For this year's Decibel Festival, Ghostly's taking over the Baltic Room, stuffing its swank, cherry-paneled interior with live sets from four of our finest.
San Francisco-based producer/graphic designer Scott Hanson (aka Tycho) makes his Seattle debut with a set of his own nostalgic, sun-drenched downtempo compositions. Tycho was recently flagged as one of URB magazine's "Next 100" artists to watch; his single Adrift/From Home was released on Ghostly last May.
Benjamin Wynn (aka Deru) has released tracks on Neo Ouija, Merck, and Mille Plateaux – as well as on Ghostly's Idol Tryouts Two compilation. The LA-based producer twists breakbeats into dark, guttural new shapes, gilding them with eerie bells and pianos until they glow with a burnished inner light.
Seattle's own abstract rhythm-butcher Jeff McIlwain (aka Lusine) is a local treasure. His 2004 full-length Serial Hodgpodge (and its subsequent remix album, Podgelism) is a singular mix of glitchy, whiplash-inducing polyrhythms and micro-sliced vocal samples.
Recent Ghostly signee The Sight Below – another Seattle local – debuts his live PA of dark beats, filtered guitars, and bottomless melancholy. The artist runs bowed, slide and lightly picked guitar through a series of loopers, reverb boxes, and delay units, creating a haunting drone that's underpinned by subtle, pulsing kick drums.
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