Decibel Festival 2008 (techno/Seattle) 9/25-28 : Carl Craig, Burnt Friedman, Audion, The Bug, Tujiko Nuriko, Barbara Morgenstern, etc.

preemptive pedant alert: ok, this is not Barbara Morgenstern's debut in Seattle. The tour with Mtn Goats in 2006 was that. But whatevs. here's the schedule as it stands now, minus cost issues, which are all on the main URL.

FWD:

The four-day Decibel International Festival of Electronic Music Performance, Visual Art and New Media will take place September 25th - 28th. Visit www.dbfestival.com for travel info, tickets and additional info about the 2008 Decibel Festival.

[ THURSDAY : SEPTEMBER 25 ]

“DECONSTRUCTING POP”
Jahcoozi (Berlin) : Debut West Coast Live Set - Kitty-Yo, A-Records
Tujiko Noriko (France / Japan) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Mego, FatCat Records
Barbara Morgenstern (Berlin) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Monika Enterprise
Balún (Puerto Rico / New York) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Brilliante, Observatory
Careen Ajar (Montreal / San Francisco) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Asphodel, Recombinant Media Labs

@ Neumos
Tickets available online at
http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3aTWS%3aWNEU08:WNEU0927%3a&linkID=twspok

“PELOTON LABEL SHOWCASE”
Presented by Peloton Musique
(a)pendics.shuffle (Los Angeles) : Live - Adjunct, Orac Records
Stewart Walker (Berlin) : Live - Persona, Force Inc.
Mister Leisure (Seattle) : Live - U-Freqs, Peloton
INCITE! aka Nordic Soul (Seattle) : Live - Decibel, Peloton
With Peloton Team DJs: Shane Silkey, Limefeather and Aron Schoppert

@ Sole Repair
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40771

“COMMUNIKEY SHOWCASE”
Presented by Communikey
Cubenx (Puerto Vallarta) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Static Discos, InFiné
Attentat (Denver) : Live - Communikey, Dope Recordings
Les Freres Courvoisier (Boulder) : Live - Communikey
Alala.One (Boulder) : DJ - Communikey

@ The Baltic Room
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40786

“DECIBEL DJ LOUNGE”
Oi VAY! DJs Jeronimo, Eddie and Struggle
@ Grey Gallery – Free - Doors open at 6pm / 21+

[ FRIDAY : SEPTEMBER 26 ]

“2008 DB CONFERENCE”
Friday 9/26 and Saturday 9/27 @ the Northwest Film Forum
Free with an "All Access dB Pass" or $7 presale / $10 at the door
Doors open at 12pm / All ages

The dB Conference brings together a broad assortment of workshops, panels, demo booths, and merchandise tables, providing opportunities to network with leading audio and video manufacturers. Workshops range from digital audio sequencing to hardware integration, and are hosted by a product specialist offering hands-on experience with leading technologies. Panels are made up of industry leaders discussing their thoughts on digital distribution, online promotion and sustainability of the arts in the music industry. Space is extremely limited; for guaranteed admission we strongly recommend purchasing an "All Access Pass" for the 2008 Decibel Festival online through Brown Paper Tickets:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/38530

“OPTICAL 1”
William Basinski (New York) featuring video work by Scott Pagano (Los Angeles)
Jeff Greinke (Tuscon) featuring video work by offthesky (Lexington)
offthesky (Lexington) featuring video work by Sarah H. Dot (Boulder)
(more TBA)

@ the Northwest Film Forum
Doors open at 6pm / All ages both days. *For guaranteed admission we strongly recommend purchasing an “All Access Pass" for the 2008 Decibel Festival online through Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/38530

“2008 DIRTY DANCING SHOWCASE”
Deadmau5 (Toronto) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Mau5trap Recordings
Luca Bacchetti (Italy) : Debut Seattle DJ Set - Wagon Repair, Tenax Recordings
Santiago & Bushido (Chicago) : Debut Live Set - Potty Mouth Music, Ultra Records
Let’s Go Outside (Portland) : Live - Soma, Peloton

@ Neumos.
Tickets available online at
http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3aTWS%3aWNEU08:WNEU0926%3a&linkID=twspok

“NATIVE STATE LABEL SHOWCASE”
KiloWatts (Philadelphia) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Native State Records
Welder (San Francisco) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Native State Records
Nalepa (Los Angeles) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Native State Records
Shen (Toronto) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Native State Records

