As Fall began to lend it's way into Winter here in the Northeast, a trip down to Miami for this year's Art Basel seemed to be the best way to absorb some culture and much needed Vitamin D before the Winter's hibernation set in.  With accommodations the only plans set in stone, fresh from the airport it was off to the hostel to get situated.  After the first of many drinks imbibed on the patio with fellow hostellers over the weekend, the next move was to Wynwood to check out the art walk and support some of NYC's graffiti icons.


If you reside within the 5 boroughs, than you've undoubtedly seen the works of 2ESAE & SKI (aka Mike Baca & Fernando Romero) on rooftops, billboards, boxtrucks, or perhaps even bought pieces from them down on Prince St. on the weekends.  For those less familiar, you can read up on the UR:NY story HERE.

In collaboration with POP! International Galleries, December 2011 saw the unveiling of their 'Breaking & Entering' gallery show in Miami's Wynwood arts district, celebrating the duo "breaking & entering" into the gallery scene on their own terms.  Thursday night the gallery opened doors to the public complete with a spread of food, tequila, and a DJ spinning tracks in the backyard where just about any surface was plastered with throwies from both artists.

Another notorious NYC writer flying South this Winter for Art Basel was Bronx born & bred COPE2.  After lining the stomach with a healthy coat of free booze, it was time to cruise down the alleyway and make moves towards COPE's 'Rise To The Occasion' opening.

One of the MVPs of Wynwood this year, Cope's infamous clean bubble letters could be seen throughout the neighborhood, collaborating on walls with the likes of 2ESAE, SKI, Buff Monster, Lister, & the London Police.
His 'Rise To The Occasion' show featured a number of vibrant collage canvases incorporating old Daily News clippings, vivid colors, and his patented graffiti outlines and handstyle.  The ladies behind Kweenz Destroy also created a pop-up shop within the gallery, on their grind hustling a variety of their recent apparel releases.


After stopping briefly through Miguel Paredes gallery to pilfer some Sapporo, it was off to survey the Food Truck scene set up in an abandoned lot down the street.  After pangs of drunken indecision, the lure of the Arepabox truck and the "Cachapa", a sweet corn arepa filled with Gruyere cheese and slathered with a variety of green and red hot sauce, proved to be too much to resist.

Thursday night also marked the kickoff of the Sin City tour featuring N-Type, Hatcha, and MC Crazy D.  Miami local Juan Basshead helped get the night started with a set of varying tempos and going in on some DnB heavy hitters during the last half hour of his set.  Hatcha & N-Type's B2B 3-hour set included a healthy variety of music spanning across the dubstep spectrum.  Gritty tunes from Lost, Benton, and Coki, as well as some deeper bits from Mala and Phaeleh with Crazy D holding down vibes on the mic, proving why his banter game is second to none.  Big up the entire Miami Dubstep family for the hospitality.

The chorizo patty, creole sauce, and deep fried potato sticks sandwiched between a fresh Cuban roll proved to be the prescribed hangover cure.  A quick Cuban coffee later and it was time to cruise Calle 8 to sweat out the remaining booze.

After a quick lesson in cigars and dominoes at one of the many Cigar Lounges along SW 8th St, it was off to Maximo Gomez Park to check out the social epicenter of Little Havana in action.  Art seemingly inescapable over the weekend, THIS Blek Le Rat piece was spotted en route.

On the docket for Friday night was another venture to Wynwood for the opening of the Underbelly Project group show.  Started in the Spring of 2009, the large scale art project ushered over 100 artists representing 15 countries through one of NYC's long abandoned Subway stations to leave their mark deep underneath the konkrete jungle.

Taking to a warehouse on NW25th St in Wynwood, the Underbelly Project organizers brought together a sampling of art from the artists involved in the year long project.  The exhibition also featured a wall of screens looping time lapse footage of the artist's contributions to the subterranean art cache back in Gotham.  With some time to kill before heading to the Electric Pickle for the Wolf + Lamb / Soul Clap residency, it was time to take in a beer down at the Wynwood Walls themselves, a huge catalyst in the ongoing transformation of the neighborhood.



Saturday started off with a stroll up Collins Ave. to the Aqua Hotel, the site of the Aqua Art Fair.  The two-story hotel's 40+ rooms are gutted for the weekend, as participating galleries from across the country are given a blank room and free reign to showcase the artists in their collections.  While the fair featured many a head-scratching piece of art, a notable standout were the paintings of Jason Bryant courtesy of Porter Contemporary Gallery.  Another highlight being the photography of Dulce Pinzon in room 218 curated by Alida Anderson Art Projects.


