Whoa dB festival you ran me down! and Seattle, thanks for the food and keeping the weather decent.

With last years festival setting the bar high, dB had a its work cut out in 2011…..and for the most part it came thru.

Lets start with the low lights….of which there was really only a few in my book, starting with this guy>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Zomby why do you have to be so tight, yet be such a douche? Literally dude spent more time walking on and off stage and rolling joints than he did mixing. Fading between tracks: atmospherics>old drum and bass>Zomby tune>araabmuzik tune (repeate) with out regard to beat matching or genre was the M.O., and I was OVER IT. THIS VIDEO SUMZ IT UP PRETTY GOOD.

Other minor, but notable low lights included former glitch mob member and “his” drummer, Kraddy, playing tunes he was playing when I first heard of him YEARS ago. BORING.

HOWEVER…..

There were def more highlights…..

Wednesday:

Earlier in the night Marley Caroll, Shigeto (Shigeto Live at Decibel 2011), and Araabmuzik (ArraabMUZIK Live at Decibel 2011) all came thru with much more inspiring performances. If you have yet to check out Marley, DO IT. Marley has come up with an extremely creative way to deliver his own brand of pop music…not to mention he also has the turntable abilities of a DMC competitor. Marley Caroll Sound Cloud.

Thursday:

I started my night off checking out Monolithium at the Baltic room (Monolithium Live Decibel 2011), who was getting the party started for the Night Slug Camp, of which Kingdom, Girl Unit, and Bok Bok were all representing. For most people Thursday was going to be all about Amon Tobin and his ISAM visual rig. Having seen the youtube videos, I figured that I didnt need to actually see the show. However after getting word that there was no line, I jumped over from the Baltic room, and I was def glad that I did. Check the youtube vid below to see what I mean. Amon Tobin ISAM Live Decibel.

Back at the Baltic room the Night Slugs had the floor packed, and I was stoked to get a chance to see Girl Unit. Knowing that Holy Fuck was ending early up the street, I decided to grab a cab and catch their set, which was absolutely one of the best of the weekend. Like Marley Caroll, Holy Fuck’s unique sound and performance made them standouts of the festival. Dont belive me? peep this video of HOLY FUCK SLAYING IT! 1:30 am sneaks up on me and the live bands are done…..however the djs are still knocking, so I run back over to the Baltic room for what has turned into a back to back set ending session between Bok Bok, Kingdom and Girl Unit.

Friday:

MARTYN (live) please make up for Zomby (and he did). Bringing what would become another one of the standout performances of the festival, what Martyn lacked in energy on stage, he def made up for with the sound he presented through the speakers. Martyn GOIN IN at Decibel 2011. Other noable sonic events of the day included Starslinger, and Egyptixx.

Saturday:

The weather held out and dB in the park was on! with none other than the Frite Nite Family representing, along with Natasha Kemeto. Def good vibes all around. Natasha brought her sound, Danny Corn came out swinging, Salva kept it interesting with live keys and tons of APC work, and both Comma and EPROM wasted no time GOING IN.

After the park party, it was time for the Saturday night main event, Pressah, Ital Tek, and Machinedrum.

As he has the last year, Machinedrum came thru with another consistently dominating performance. Hipster Juke was the name of his game, warping together tunes about life and death, along with some Gucci and MAJOR 808 drops.

Ital Tek’s new hiphop beats (Ital Tek Soundcloud) are sick. and they were a MUCH needed and welcome reprieve from what became a day entirely dedicated to Juke. Now, im not a Juke hater, but anytime I spend a day (and night) listening to the same sounds, they all become boring. Its particularity interesting to note that at last years dB festial, dubstep was at every turn, and now all people do is hate on dubstep. I can only imagine the same thing happening next year to juke.

Well thats it. Big shouts to The Decibel Festival and Crew and of course the main man himself Sean Horton. Already looking forward to next year….