A pop fan’s guide to Decibel Fest

Two of the biggest misconceptions of Decibel Fest by people who haven’t attended, is that they believe it’s all techno/dubstep/rave/latest rockist strawman, or that they believe it’s unapproachable because it’s only for electronic music nerds. I couldn’t hold up my end of a conversation about deep trance for thirty seconds, but I’ve always liked dB Fest because it’s welcoming for anyone with an interest or curiosity in electronic music. First, there’s a free conference during the weekdays, before the showcases and afterparties begin (or after the afterparties let out, I suppose). But when you look at the programming, Decibel Fest does an excellent job of putting on a festival with a lot of different musical tastes in mind.

As a well-documented fan of pop music, I think there is much to like with this year’s dB Festival. Maybe as much as in any other festival that isn’t last weekend’s I Heart Radio Fest in Las Vegas. Here is a guide what I am looking forward to.

Icona Pop:

Icona Pop is a Swedish, electronic pop duo, made up of Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt. They make catchy, electro-pop music with some of the biggest hooks in pop today. Their breakthrough in 2011 was a perfect little pop song called “Manners” and “I Love It,” from this year, may even be better. They have detached, sexy vocals against big, disco beats. Their show with Dragonette and The Knocks (who they recorded a single with called “Sun Goes Down”) should make for a remarkable night of twenty-first century dance pop.

{Icona Pop plays the Decadence showcase on Friday, September 28 with The Knocks and Dragonette at Showbox at the Market, 21+, doors at 9pm, tickets and more info here.}

K. Flay:

K. Flay is Stanford-educated Bay area MC Kristine Flaherty. She writes catchy hip hop songs, that were initially inspired as a politically response to the genre but turned into something more serious when it was realized that she actually could rap. She’s a quite-skilled rapper who has been a prolific artist for most of her public life, putting out EPs and mixtapes with a high frequency. Her I Stopped Caring in 1996 mixtape is available free on her website and her most recent release is her Eyes Shut EP. She’s also covered my favorite Liz Phair song.

{K. Flay plays the Pop Fusion showcase at Decibel Fest on Thursday, September 27 with Houses and port-royal at the Crocodile, doors at 9pm, tickets and more info here.}

DJ Shadow:

The music of the one and only Josh Davis probably doesn’t fit into most definitions of “pop,” but watching one of his DJ sets is like watching a clinic in fitting parts of songs together. He’s a one of the most famous DJs alive (and one of the best) and if you pay close enough attention, he’s transparent enough to show you how it’s done, knowing it’s still basically impossible to replicate. Royal Stuart saw one of his shows earlier this year and wrote, “There was one particularly exciting moment when it was clear that the visuals on the giant screen behind the orb were tied to the electronic drums that Davis was playing from inside the orb. Every tack of the drum stick on the pad would produce a digitally-rendered skull, or a starburst explosion behind the orb. That sort of tactile feedback, a pure demonstration of the perfect marriage between input and visual/audio output really struck a cord.”

{DJ Shadow plays the Pioneers of Rhythm showcase with Bonobo (DJ set) and Eprom at Showbox Sodo, all ages, doors at 8pm, tickets and more info here.}

Kimbra:

New Zealand’s Kimbra may be the most overtly-pop oriented artist at Decibel Fest this year. Her music is catchy, mostly radio-friendly pop that fuzes pop, dance music and jazz, and she’s had a string of hits in New Zealand, and her debut album Vows debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200 chart. She’s had a string of minor hits that have appeared on TV shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” commercials and video games. Oh and she sang the “other” verse on Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.”

{Kimbra plays at Showbox at the Market on Wednesday, September 26 with The Stepkids, all ages, 9pm doors, more info and tickets here.}

Keyboard Kid:

Seattle producer Keyboard Kid created the beat that Lil B rhymed over for his song “I Hate Myself” (based on Goo Goo Dolls’ awful “Iris”), but beyond that, he’s got a compelling (and prolific) body of work to show he is one of the fastest rising stars in the Northwest and hip hop in general. The Guardian wrote, “…the stuff we most like by him are the productions where he comes across like a space-age version of the symphonic soul creator, Thom Bell, where the R&B angst is looped and relocated to a milieu far, far away from its original context and, surrounded by blown beats and blurry strings’n'synths. It makes you question the very meaning of ‘soul.’”

{Keyboard Kid plays the Beat Prodigies showcase with Katie Kate, Kid Simpl, Samo Sound Boy and Dabrye at the Barboza on Thursday, September 27, 21+, 8pm doors,  info and tickets here.}

Dragonette:

The Canadian electro-pop band Dragonette release their third album Bodyparts today, after a long tease because the first single came out in April. It’ll probably help make this band be one of the most popular to play at dB Fest this year, as the showcase was moved from Neumos to the much bigger Showbox at the Market. Their dance music should appeal to house music fans, and bring others to dB Fest who may have seen Dragonette on “Good Morning America.”

{Dragonette plays the Decadence showcase on Friday, September 28 with The Knocks and Icona Pop at Showbox at the Market, 21+, doors at 9pm, tickets and more info here.}