After a lifetime being shunned by family and peers in NY, it was time for this Dolphins fan to finally be among his people.  With an Australian in tow primed for his first NFL experience, we headed to Landshark Stadium around 11am to take in the sights and aromas of the bustling tailgate scene.  As hordes of shit-talking Raiders fans descended upon the parking lot, we crushed our remaining domestic piss beers and proceeded to watch the Dolphins absolutely trounce Oakland 34-14.


Sunday night's debauchery was provided by the Overthrow's Art Basel edition of their Hard2Leave party at Gold Rush.  Track selections were about what you'd expect from a Strip Club DJ'd by Ninjasonik, Craze, and the Overthrow DJs.  DJ Assault & DJ Funk would have been proud.  Out to Tamara Sky for dropping 'Bassface' and proving that Sound Pelligrino tunes go off in the titty bar too.



Waking up to a severe dent in the wallet and hangover to match, a walk from South Beach to Wynwood seemed the most economical, albeit extremely inconvenient of options.  After asking many a local for directions and being told that walking simply wasn't an option, the stubborn New Yorker in me refused to be denied.  The causeway connecting the beach from downtown Miami may not have been open for pedestrian traffic, but 7.2 miles later and a few hours worse for ware, it was time for one last stroll through Wynwood before heading to MIA International.

After catching Rime busting the outline for his 50-character mural on Thursday night, it was time to check out the finished product in all it's glory.  In addition to mowing the spot on NE Miami ave, he was also asked to recreate Revok's 'We Own The Night' piece outside of the Underbelly Project warehouse.

The next stop was to the Kohn Compound to check out the murals of the Graffuturim "In Situ" installation.  Participating artist Eric Haze provided a foreward for the Co11ective group exhibition which you can find HERE.

Further down the block was a fresh production wall from IMOK's Ewok (5MH), Jick, & Mast.  For more fresh Ewok debuted at this year's Basel, you can also check out his Brainlington video blog here.


Last but not least, this year's Ironlak wall centered around a fiery piece from Sofles with a background of paint drips provided by OG, Risky.  Other artists participating included VANS, KEMS, VIZIE, JURNE, EWOK (MSK), and REMOTE .

Sunday proved to be the day of rest, with 3:00 in the afternoon declared the official wake up call. Thankfully, Seattle was still serving Biscuits & Gravy which functioned as a much needed Morphine Drip. Heavily sedated and in horizontal format, an afternoon of explaining American football to the Canuck and watching "They Live" and "Rumble in the Bronx" on Netflix were the day's sole accomplishments.


Sunday's weather was shitty at best. It was October after all and the rain had presumably returned to stay for another 9 months. With members of our crew bowing out early, it was unclear how many others would do the same on this rainy Sunday night.


Unwavering in their support, Onset regulars and Decibel attendees alike filled out The Baltic Room to see what dBridge had in store to close out the week's festivities. To quote Fabio, "Drum & Bass is unique in that Drum & Bass people will go anywhere, in any kind of weather, they love their much so much."


Kid Hops probably appeared on the most bills throughout festival and spun a wide variety of beats. One can think of a number of monthlies across the United States who could easily afford to diversify their bonds by booking dude. Catch his radio programs twice weekly on award-winning KEXP 90.3fm Seattle. www.kexp.org


Dbridge's selections included many different sub-genres of Drum & Bass, but for the most part were heavily based around the Autonomic sound. These styles were a great way to wind down the festival,  providing enough energy to keep everyone going, yet chilled out and soothing all at the same time. The deep atmospheres paired with techy hi-hats complimented the Blade Runner type conditions outside.


This is the offical transportation of Bass Music in Seattle. Also the best interior in the game. Much Respect to Adam for being a true pillar of the scene. Always on the grind and holding it down each & every.


Five days had come and gone all too soon. Extra thanks goes out to all the friends new and old for letting us crash on your couch, steal your cameras, eat your food, and drink your booze; couldn't have done it without you. Can't stress enough how smoothly everything ran over the course of the week. Truly a festival with talent and organization of the highest caliber. Much respect and a big Thank You to Decibel and all the collaborating promoters for continually raising the bar. Can't wait to see next year's line up.

Washington is home to a plethora of well known companies, many of which are headquartered in downtown Seattle. With it's recent relocation of offices to Fremont, nestled between Adobe, Google, and Getty Images sits Mervin Manufacturing. What goods does Mervin Manufacturing produce? Snowboards mostly, widely acknowledged by many as the best in the industry. With Saturday morning's Bloody Marys meeting their demise,  it was called to attention that just down the street they had a keg.... and even better a mini ramp.