@ The Baltic Room
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40776

“THE TRINITY”
Jeff Samuel (Berlin) : DJ - Poker Flat, Trapez
Derek Plaslaiko (New York) : DJ - Ghostly International, Bunker
Jerry Abstract (Seattle) : DJ – Shitkatapult, Fixelplix

Sole Repair
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40775

“DECIBEL AFTERHOURS – FRIDAY”
Presented by Starborne
Eskmo (San Francisco) : Live - Cyberfunk, Vertical Sound Records
Phidelity (Portland) : Live - Native State Records
Rob Noble (Seattle) : DJ - audiblebicycleday, CRANE
Skio Sirius (Seattle) : DJ - audiblebicycleday

@ CoB
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40818

“DECIBEL DJ LOUNGE”
Kulterszene / PDX DJs feat. Bryan Zentz, 31avas and M. Quiet
@ Grey Gallery

[ SATURDAY : SEPTEMBER 27 ]

“DECIBEL IN THE PARK”
Glitch Mob (SF / LA) : Live - Planet Mu, Glitch Mob Records
Jacob London (Seattle) : Live - Classic, .Dotbleep
Truckasaurus (Seattle) : DJ - Fourthcity
Michael Manahan (Seattle) : DJ - Starborne
Noisemaker (Seattle) : DJ - Starborne

@ Volunteer Park
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40779

“OPTICAL 2”
Akira Rabelais (Los Angeles) featuring video work by Carole Kim (Los Angeles)
Library Tapes (Sweden) featuring video work by Scott Sunn (Seattle)
Son of Rose (Seattle) featuring video work by Son of Rose
(more TBA)

@ the Northwest Film Forum -
Doors open at 6pm / All ages both days. *For guaranteed admission we strongly recommend purchasing an “All Access Pass" for the 2008 Decibel Festival online through Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/38530

“DETROIT TECHNO: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE”
Carl Craig (Detroit) : DJ - Planet E Records
Audion (Detroit) : Live - Spectral Sound
Chuck Flask (Detroit) : DJ - Paxahau

@ Neumos
Tickets available online at
http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3aTWS%3aWNEU08:WNEU0927%3a&linkID=twspok

“GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL LABEL SHOWCASE”
Tycho (San Francisco) : Seattle Debut Live Set - Ghostly International / Merck
Deru (Los Angeles) : Live - Ghostly International / Merck
Lusine (Seattle) : Live - Ghostly International / Hymen
The Sight Below (Seattle) : Debut Live Set - Ghostly International

@ The Baltic Room
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40777

“POP GOES THE CLUB”
Presented by Shameless and Club Pop
LA Riots (Los Angeles) : DJ - Ed Banger Records, Fool’s Gold
33Hz (New York) : Debut Live Set - Dither Down, Foolhouse Records
Recess (Seattle) : DJ - Shameless, Club Pop
Sean Majors (Seattle) : DJ - Lost Boys, Pound Records
Levi Clark (Seattle) : DJ - Shameless
Club Pop Residents (TBA)

@ Chop Suey
Tickets available online at www.Ticketweb.com

“KONTROL SHOWCASE”
Alland Byallo (San Francisco) : DJ - Kontrol, dirtybird Records
Nikola Baytala (San Francisco) : DJ - Kontrol
Craig Kuna (San Francisco) : DJ - Kontrol
Sammy D (San Francisco) : DJ - Kontrol

@ Sole Repair
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40773

“DECIBEL AFTERHOURS – SATURDAY”
Presented by Cheap Sunglasses and Decibel
Dixon (Berlin) : Debut Seattle DJ Set - Innervision, Get Physical
Taimur Agha (New York) : Debut Seattle DJ Set - Cheap Sunglasses, BLK | Market
Dave Pezzner (Seattle) : Debut Live Set - Jacob London, Freerange Records
Crazy Larry (Denver) : Debut Seattle DJ Set - Cheap Sunglasses, Uddermadness

@ CoB
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40823

“DECIBEL DJ LOUNGE”
Sweatbox / Knight Riders DJs feat. Cntrl_Alt_Dlt, Dr. Mr. M, Travis Baron and Panty Control
@ Grey Gallery – Free - Doors open at 6pm / 21+

