DECIBEL / SEATTLE / SEPT. 14-17

Seattle's Decibel Festival was truly unbelievable! Dare I say it, it was better than Mutek. When comparing two North American electronic music festivals there's a few things to consider. Mutek has been going on strong now for six years. It is a well established festival that attracts like-minded people from all over the world who work in, support and love electronic music, making it a more serious event when it comes to uniting industry people globally. Decibel is a younger festival, celebrating its fourth year, and seems to be opening electronic music up to a very 'green' Seattle. However, for such a young city when it comes to experiencing electronic music, Decibel couldn't have delivered a more polished festival, featuring some of the best talent around. Mutek has grown so large that the sound by the performers seems to get lost in the rafters of beautiful warehouse type spaces. Decibel, on the other hand, has perfected the sound and allowed the performers to have the ultimate clarity and quality when it comes to delivering their sets. There are so many highlights to this festival, with outstanding back to back performances. It's hard to pin-point the best moments when there are too many to mention. Arriving Friday, I was welcomed by Thomas Fehlmann, the guru of dub-techno and also half of the Orb. His set had everyone dancing in their chairs, people couldn't contain themselves. He is someone that can never be missed. After Fehlmann, I was off to Neumos to see Telefon Tel Aviv, Apparat and Alex Smoke, who, if you have been a repeat visitor to my blog, you will realize is the artist of the year for me. Seeing him live leaves me speechless. The rest of the festival continued to be fantastic. Green Velvet, known for being a performer, had me dancing to nostalgic tracks that I haven't heard in over 10 years. Other highlights include the Dead Texan, Murcof, and Ryoichi Kurokawa. Decibel is put on by a superb group of friends that decided to pull together to make their vision come true. The Decibel crew is an incredibly welcoming, modest group of individuals that radiates talent. Their selfless, hard work paid off. Dreams are possible and Decibel was the best Festival I have experienced to date. Sample some video clips here.

thomas fehlmann


telefon tel aviv


apparat


alex smoke


jerry abstract


[a]pendics.shuffle

[a]pendics.shuffle / rampant passenger / mo’s ferry productions
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green velvet


kate simko


kristina childs


andreas tilliander


ryoichi kurokawa


the dead texan


bola


speedy j



Sean Horton, modest Decibel director covers his face while Speedy J goes off on how amazing Decibel was.

NEW FORMS / VANCOUVER / SEPT. 21-23

Vancouver's New Forms Festival was disappointing. The highlight, Keith Fullerton Whitman, unfortunately cancelled his performance due to losing his hard drive along with two years of work. Despite this being beyond the control of New Forms' organizers, when entering the night and paying for the event, no mention of this was made at the door. Only until he was supposed to perform did I realize it wasn't him. Also, I was flying across the country to see amazing artists like Jan Jelinek, Mitchell Akiyama and the Mole, but pre-sale tickets on their website didn't go up until a few days prior to the festival, making planning difficult. The web site delays and overall sketchy organization of the festival makes it not worth attending unless you live in the city and are only going to see the out of town artists you don't get to see every day. Mitchell Akiyama's performance of looping guitar rhythms was beautiful, and was offered to an audience of only 32 attended ambient listeners lounging on couches and relaxing on the floor. Jan Jelinek played some new stuff and gave a solid delivery of quality dub-techno despite the distracting, unfocused Vancouver audience. The Mole created the ultimate dance party and had everyone busting a move. His blues infused tech-house is a unique voice like no other and helped provide a positive experience to a loosely thrown together festival.

mitchell akiyama and si-cut.db


jan jelinek

palmen aus leder mp3 / up to my same old trick again mp3

circlesquare

fight sounds video

rob warren, tomas jirku, danjel van tijn


the mole


ezekiel honig / scattered practices / microcosm music
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herve boghossian / mouvements / raster noton
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pass: touchmenot.net

various / panorama bar 01 / ostgut tontrager
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minisystem / madingley / noise factory



Minisystem aka Jeff Lee, obsessive analog synth collector releases his debut album Madingley, named after a farm he grew up on in Ontario, Canada. He currently resides in Toronto, awaiting for the day he can return back to the farm, this desire is comparable to the emotions he delivers in his music. Each track is a gorgeous, euphoric, melodic expression that triggers feelings of nostalgia and longing for something else. Like a good romance novel, he serves up emotionally satisfying warm sentimental gems without making them cliched. Minisystem has created his own unique version of beautiful melodic idm. This is truly a fantastic first release. Highly Recommended. Catch his CD release party this November.
myspace/minisystem
what about me? mp3
summer t.o. mp3

dntel / rock my boat (feat. mia doi todd) mp3

luomo / really don't mind mp3

luomo / paper tigers mp3

bonnie prince billy / lay and love mp3
yousendit links expire sept. 13

kangding ray / stabil / raster noton


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Check out San Zhi, the abandoned city in Taiwan.


Seattle, Washington / September 14 - 17, 2006


Vancouver, British Columbia / September 19 - 24, 2006

I'll be away for the month of September, attending the above two festivals. Downloads, reviews and pictures will return in October.

cat power / lee's palace, toronto / september 4, 2006



Despite Chan Marshall's history for having emotional breakdowns on stage due to alcoholism, tonight in Toronto, she proved her history wrong. During one of her songs, she raised her tea (earl gray) and said "I'm sober now." Chan Marshall aka Cat Power is chillingly beautiful. She's a powerful, prolific modern-day folk singer that pulls at the heart strings and makes your gut cramp with emotion. Her beauty is captivating and her performance was gorgeous and personable. One of the best concert experiences of my life. She played for a solid three hours and added intimate stories to her songs along the way. She was open to the audience and took requests, while adding that she needed to like the song for it to be performed. If you don't know her and have the opportunity of catching her live, you will instantly be moved and will fall in love guaranteed. View clips from the show here.
now article

lawrence / deep summer hole / dial
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Check out For the 'records' a music blog from a Canadian perspective.

banksy punks paris hilton.
watch punking
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