Tag Archive decibel festival

ByGD

Amazing

A couple years ago I attended Seattle’s Decibel Festival (the local electronic music festival, not the traveling heavy metal one sponsored by the magazine of the same name). In the EMP (now MoPop) Sky Church, giant visual displays moved on the wall behind the performers. I took a picture of this one, which reminded me of the Papago (now Tohono O’odham) Man in the Maze.

In the actual myth, I think the man, I’itoi, created humans and later retired, hidden from men in a cave hidden by the maze. But he is usually placed at the entrance to the maze, and so looks to me like any  other human – a person with a long journey ahead and no idea what they’re doing or what they’re in for.

This modern, electronic man is already in the thick of it. For each of the last two years, the American consensus seems to have been, “Well that sucked, I hope the next one is better.” But each year gives birth to the one that follows, so we can expect 2018 to be a tangled maze we must navigate if we’re going to repair the damage of the last two years. We can count on this year to be “amazing.” I hope some of the good connotation applies as well.

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Ólafur Arnalds in Seattle

olafurarnalds

Ólafur Arnalds played Benaroya Hall with Nils Frahm at the Decibel Festival in 2013. He was well received. 

ByGD

Holding Back

DaveB_Bshoot13Last week festival season transitioned to fall arts, and as usual I wanted to see it all. On Wednesday I attended the opening of Seattle’s Decibel Festival (not to be confused with the also-excellent touring metal festival of the same name). On Saturday I brought my daughter to the first Pacific Northwest Ballet repertory of the season, Jewels. I was sad to have missed the Jewels preview at Seattle Public Library earlier in the week.I really wanted to see the Erased Tapes showcase at Decibel on Sunday. I didn’t even try to make it to Your Feast Has Ended before it closed, despite how significant the exhibition at the Frye seems to have been. I love the arts; I love the numerous ways they enrich my life. I had a major epiphany at Bumbershoot last year. It reinforced my enthusiasm for the arts, but it’s also the reason that I missed more events than I attended last week. Read More

ByGD

Optical 2: Erased Tapes Showcase at Decibel Festival

Subtitle: Who the hell is Nils Frahm and why haven’t I heard of him before?

Nils Frahm press photo

Nils Frahm (obviously a press photo and not one of mine)

Seattle’s Decibel Festival turns 10 this year, which means it was born just about the same time I quit following electronic music. While I wasn’t paying attention, Decibel grew into a world class celebration of underground and experimental electronic music. The only reason I went this year was to see Ólafur Arnalds. But what I will remember most is Nils Frahm.

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