Decibel in the Park always seems to cement itself as one of the highlights of the festival. This year it's location was back on Capital Hill in Volunteer park after a one year jaunt directly under the space needle. While last year's location provided excellent views and awesome spectating, there is something to be said for the free for all and escape from the city that is Volunteer Park. This was the first year in our attendance that the weather was not absolutely perfect, but hardly anyone seemed to notice.

Friday morning started off slow, hungover on bass, and with a mind still trying to process the audio/visual spectacle from the night before. No complaints. The sun, although hesitant to shine at first, decided on an unexpected appearance to usher in the weekend. With little on the agenda, it was time to scout out Seattle's finest wares and touch base with old friends.


Most of the day was spent in Fremont, home to the best bassface (shown above) in Seattle. An obligatory stop by Paseo's for a Cuban Roast sandwich was high on the Seattle checklist and quite honestly had been occupying a great deal of my thought process since last year's Decibel. Happy to report that it met expectations. Word to the wise: Opt for the Cuban Midnight Press and call your order in ahead of time.


In terms of catching up with old friends, a Canadian was imported for the remainder of the weekend. Having spent the past months in the U.K. and abroad, our buddy Tom was easily persuaded to keep with the travel itch and hop a Greyhound down from Vancouver, B.C. The supposed 3-hour trek turned into a 6-hour haul, most likely do to square wheels. We bumped into Tom years ago on the streets of Vancouver where he ended up leading us to a real solid D&B rave and have kept in contact since.


With Friday night's showcases soon closing in, it was time to get the ducks in line for the night ahead. Canadians love Budweiser. All of them. Although their varietal is brewed at closer to 6% ABV, surely Tom was pleased to see that 24 packs don't run you $56 in the States and can be purchased at any gas station. Unfortunately the purveying of the American Lager seemed to encroach on the night's activities as 10PM can be considered a late start at Decibel.

Nuemos was the destination of choice for the evening for Resident Advisor's Blurring the Lines Showcase. The lineup consisted of Martyn, Martin Buttrich, Max Cooper, Egyptrixx, and Cyanwave featuring Night Train. This was probably the most appropriately named showcase of the festival, as musical selections toed the lines between minimal techno, deep dubstep, tech-house and obscure Brainfeeder sounds. This party was about disregarding the barriers defined by genres, as Martyn's dynamic set to cap the night off proved.

Thursday greeted everyone with clear skies on the day of the U.S. debut of the Amon Tobin ISAM audio/visual spectacle. Knowing well ahead of time that minimal energy would be dedicated attempting to document the actual spectacle on the night of, an attempt to weasel into the venue for some shots of the inital set up was on the days agenda. This attempt was a failure.  An ISAM crew member made it clear that no cat would be let out of the bag at this stage in the game during our brief chat outside the venue.



At this point in the afternoon, just about everyone familiar with the Pacific Northwest's climate knew this was most likely the last day of Summer. The rest of the day was to be spent outside navigating the tourist traps, scarfing street food, and observing throwies and architecture.



The night had finally arrived. Personally, this was the most anticipated act of the festival. This was the Super Bowl crossbred with the X-Games for artists and nerds alike. Upon arrival it was clear that this showcase had a draw that extended far beyond just the Decibel Festival goers. Lines for beverages were lengthy; a problem solved with a simple walk up a flight of stairs to the second floor where you were treated to an empty bar with a generous pour. The Paramount's architecture itself was equally mesmerizing as the trailers for the ISAM show and reminiscent of something that would be featured on an Amon Tobin record sleeve.






TOKiMONSTA opened the night, really wish she went second. Her avatar alone is like star wars, voltron, lord of the rings, star trek, twilight zone, all rolled into one. The above summary is all that really needs to be said. It should also be noted that the ISAM crew were no slouches when it came to sound, as the Pure Filth system proved weighty. If for some reason you slept on this past round of tour dates, you're in luck. You can catch the show again this New Years Eve in San Francisco.


The only conflict of the night was the fact that the Night Slugs showcase was stacked against the Amon Tobin experience. With the Paramount show letting out around 12:30, this gave attendees adequate time to hoof it an estimated 500 ft to the east in order to catch the remainder of Night Slugs. Pass holders were pulled out of line and given immediate entry. Details at this point in the evening grew hazy but distinctively remember Girl Unit, Kingdom, and Bok Bok going tune for tune to close the night out.