In the Nordstrom Recital Hall during Decibel Festival's Optical 4 showcase, the sound of WIFE was equal parts exciting and heavy - the sound was swelling with an emotional intensity unparalleled, and the room felt thick with listening. Visuals tracked through architectural yet emotive abstractions while the Republic of Ireland played through his surprisingly pop-sounding works. formerly of the black metal band Altar Of Plagues - James Kelly was unafraid on the stage - letting loose his vocals through the webs of smooth sounds.
Alessandro Cortini is well known for rejoining Nine Inch Nails for their 2013 tour, and his expertise with synths. For Decibel he performed solo - with visuals from fellow veteran of the a/v community Leo Mayberry. As synths stacked and arranged Mayberry focused the visuals on doing the same thing - pieces began simply, layering into vortexes of lines and simple shapes.
1979 began as the stage began to transform - a second screen dropped down near the front, and lights were tested. The show began with a single burst of light on a small screen behind the second curtain, and then with a glowing bright holographic man coming to life to explain how time is circle. What followed was the visuals from a nine song album created by 1979 and Deru + Effixx - 1979 being a handheld projector which plays the videos created for this project. The visuals oscillated between the nostalgic and the abstract - sometime digital and sometimes analog.
WIFE:
Alessandro Cortini:
1979:
There's an exterior section of the EMP where, when there's an ongoing performance in the Sky Church, the blue aluminum panels rattle and reflect the street lighting in a way that makes it seem like a small light show of its own. Of course, the more interesting light show is always inside the EMP, a…
Conor Oberst has spent an entire career fighting against expectations. Even if he wasn't saddled with the "new Dylan" tags upon his emergence in the early 2000s, there undoubtedly still would have been a focus on his age (20 at the release of Bright Eyes' 2000 breakthrough Fevers and Mirrors), his …
Closing up Decibel Festival is no small task, but if anyone is up to the task and still ready to party after four previous nights of madness, it's LA hip hop collective Friends of Friends. The group houses a brilliant group of young musicians, specializing in electronic, trap, hip-hop, and experime…
