Well, that was the largest Seacompression yet, and with this being the fourth Seacomp in that hanger space, I do believe the army of production folks have finally figured out the best way to work with that giant concrete box of a space. Participating in the H’Art Center “chillout” dome was a grand time, with lots of squish, beautiful art and all my favorite people, but in order to compete with the live music stage at the far end of the room, we all had to up the chill a tick and keep the bass pumping. Certainly not a problem, but I walked in hoping to play a super mellow set of lovely ambiance.

The dance stage in the side room looked and sounded amazing this year, and I applaud the decision to only place on sound system in there. I know it was tough to whittle down the list of 40 some DJs that wanted to play to the 10 or so that got slots, but it was a better party because of that effort.

The only real knock against the night I had was that due to the new extra stringent fire code mandates, the space did feel significantly sparser than past Seacomps. Not being able cover canopies in flowy fabrics and wacky art made for a colder, less inviting space. I know everyone did what they could under the new rules, but it did make a notable impact on the decor of a typically sensory overloading event.

I have some photos still on my camera, so until I upload them to the cloud, please enjoy this awesome set from Yonderboy.

Another fantastic Chillography come and gone. Music-wise, this may have been one of my favorites yet, with Eckoe opening with his perfect blend of psychill, followed by Kalpataru Tree’s siiiiiick dubby goodness, Manahan’s midtempo romp and finally Scott Sunn’s deeeeeep techno shplunking. Add that to Jenna and team’s beautiful makeover of the Church of Bass, Cupcake or Dies baked goodness, and the projected Entranced game, and we had all the right ingredients for a superb party.

The entire night was recorded and I’ll be posting the sets to the Chillography site, once I get around to processing the recording. I’m still working on the recordings from 201, but both shows will be available very soon. I promise!

My photos:

And check out this great little Chillography montage from Lara.

Good morning! For a good chuckle to help kick off this Friday proper, check out Psyreviews’ thoughts on Infected Mushroom’s “Legend Of The Black Shawarma“. I’m not trying to hate on I.F. here, just passing along a creatively hilarious review.

You can always count on reviews full of personality and honesty from Psyreviews. Definitely worthy of a few minutes of your time and a slot in your RSS reader.

The City & the City by China Miéville


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another fine tale by the master of urban fiction. I’m a huge fan of Miéville’s more fantasy type stories, but his boundless imagination still holds up in this modern-day/real world setting. Any of his books would make for a great movie, as his writing is so visual, but in this case, I’d especially love to see how a director of cinematography would handle the two cities in which this book takes place.

Kim and I got back late Monday night from an amazing few days at the Shambhala Music Fest in Canadia. I’m still working on uploading my photos, videos and field recordings in order to put together a proper review, but in short, that was seriously fucking awesome.

More soon….

 
Chillography 201 was fantastic! Beautiful beats and peeps groovin’ and chillin’ on the picturesque Seattle waterfront. Thanks to everyone that came out and enjoyed the day with us. I’m not sure how to appropriately sum up the positivity and community that I felt out there, but it was awesome. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been the porta potty that the city had promised us.

I hope you all will join us in the fall for Chillography 202.

The entire show was recorded, so I’ll have those sets up for download in a bit.

Here are a couple of great photo sets of the day:
by ECityBlues
by +Russ

Woo… another fun fun night at HOTwired. Nelia opened the night with a really great set of midtempo grooves. I really need to get her onto a future Chillography lineup. I’ve seen her play a few times now, and she has amazing taste in music. Then Eckoe and I played a set that started progressive and ended with full-on, hands-in-the-air psytrance. The dance floor grew and grew and was at its fullest when we were playing our hardest. Then Osiris and Amanita took over and showed us all why they are booked as much as they are. Playing a solid 2×4 set of groovy techno and electro house that had Noc Noc jumping until the lights flipped on at 1:30. Nicely done, boys, nicely done.

Here are some photos and videos snapped by Lara. I’ll update with my own once I get them up on the net.

Pardon me while I gush about a fantastic piece of music. I’ve been meaning to post about this for a bit now, but haven’t found the right words to do it adequate justice.