[ SUNDAY : SEPTEMBER 28 ]

“DECIBEL BBQ”
Presented by SunTzu Sound and Decibel
Jeremy Ellis (Detroit) : Live - Ubiquity
Kid Hops (Seattle) : DJ - 90.3 KEXP
SunTzu Sound (Seattle) : DJ - SunTzu Sound Records
more TBA

@ Havana’s

“2008 AMBIENT SHOWCASE”
Brian McBride of Stars of the Lid (Los Angeles) : Live with string section - Kranky Records
Deaf Center (Norway) : Live - Type Records
Eluvium (Portland) : Live - Temporary Residence
Helios (Brighton) : Live - Type Records

@ The Triple Door Theater
Doors open at 6pm / All ages. *For guaranteed admission we strongly recommend purchasing an “All Access Pass" for the 2008 Decibel Festival online through Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/38530

“2008 DECIBEL FESTIVAL FINALE”
The Bug featuring Warrior Queen (London) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Ninja Tune, Rephlex, Tigerbeat6
Flying Lotus (Los Angeles) : Live - Warp, Plug Research Records
Fax (Mexicali) : Live - Static Discos
(more TBA)

@ Neumos
available online at
http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3aTWS%3aWNEU08:WNEU0928%3a&linkID=twspok

“INNERFLIGHT SHOWCASE”
*Presented by Innerflight
Mike Monday (London) : DJ - OM, Freerange Records
Noah Pred (Toronto) : Live - Thoughtless Music
m.0 (Seattle) : Live - Innerflight, From 0-1
Kadeejah Streets (Seattle) : DJ - Innerflight
J-Sun (Seattle) : DJ - Innerflight

@ Sole Repair
Tickets available online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40767

“DECIBEL DJ LOUNGE”
Sunday September 28th - Artists TBA

I hope the Bug is also gonna be on the East Coast. I wonder how his new cd is?

just got the $175 all-everything pass and oh shit is it goin to be WORTH IT.

saturday is going to be loooooong. i wonder how late Dixon will go

“2008 DECIBEL FESTIVAL FINALE”
The Bug featuring Warrior Queen (London) : Debut Seattle Live Set - Ninja Tune, Rephlex, Tigerbeat6
Flying Lotus (Los Angeles) : Live - Warp, Plug Research Records
Fax (Mexicali) : Live - Static Discos
(more TBA)

SUPERMAYER just got added as the headliner for the closing night. DJ set.

FUCK YES

ok when that jacoozi girl got on the horn that was awesome

also sole repair best decibel venue yet

I walked out the minute she screamed "do you want to fist me". extremely disappointed in Morgenstern and Jahcoozi.

Stewart Walker was great though.

I loved Barbara's set. A lot of it is her just having a blast on stage, even if she had to shortern her set. She's such a good vibes trooper. I realize those qualities don't guarantee quality live performances for everyone, but it definitely works for Barbara (for me)

Seeing the Bug (and Maga Bo) tomorrow. Expect it to be super loud.

And it wasn't. :(

I wish I made it out to more events this year than I wanted to;
however, many outside obligations and just my frame of mind being as
far away from "techno" as possible just collided with the fest this
weekend. STILL, I had a great time to the events I made it out to,
and I have zero regrets for buying my pass. I consider the passes
worthy donations at this point, and never do many math to calculate
cost-per-performance or anything like that. So, based on that, this
was definitely a strong, strong weekend. Here's a recap of what I
saw..

Thurs - Neumo's:

BALÚN - one of the two amazing surprises this weekend. Probably the
most Stereolab (the band) friendly group in the entire lineup AFAIK.
I loved the stage presence of all the members. And while I enjoyed
the entire set, there was definitely something about that final song
in the set that just ignited something. I guess you can never go
wrong with a pummeling Moroder beat, no matter how indie/twee the
context is. I'm definitely searching out Balún material on
iTunes/Amazon/Beatport/etc. once I get a chance. (Any recommendations
based on the show?)

TUJIKO NORIKO - probably the most unsettling performance of the fest I
saw, in a good way. The juxtaposition of her looking up singing like
she was in a musical with the really sick, cold soundscapes and
psychedelia was jarring, in a good way.

