The Tenth Annual Decibel Festival 2013

I’ve already been lucky enough to attend Substrata Festival this year following my move to the Pacific North West, but a few months ago the sudden realisation hit me that I’d also be in with a chance to attend the tenth anniversary of Decibel Festival in Seattle. From it’s humble beginnings in 2003, Decibel is now one of the worlds leading Electronic festivals, with a heavy focus on live performances, interactive multi-media art and state-of-the-art sound technology and education.

The line-up for this year’s celebratory edition has been drip-fed to us these past few months over three announcements and now we’ve got all the players on paper, I thought it was about time to feature a few who i’m more than excited to see in my new country of residence. To say the line-up is impressive is an understatement. This year’s festival manages to combine some classic acts alongside many of my favourites of recent years – most of which I could only have dream’t seeing in the USA.

My hit-list for the weekend-long city festival is long to say the least. Childhood heroes Moby, Peter Hook (New Order) and the legendary Orb will be performing, the latter of which is obviously pretty special – getting these guys together seems almost impossible nowadays, but I hear that they will be in full attendance for this performance.

But what’s really getting me excited about this year’s festival are the two Optical A/V showcases featuring a wide selection of international ambient, neo-classical and experimental music. Hosted at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall and the Triple Door Dinner Theater (remember that live recording from Helios?) Optical 1 will feature Hauschka who i’m yet to see live, and the debut live performance of  Oliveray – the collaborative project of Nils Frahm and Peter Broderick.  Their beautiful improvised neo-classical album, ‘Wonders’ was released on Erased Tapes back in 2011 but this seems to be the first time the duo will perform together as one.

The second Optical showcase will be a mirror of one of my favourite gigs of all time, when Erased Tapes’ Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm take over the Illsley Recital Hall on September 27th. if it’s anything like the performance they put on in London last year, then this is set to be another special night. Since that night, Ólafur has seen his latest album ‘For Now I Am Winter’ come and go with high praise, and Nils has been busy in the remix world, both providing (for the likes of Ralph Starck) and receiving (Juno reworked – where fellow Decibel attendee Luke Abbott is also involved). It’ll be interesting to see what this amazingly talented pair throw at us on the night.

In addition to the Optical Showcases, I do of course like the nights to extend a little every now and then, and needless to say there’s plenty of artists to satisfy the all night crazies. Ranging from the electronic genius of Max Cooper, Ghostly’s new signing Dauwd, and the always ASIP celebrated Lusine, the electronica side of Decibel is also looking strong. I may even be tempted to visit my old techno favourites Âme and one of my more recent favourite producers, Kink.

I haven’t even mentioned The Sight Below, Shigeto, Speedy J, Teen Daze or the illusive Kompakt After-hours showcase thats scheduled for 2am on September 28th… Persuaded yet? I’ve picked out just a couple of tracks from some of my favourite artists to feature this year below. If you can join me up in Seattle, then be sure to give me a shout.

Both festival and individual performance tickets available on dbfestival.com

Spotlight on Substrata 1.3

After a successful round of funding, Rafael Anton Irisarri’s third Substrata Festival has announced it’s long anticipated line-up. Given many people contributed to this festival without even knowing any performers until now, is high praise for Rafael and his curation skills. But now we’ve got the names, I thought it’d be nice to take a little look into what’s in store.

Some familiar acts for sure, but also some relatively unknown artists that I could do with exploring a bit more and this is the perfect opportunity. I won’t go into too much detail about each of the artists and their background as you can find all of that on the Substrata line-up page. Just think of this as the tip of a very big trove of talented artists you can go away and explore, or even see live this July as part of Substrata.

Grouper

As most of you know by now, i’ve recently moved to Portland, Oregon and before coming here I was fully aware of one of it’s most notorious experimental artists, Liz Harris. I had hoped to see her billed somewhere local but haven’t seen even the slightest of mentions on paper yet, so it was a nice surprise to see her announced as part of Substrata 1.3. I’m no expert of the extensive Grouper back catalogue, but it boasts releases on Type (home of Biosphere) and Kranky (a home to many greats in the past including Loscil, Benoît Pioulard and Tim Hecker).

Liz’s sound is a mixture of ethereal, dreamy vocals and delicate guitars wrapped in warm reverb. Rarely does she stray too far from what she does best, it’s a unique sound that you’ll find many ambient lovers including in their sets as inspirations. Take 36’s or Loscil’s isolatedmixes for example. I’m looking forward to Grouper’s vocals wrapping around the audience of Seattle’s intimate Chapel Performance Space.