Sending Orbs, purveyors of the highest quality chilltronica, have released another stunning gem of an album, Yagya’s Rigning. “Rigning” is Icelandic for ”rain”, and as the name suggests, this 10-track masterpiece takes the rain theme and runs with it through its entirety. This album is drenched in rain samples around which all other elements are placed. Keeping close to the formula of dubby minimal techno, but certainly presenting a new vision of it, the basic recipe used here is a subtly mixed 4-on-the-floor kick drum to provide some structure as the heady, dub bass lines add just a touch of groove. Meanwhile, rain samples and beautiful pads provide space and atmosphere as gentle sprinkles of tinkling melodies really take you on a smooth emotional journey. There is nothing heavy handed about this release. Each track is delicate and mellow and yet so easily captures your mind and washes it clean of stress and worry.

I’ve listened to the album daily since I received it. Not many albums in my collection can make that same claim, but there is just something so lovely about Rigning that when it ends, starting it all over again is my instant reaction. You don’t have to just take my word for it, though. There are plenty of others that have had equal praise, and have said it all much more eloquently than I can. Or better yet, be your own judge. Listen to the clips found here and buy the album here to add this instant classic to your collection.

Holy chillout, Batman! Huge success! Fantastic sets by all our lovely DJs, 3 screens of eyecandy, and more than twice as many attendees as the previous show all made for a truly enjoyable night.

Here’s my NWTekno review::

What a fantastic night! When we started the Chillography series, we were chasing a vision that very much resembled the reality that was 103. Thanks to everyone that came out to be a part of something that’s attempting to a bit different than the typical electronic music event. It was a real pleasure to see and meet tons of new people. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves and will join us again at Chillography 104, sometime in the Spring.

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Now for some specific shout outs:

Geminitrix, Lara, Coral and Jenna:: You all spun beautiful sets that created one of the largest chillout dancefloors I’ve ever seen. Nicely done. I recorded the whole night, so in the near future we’ll be able to share your sets with those that couldn’t make it or would like to hear is all again.

Julirama:: Your three screens of visuals, plus the Buddha Tank, significantly added to the beauty of the night. It was a pleasure to collaborate with you on this event.

Hendrik and Adrian:: Chillography would not exist at all without you. Best partners in chill ever.

Isaac and your Elixir Bar:: Your tasty and refreshing elixirs were a delicious hit.

The door, set-up, and clean-up volunteers:: I didn’t get to meet you all, but you provided some much needed and truly appreciated help that was vital to the success of the night.

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Photos and recorded sets will be posted here and at chillography.net when I’ve had a chance to process them.

Until I get my photos up, here is Lara’s great photo set of the night.

I picked up Movements, the new Solar Fields album, last week and have been listening to it daily since. The short of it is that this album is amazing. I’ve been a huge fan of Solar Fields for quite a while, and Movements fully delivers on that Solar Fields sound that I so love. I like to describe the Solar Fields sound as Arena Ambient because it’s as if he’s writing epic music to be played on giant PAs in huge stadiums. Massive bass with precise percussion and smooth, evolving textures and melodies fluttering in and out of the scape, digging deep into your emotional core, without ever stepping into cheese territory. Man, a Solar Fields arena show would just be breathtaking.

There’s nothing ground-breaking about Movements, just huge, emotional scores that are so satisfying that its easy to just let this album loop over and over. It’s interesting to me that while his sound and techniques seemed to have changed little from his first release, I have not yet tired of his brand of musical magic. He’s definitely tapped into something that just speaks to me. It’s like every release is a further refinement of that sound, leading the listener further into the depths of the same mysterious musical cavern.

If you are a fan of Solar Fields, getting this album is a must. If you are fan of the mellower flavors of electronica, you too must get this album. Not sure if you are into either of the former? You could certainly do worse things than buying Movements and giving it a chance. Check the track and videos below for a sampling of the album.

Here’s some great Solar Fields performance footage featuring the track Discovering. This must have been an incredible musical experience for those in attendance.