BARBARA MORGENSTERN - one of my favorite performances of the festival.
While the sound was more rushed than with the Mountain Goats show 2.5
years ago, Barbara's energy, charisma, and happiness certainly made up
for it, as she dubbed her shortened set (due to things running late)
"her ROCK SET!". She seems to have split her material between the
brand new stuff and the material off "The Grass Is Always Greener"
from 2006. She really deserved a larger audience. She's incredibly
talented, and she has a live charisma unmatched as far as energy and
joy, and her in-between-song banter/gestures was really entertaining
and funny, as were her head-bobbing and dancing charming. But it seems
because of this, she's out of place, whether she's on an indie pop
bill, or an electronic bill -- which is REALLY too bad, as she's a bit
in a class of her own. She deserves far better receptions all 'round.
At least she ended her set with "The Operator" which seemed to get
more peeps up and at it. (yes!)

...

I had to skip out of Friday entirely due to obligations. I know i
missed a lot of great stuff.

...

Saturday - Volunteer Park:

JACOB LONDON - I arrived just before Jacob London went on. First off,
this is a wonderful location for shows in general, and I hope because
of this, we get more shows out there in general -- especially on
sunny, temperate days like Saturday. (lol, probably until June 2009
at this point.) It took a while to warmup, but Jacob London rocked
it. No wizard customes this time, and there was a circuit blowout in
the middle.. hey, what can you do?. Part of me did long for the days
of J. London where it was more Tony-Senghore-esque... non-stop WTFs thrown
into a messed up squelchy tech-house set.. That did happen at the end
of the set with the dancehalley song about stupid people at airports.
This set was more fluid and more minimal for the guys. (which was
hardly minimal really but you know what I mean.)

TRUCKASAURAS - Truckasauras were in top form, I thought. One
advantage to not using laptops -- when the power goes out, like it did
(again) -- the recovery is much faster. Also, as Matos told me, the
3-5 minute song lengths were kinda what was needed for a daytime park
event. Long fluid sets tend to be more weary for that setting, and I
agree. I liked how the American Flag cape was substituted for a
golden Zelda cartridge, and there was a patriot mascot jumping out
here and there. The Truck began the set with the newest more
techno-ey material, and ended it with the faves off Tea Parties.

GLITCH MOB - I only stayed for 3 songs. I appreciated the appeal of
what they did. Someone else on the list next to me commented how they
were kinda like New Kids On The Block If They Were On Schematic
Records, which is very apt. Still, in a short dose, they got the
entire park hopping and upfront, so they definitely changed things
once they took the stage.

I planned to go the Detroit showcase later that night, but fatigue and
obligations once again prevented me from going. I heard I missed an
amazing set by Carl Craig. Oh well.

...

Sunday - Triple Door - Ambient

HELIOS - He was a great warmup. I did like the use of live drums on
occasion. More major-chord slow electronic bliss-pop.

DEAF CENTER - Shifting to minor chords, the most obviously Eno-esque
of the night. This is where I drifted off the most, not because I
didn't enjoy it, but the music just suited Eno's statute for ambient
as being background. The B&W visuals were very apt.

ELUVIUM - Easily the highlight of the night for me. I've been waiting
years to see Matthew Cooper live in any form. Either he's opened for
other bands I never cared for (Explosions In The Sky(?), Mono,
Jesu(?), etc.), or I was out of town whenever he made it to Seattle
for smaller shows. So this show was finally my opportunity. Wow.
Damn. While one could certainly trace the influences, I love how
Cooper conflated all those influences into this monster ball of droney
noise. He went all over the place in his discography, from Lambient
Material to Copia. Also, I like the quivering bursts of energy he
exhibited on his guitar and on the piano to pump sound through all the
delay effects. It made for a really compelling ambient set that
wasn't really ambient but just totally blurred out gorgeous rock
that's so blurred out that it certainly can be considered
"electronic". (Well, effects pedals are electionic by proxy, so hey.)

I saw the beginning of BRIAN MCBRIDE's set. I admit being spoiled by
the Stars Of The Lid show earlier this year with the similar string
quartet lineup. This seemed like a similar approach, except more
sparse, and the players were a bit off-key -- which isn't bad, but I
think I was ready for something more energetic.. so I hopped on over
to 4th and Pike to grab a bus to head up to...

Sunday - Neumo's Finale.