Kim Cascone

A bit of digging around reveals Kim Cascone is quite the sound designer. The Substrata line-up page details that Kim’s provided academic studies and developed a sound-art festival alongside his releases on 12K and Raster-Noton. I don’t know much of Kim’s stuff, but going through a few pieces now, it seems like an intimate gig at Substrata is going to be quite the audio experience. 

Jacaszek

Jacaszek is one of those artists that I really haven’t given any deserved attention to on his own. Michał is a regular feature in many ASIP mixes (Bulb’s and Rafael’s for example) and this live snippet gives us a taster of his live electro-acoustic work. His most famous piece is the track, ‘Lament’, cited by many as a big inspiration and a defining example of modern-classical or modern-acoustic music.

Jacaszek is planning to play Substrata alongside Kelly Wyse who recently provided some wonderful piano pieces on Loscil’s recent‘ Intervalo’ EP.

Christina Vantzou

I’m pretty excited to see Christina play at Substrata; she’s another artist who is relatively new to me. With releases on Ghostly and Kranky, her back catalogue, additional projects and her creds on the Substrata festival certainly portray her as one heck of a talent.

Below is a piece of her work alongside Adam Wiltzie (of A Winged Victory For The Sullen) as the duo, ‘The Dead Texan’. Enough said really.

Noveller

Sarah Lipstate sounds like another artist who is set to saturate the Seattle Chapel walls with reverb. “Lipstate summons a sonic palette so rich as to challenge the listener to conceive of how it’s housed in a single instrument manipulated by a solitary performer” as quoted from the Substrata site. I’m looking forward to hearing how that one plays out.

Ken Camden

For a man that plays in a rock-band, tracks like the below ‘Birthday’ paint a nice picture of this man’s talent and music taste. ‘Trance-induced moods’ just about sums this one up, alongside quotes such as”…the psychedelic meditations of 70’s krautrockers Popul Vuh and Ash Ra Tempel – producing a charming ambient”. Charming indeed, and after what looks to be a heavily experimental-focused festival, it’s going to be quite the release to hear Ken’s artfully crafted psychedelic pieces played live on stage.

Yagya

It was a nice surprise to see Yagya announced at Substrata this year. Many of you will know how much of a fan of Steini I am, and for years now I haven’t been anywhere close to seeing him live. I could post any number of Yagya tracks, those from Rigning, or the recently repressed Rhythm Of Snow, but instead i’ll go with an instrumental version of a track taken from his latest album, ‘The Inescapable Decay Of My Heart’. This album was met with mixed reviews after the addition of vocals to Steini’s signature sound, but there’s no doubting just how addictive his productions are when you listen to them at the core and I can’t wait to see what he does live.

Sean Curley

A local from Seattle, I haven’t heard Sean Curely’s productions before, so I’m hesitant to dig into his catalogue too much, as it’s always nice to hear an artist for the first time live. Described as “one of the Pacific Northwest’s most interesting guitarists” tracks like the below have certainly got me intrigued and excited.

Ethernet

Another Portland local, Tim has just released an album on the notorious Kranky that i’m yet to wrap my ears around. Going by the below however, it seems as though im missing out on something seriously special so im about to right that wrong. From what i’ve heard so far, Tim is queued up to be one of my favourites at the festival, crossing the ambient/dub-techno divide which suits me down to a T, and in which case i’ll be tracking him down for a beer or two in Portland to talk even more music!

The Sight Below

Last but by no means least, the Substrata curator himself, Rafael Anton Irisarri. I guess Rafael had to make a decision whether to play as RAI or as The Sight Below (or even alongside Benoît Pioulard as Orcas) but i’m pretty pleased i’ll get to see his more electronic, darker side as The Sight Below. Another artist with just too many favourites to choose from, but here’s one from the vaults with Rafael covering Joy Division’s ‘New Dawn Fades’.

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You can read more on all of the artists featured here over at Substrata. And if you fancy joining me on what promises to be a very special week of music, tickets are also on sale now here.

If you need more of the same, try Rafael’s Substrata dedicated isolatedmix.

Erased Tapes 5th Anniversary Tour at Hackney Empire

I’m not an expert at reviews, especially gig reviews, but on Thursday I was lucky enough to go see the Erased Tapes 5th Anniversary Tour at Hackney Empire in London, and I feel compelled to put down my thoughts after one witnessing a rather special evening.

