The Seattlest Guide to the Decibel Festival
For local fans of electronic music, it's finally the weekend you've been waiting for, as it's time for the third edition of the Decibel Festival, starting tonight and running until Sunday. The festival promises some of the world's best electronic music artists, and this year's addition of Optical, promises some of the best multimedia as well. Hardcore followers of electronic music scene don't need any advice regarding what they should see this weekend. They bought their passes long ago, have googled every artist, and have meticulously constructed a weekend schedule. Then there's the larger crowd may have casual interest, but don't know where to start and might be intimidated by the whole thing. Consider this your cheat sheet. Whether you buy a pass (they're still available, and they save you money) or just hit a couple of events, Decibel has grown over its lifetime to accommodate all types, including you.
All the juicy details after the jump.
Cost: Most events hover around the $12 range, which adds up if you want to bounce around to multiple venues. You really might want to consider buying a pass so you can get into more shows. If a particular show isn't working for you, head to another. Details here on how passes save you money. Also, passes guarantee entry, and some shows will sell out. If you're not sure at all whether this is worth your money, both the Bad Juju Lounge and Barca will have DJs every night, and there's no cost to enter either venue.
Venues: Decibel's taken over a healthy portion of Capitol Hill's clubs for the weekend, including The Bad Juju Lounge, The Baltic Room, Barca, Chop Suey, Neumos and the Broadway Performance Hall. There's even an opening event tonight at the Henry. All Decibel venues are within a few minutes of one another which facilitates adoption of a festival-ADD attitude toward the weekend (yes, you can see everything if you're fast enough with your feet and decision-making).
The Music: The music hits a lot of points on the electronic music map, but that's a good thing. If you want something you can go balls-out to, you can find that. If you're looking for something to sip your martini over, you can find that too. Here are your recommended events:
Thursday
Nortec Collective/Static Disco Showcase - You've likely already heard of this showcase from the night's sponsors KEXP, but if not, this group of artists represent some of the most beautiful music coming out of our neighbors to the south (Mexico, not Oregon), combining local and avant-garde electronic elements.
Friday
Future Funk Showcase - It's really hard to recommend skipping Telefon Tel Aviv over at the Headfuk Showcase, but this showcase has more than enough to make that decision stick. Mat Corwine's live sets are always interesting, and the debut of Jacob London's live set take them into new territory, and with these guys, you're sure it's going to be good. Closing out the night is Claude VonStroke, who made this brilliant video.
Saturday
Future Jazz Showcase - We have no problem recommending this show, which features 1Luv and Jeremy Ellis along with SunTzu Sound. In case you don't remember, Jeremy Ellis was one of the best shows in Seattle last year, so you get another chance to see this master at work. For all of you that are gushing about Jamie Lidell's performance at Bumbershoot, you'll want to see Jeremy Ellis do his thing, which also involves one man, a bunch of gear, and some very heartfelt singing. Seattlest actually finds Ellis a more engaging performer, so this is where you'll want to be. 1Luv created one of the best tracks from last year, with "Black Daylight," now undergoing the remix treatment. They're arriving full band style, so that should be a treat. Decibel gives a lot of credit to live performance, and it shouldn't get any live-r than this.
Sunday
Optical Showcase - Sunday is a day of rest, with Optical providing a nice change from the rest of the festival. Some of the world's best multimedia artists will be showing off their work, capped off by a performance from Ryoichi Kurokawa, who blew away audiences at this year's Mutek (here's a video of his performance). This should prove to be visual art at its finest, as fit to be seen in the Henry as at Decibel. Optical ends early, so there's more than enough time to attend and then rest up for the week ahead.
If you've got any questions or additions, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Image from flickr user dj saigon