Wow wow wow wow. The best four-punch lineup I've seen at Neumo's in a
long time, no matter the genre.

FAX - I'm really happy I made it to see the last half of Fax's set. I
like the first album, but I love the more poppy, guitar-based New
Order-ish material he's been fleshing out the past few years, and I
can't wait to get that on a release. He did more of that this time
than two(?) years ago at the 2006 Thursday opener for the db Fest
then.

FLYING LOTUS - Best surprise of the fest for me - next to Balun.
Definitely the weirdest dubstep/odd-hop DJ I've ever seen, which is
meant as a high compliment. There were definitely odd layers that
could heard, yet there was just enough of a sparseness to it. It was
also the inauguration of Neumo's Fatal Bass Sound System that night, which
involuntarily hit all my pleasure centers and worked out my abs. His
DJ performance style was fucking manic and entrancing. The visuals
were at a high point for me then, too, especially the neurological
themes.

THE BUG & WARRIOR QUEEN - No doubt the highlight of the set. I never
heard much from The Bug, but I've heard about how the live shows were
reminiscent instrumentally to the rare On-U Sound Mix ear-slicers in
the UK. The Bug is now the official winner of the Loudest Bass I've
Ever Experienced Live. (Previous winner was Pan Sonic at the Showbox
in 2001, opening for Mogwai.) The sound was just incredibly monstrous.
The woofers made my body hairs stand up on end the entire set and
produced its own climate.

My only complaint about this set was that during the first half, The
Bug would be waaaay too rewind-happy. I would be perfectly happy with
rewinds after a verse and chorus - as I know frequent rewinds are
endemic to dubstep and most anything Kingston based at root. However,
The Bug was doing rewinds after 20-30 seconds of each song, which got
really fucking frustrating, as he played many songs that I was just
salivating over and wish were played out even just a minute more.

Thankfully, Warrior Queen come on stage and saved the rest of the set.
She was just wonderful. The fact that Warrior Queen was the
frontwoman for the most aggressive bass I've ever experience live made
it that much cooler. She's up there with Dizzee Rascal for most
energetic MC I've seen live.

SUPERMAYER - Great set. One of the best (sorta) minimal techno sets
I've experience live. Their stage presence was really fun, mellow, and groovy.
I didn't expect it per se, but they were a great cooldown from The
Bug. Was worried that too many people left pummelled by The Bug's set
(understandably), but it seemed people just stood out for a break then
started filtering back in to pack the house. Again, due to work
constraints and fatigue, I had to leave early, but I hope the closing
was as amazing as it was during the infamous Fehlman/Isolee closing
that I'll never forget. (And all respect to Wolfgang Flur, but this
finale blew the Flur finale from last year away so so so so much.)

...

Anyway, thanks for reading my crap if you made it this far. Thank you
all at Decibel drawing in someone whose mind at the time was so far
away from techno into an amazing techno festival. It was that good
once again. :)

I wish I'd seen the Bug set in a different club then. Music was uniformly great (I liked the rewinds and FX myself) but the mix was totally off for the entire set (and then for the next set by Maga Bo who I've loved in the past was almost whisper quiet.) Was expecting a pummeling and I ended up getting a slap on the shoulder.

from db 2008:

Barbara Morgenstern:

Tujiko Noriko

Deadmau5

(credit to Donte Parks of The Stranger for all these, btw)

D I X O N at the afters was great. what a weird space COB is

Truckasauras

Stewart Walker

Audion

Carl Craig

Dave Pezzner

Caro

Jeremy Ellis

Flying Lotus

Noah Pred

m.0

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8E2B087A9D5A09CB

or you could link to his youtube page. either way.

Supermayer

xp - lol true. I like the embed gallery here though.

and obv, there's lots more that was missed

the optical 1 showcase was a total snooze. i was into william basinski for like the first 20-25 minutes, but then i started getting bored.

also, was disappointed in the audio-visual "integration." it was billed as "Both showcases will be exploring the intersections between audio and video technology through live real-time collaborations, featuring leading-edge artists in both the audio and video world," but it didn't come across that way at all. it looked like h dot was just playing something she set up beforehand, and it seemed like offthesky was responding to a completely different performance with his visuals. you could have switched the visuals between the first two performances, and i don't think it would have made a difference.

i'm sad that i missed the church of bass and the finale.