you through lush forests of rhythm and sound to sublime peaks of pitch and glitch that will resonate and energize all night long.

Since the first Decibel Festival and every year since, Shameless has thrown official dB after parties and showcases. This year these two Seattle production crews are once again teaming up to present Disko Cassé, a two room Capitol Hill dance party of explosive proportions and talents.

The main room features a Northwest debut by Brodinski, one of the most exciting DJs and producers to explode onto the scene in recent years. His varied DJ sets deftly move from melodic minimal to bass-heavy house and even into noisy techno. This Parisian has managed to expertly remix Bonde de Role, Klaxons, Das Pop, Shoes, D.I.M, Heart Revolutions, and Adam Sky without getting caught up in any particular formula. Please be clear, no parking on the dance floor. This is an event designed to get you moving.

Chris De Luca of Funkstorung fame, returns to Seattle under the CLP moniker to wreck the dance floor with his dirty techno and underground hip-hop vibe. In the last year CLP has rocketed upward among the ranks of international party igniters. Recent releases include a full album on Shitkatapult and getting hired by club sound magician Boys Noize for a 12” guest performance on Boysnoize Records. They followed these efforts with a new EP for Shitkatapult featuring Kova and remixes from Housemeister, Bugati Force, Litwinenko, and Unsportsmanlike.

Seattle tested and approved, Hookerz & Blow (a side project by Mozaic & EPROM) is best described as a live DJ vs laptop mashup that is already laying waste to unsuspecting dance floors in the Bay Area and beyond. Call it psyphy, strip-hop, trancehall, clubstep, and halfway house smashed together; H&B create a fun live/DJ interactive experience that stands out among the SF electronic music scene.

Local favorites Truckasauras and 214 help round out the bill by performing two very special live sets. 214 leans heavy on the classic electro sounds and will be opening the main room, so to all of the true school electro heads… get there early!  Afterwards, Truckasauras takes an arsenal of vintage Roland drum machines and synths, all sequenced by a modded first-gen Gameboy to create analog electro loops that skitter over starkly minimal drums.

In the more intimate lounge, Shameless showcases the DJs behind the production crew with sets by residents Recess, Anton Bomb, Menami, Levi Clark and Adlib. Shameless first got it’s start in 2003 and since then this ambitious crew has evolved and established itself as a highly respected production company booking Seattle debut performances of artists such as Modeselektor, Drop the Lime, Tittsworth, Boy Noize and too many others to list. Although their DJ styles each vary on any given night, they all share a passion for good, fun underground parties and will be taking over the lounge as if it were their own private loft space.

Decibel and Shameless want to remind everyone that it’s Saturday night and time for a dance party. This two-room party also features live visuals by Epiphanous, live art by Seattle local artist/illustrator Adot, and club photographer Dave Matthews will be on hand capturing all of the shenanigans. Whether said in German, French, or English, in the end we’re going for broke with this disco.

Around the globe a distinct new sound is seeping from fissures in traditional music production, and the bass bubbling up from the bins is catching the brains of audiences from London to Los Angeles. This music with no name heralds a fresh and formative age in abstract beat culture and its influential adherents champion the experimental, the instrumental, the street bass, the chopped-up and the future-funk. With beats that defy gravity as well as locality, this “bass music” is quickly infecting listeners with its swung-out, jazzy interpretation of electronic hip hop. Step into the warm circle of tomorrow-music (don’t trip on the bassline) and dunk your head in the refreshing waters of exploratory sounds, all connected by a love of innovation and by the heavy-thick lines of thundering bass.

Bass Lovers Unite brings together some of the most significant producers and DJs of this new sound from a few of the world’s strongholds: Los Angeles, Montréal, and the UK. The music heard at this showcase will affect what mainstream pop fans will be listening to in five years; these artists are shaping the future of sound with every button they press, every show they play, and every new earhole they penetrate.

Out of LA’s fertile beat scene comes one of the city’s finest producers, Nosaj Thing. This young noise conductor has received global acclaim for his recent release Drift on Alpha Pup Records, and opens the night with his disjointed funk beats and seamless sound mastery. From BBC Radio 1’s Experimental show comes Mary Anne Hobbs; this DJ, music journalist and evangelist for the underground brings dark and radical flavors together and then shoves out the next-generation animal onto airwaves around the world. Daedelus delivers an eclectic electronic interpretation using the futuristic monome device; he creates tactile performance experiences and music that everyone from indie rock devotees to instrumental hip hop fans can get sweaty to. Representing the twisted turbo crunk sound of Montréal is Megasoid, whose live sets of dirty club bangers and remixes of top-rated productions have no compunction about killing dance floors and have made Montréal into a legit scene for street bass music. Finally it is back to the UK and to the frontier of dubstep with Mala of Digital Mystikz. One of the genre’s most famous producers, Mala is a central figure of dubstep’s evolution and an early champion of its rougher, clubbier side.

Bass Lovers Unite promises to connect a fresh Seattle audience with artists from around the world who are pushing forward the slicing-edge of electronic music as the pioneers of Generation Bass. Hop in and put your seatbelt on: it is going to be a bumpy ride.