An Insider's Guide to Decibel Festival: Beat Connection

By Eric Grandy Wed., Sep. 21 2011 at 1:51 PM

Categories: Concert News, Local Musicians

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To the unschooled outside observer, the lineup of Decibel Festival--Seattle's premiere celebration of electronic music and art (9/28-10/2 at various venues)--might initially look like an endless parade of anonymous DJs, each more bald, pale, and bespectacled than the last, until you eventually arrive at Moby himself. But entertaining as that stereotype is, it simply hasn't been true of Decibel for years--nor does it begin to hint at the genuinely unstuffy, burning-down-the-house party vibe of the five-day fest at its nightly peaks. To help make sense of a schedule that would require a Multiplicity's worth of clones to experience in its entirety, Seattle Weekly has solicited picks from this year's local participants.

Today, young indie electronica/shimmer-house duo Beat Connection's Jordan Koplowitz and Reed Juenger give us their recommendations for the fest.

Reed: So, Thursday night is the one that kills me. I would be so torn on what to check out. Luckily/unluckily for me, I will be in the middle of a cross-country drive, likely somewhere in Montana, trying to get back in time for our showcase on Friday. But seriously, the Amon Tobin ISAM experience looks amazing. But then there is the Night Slugs Label Showcase at the Baltic Room with Girl Unit and Kingdom--I have been digging on their releases for a while now, and I am super into Girl Unit's distinctly British take on Dirty South trap muzik style beats. And then, just to make it harder Holy Fuck is playing, too. Damn Decibel, great work.

More after the jump . . .

One that I will be in town for, and which I am also really excited for, is Dntel with Erika Spring. Erika is in Au Revoir Simone, and I have never had a chance to see either of these groups, but I am really looking forward to that show. I hear Erika has only done a handful of solo dates!

Jordan: Our showcase is one that I'm super-stoked on. Star Slinger, Mux Mool, and oOoOO are all really great and diverse, and I'm super-excited to be on the bill with them. I've been listening to Mux Mool since I was in high school and have always found his production to be extremely intriguing. I've tried to see Star Slinger multiple times, but for some reason or another it hasn't worked out, and so I'm finally going to be able to meet the dude and dance around to his super-upbeat jams. On Saturday, I'm pumped to see Salva at Volunteer park--his song "Wake Ups" has me excited to see the rest of his material live. Really bummed to miss Moby and Blondes on Thursday for the No Sleep Till Brooklyn showcase at SoDo, though. We had to cancel playing a show with Blondes in Glasgow, so I guess it's just not in the cards for us to see them; Moby is just an act that I want to see before I die.

Beat Connection play Decibel Festival Friday, 9/30 at the Crocodile for the Warm Oscillations showcase with oOoOO, Star Slinger, Mux Mool, and DJ Eddie. Full Decibel line-up and further info at http://www.dbfestival.com.

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