I have to admit, before Thursday’s concert, I wouldn’t have claimed to be a typical fan-boy of any of the artists on the lineup. I love Erased Tapes as a whole, A Winged Victory For The Sullen released one of my favourite albums of late, Nils Frahm has conjured some of my favourite pieces to date, and Ólafur Arnalds has master-minded many-a-gem recently, especially when collaborating with Nils on ‘Stare’. But, unlike most of the gigs I book-up months in advance, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you every song which is being played, and I could be mistaken for walking past any of these guys at the bar….

I could tell you what their twitter profile looked like, what the last thing posted to their Facebook page was or how long each MP3 is on their latest album [I have iTunes OCD] but, this was for me, an experience that the digital age is guilty of overshadowing and the type of gig that needs to be treasured, respected and above-all, experienced by everyone who loves this type of music. Erased Tapes, and its more-impressive than ever roster showed me what it truly means to have talent, and what no Soundcloud waveform will ever be able to communicate.

A Winged Victory For The Sullen began the night. Taking to the stage, were around thirteen performers, flighted by Dustin O’Hallaran on Piano and Adam Wiltzie on guitar accompanied by a cello and numerous violinists. What followed were tracks from their much-respected self-titled album, blanketing the anticipating crowd with emotion from the-off. Every performer on the stage was absorbed and the crowd quickly followed. The immense force of the combined strings, piano and feedback amid touches of delicacy was enough to make you sit back in your seat and just smile.

Every good performance has an unexpected moment, and for AWVFTS it came with a cover of Gavin Bryars “Jesus’ Blood (never failed me yet)“. A little jarring at first, the crackling sample was the first non-instrument to grace our ears, but it soon became enveloped in what seemed like an eternity of beautiful instruments.

I was with a friend who was relatively new to everyone she was about to see, and both her and I were astounded at such a start. Dustin ended by saying ‘we’ve only got one record’, and this was the only moment of disappointment I felt all night.

Ólafur Arnalds followed, and immediately charmed the crowd with his Icelandic wit. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ólafur and as if to take advantage of this unknowing, he began by getting the crowd to ‘arrrrr’, recorded and looped it, creating the first texture to then lay his delicate piano on to. Several tracks featured my much loved electronic ‘punches’ of his, carefully balanced by Anne Müller on cello along with violinist, Viktor Orri Arnason, who also played an unbelievable solo piece. Olafur had continued the night with examples of beautiful piano playing and his emotional, self-immersed stature peaked at a ‘song for Grandma’, where I paid witness to the many memories flowing from his head to his hands. I was on the front row, and after each of their performances I could often hear the faint gasp of breathe as another spellbinding moment came to an end.

Nils began with more comedy introductions and by now, I was just blind-jealous of this super-talented, down-to-earth collective. Everyone who took to the stage was genuinely having the time of their lives, and this made the performances and overall night, that extra bit special.

Yet more unexpectedness followed, as Nils began to use the Piano as percussion, drumming the wood, the mics and anything else which was just out of my sight to an amazing beat. His following set was quite simply unreal. I’m no piano-player, and I haven’t seen many ‘pure-piano’ performances like tonight, but I was lost and mesmerised in Nils’ talent. I don’t think I blinked, and I probably didn’t even take a breathe through his whole set. Music that progressed from simple piano chords took whole new meanings, new journeys and when he began playing two pianos at the same-time I had to laugh… this was ridiculous. I was paying witness to a talent that has undoubtedly taken years to develop, and i’m not sure if this was him at his peak, but I couldn’t imagine it being any better. Nils was in his own world, sweat dripping from his forehead as he smashed the keys and put the entire audience in a trance, gently rocking back and forth with the odd glance at the accompanying Anne Müller – he was playing a masterpiece.

The night ended with the collective on stage playing together. But by now, the solo pieces were still racking around in my head as I took a prolonged few minutes to gather what had just happened. It was big, it was loud and of course it was a perfect end to the night, but I would prefer to see every person on that stage play alone again.

The unexpected simplicity of the entire night was what made it so special. Never before had I witnessed such talented people portray so many beautiful moments, and often just with one instrument. This was a night which was as far away from the electronic world as you may wish for, and it couldn’t have been any better. Erased Tapes proved that a live performance by a talented musician will always be a world apart from any recording you’ll ever own.