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How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere at All, the comedy troupe Firesign Theatre asked on their 1969 album. That question seems germane to attendees of the Freakout festival, perhaps the most debauched annual event on Seattle’s music calendar. Figuring out a scheme to catch all of the acts that you want to see requires tactics that would impress an army general. And, you know, from a certain perspective, Freakout sounds as much like a command as it does a festival name…
Even the most dedicated follower of musical trends may not know most of the Freakout lineup, but if you’re agile enough to hit up multiple rooms per night, you can discover several artists—local and foreign—who’ll enrich your life. That’s the magic of Freakout, now in its 13th year. With 70 acts performing at nine venues in Ballard and Fremont, Freakout promises a diversity of sonic adventures. And respect to the curators for booking so many international artists, given the horrific state of US immigration policy. Here are (at least) 20 performers whom you should see/hear. But, by all means, Do Your Own Research™, too.
• Melt-Banana: These Japanese noise-rockers are spazzing as wildly as ever, 32 years on. You may want to wear a neck brace for this one, just in case. (Nov 8, Salmon Bay [Upstairs], 10:50 pm)
• Glyders: It was love at first listen for me with these masterly Chicago songwriters’ new album, Forever. There’s something so basic and spare about their mongrelized, chooglin’ American music, but also something about it that’s sneakily krautrock-y/kosmische—it’s like drinking absinthe out of a PBR can. (Nov 7, Conor Byrne, 11:40 pm; Nov 8, Sunset Tavern, 8:40 pm)
• Møtrik: Portland quartet honor their name with klassik, ekstatik krautrock accelerations. (Nov 8, Tractor Tavern, 10:10 pm)
• L’Eclair: When not moonlighting with Zambian rock gods W.I.T.C.H., this Swiss group elegantly and cinematically funk you up (and down and all around) and will make you feel very sophisticated, indeed. (Nov 7, Salmon Bay [Upstairs], 12:20 am)
• glass egg: Seattle shoegazers will unveil songs from their new, serenely misty visions & ecstasies album—which is dreamier than Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” (Nov 6, Ballard Smoke Shop, 8 pm)
• Chalk: This industrial-electronic group will bring their foundation-shaking capabilities all the way from Northern Ireland. (Nov 8, Sunset Tavern, 11:30 pm)
• Diles Que No Me Maten: Your soon-to-be-favorite Mexican rock group purvey an eerie, mysterious strain of post-punk. (Nov 7, Salmon Bay [Upstairs], 11 pm)
• Acapulco Lips: Local mainstays deliver modern rock with golden melodies, indelible hooks, and fuzzy psychedelic embroidering. You may think that’s commonplace, but Acapulco Lips alchemize these familiar elements into songs that demand repeat listens. (Nov 8, Hidden Hall, 9 pm)
• The Maya Experience: Guitarist Maya Marie is one of Seattle’s most riveting singers, and she fronts a killer trio who rock with a gr*nge-adjacent intensity and charisma that’ll saturate your sensorium with adrenaline. (Nov 7, Conor Byrne, 8:30 pm)
• El Khat: A Berlin-based Yemeni group, El Khat use unique, DIY instruments to create piquant percussive music with majestic, string-laden melodies. They are the outlier of Freakout, and will likely blow your open mind seven ways to Monday. (Nov 9, Sunset Tavern, 10 pm)
• Population II: Named after ex-Blue Cheer guitarist Randy Holden’s 1970 proto-doom-metal LP, these Montréal psychonauts create heavy, nuanced rock with excellent use of space. (Nov 8, Sunset Tavern, 11 pm)
• The Surfrajettes: Diamond-hard, superbly crafted surf rock from four women out of Toronto, Ontario—you don’t hear that every decade. Bonus points for the punny name. (Nov 8, Hidden Hall, 11 pm)
• Psychic Bloom: Led by mystically inclined, Iranian-born guitarist/vocalist Hashill, these NYC heads play a peace-lovin’ strain of psychedelic rocque that’s redolent of incense and psilocybin. (Nov 8, Salmon Bay [Downstairs], 10 pm)
• Afrosonics: One doesn’t expect music with African, South American, Caribbean, funk, blues, and Latin jazz elements to come from Idaho, but Afrosonics subvert expectations with their heady and expansive party music. (Nov 6, Sunset Tavern, 8 pm)
• Pink Breath of Heaven: This San Francisco project led by Liv Field and Rex John Shelverton creates maximal shoegaze rock that spills into splendorous psychedelia, sounding a bit like an extroverted Hope Sandoval fronting Ride. (Nov 7, Tractor Tavern, 9:30 pm)
• Deaf Club: San Diego foursome do that high-velocity, screaming, electro-thrash thing with the righteous fury that these fascist-infested times demand. It’s superb Nazi-punching music. (Nov 8, Add-A-Ball, 11 pm)
• Flavor Crystals: Spacey Minnesotans have mastered a sublime brand of laid-back, blissed-out rock that has its roots in Mercury Rev’s “Frittering” and post-Syd Pink Floyd at their moodiest. (Nov 7, Sunset Tavern, 11 pm)
• El Universo: If you title an album Avant-Kraut Garden, as Mexico City’s Eder Ademar has done, you have my attention. Thankfully, it’s a towering edifice of cosmic electronic rock in which to get thoroughly lost, and I’m betting it’ll sound amazing live. (Nov 7, Add-A-Ball, 9 pm)
• Art d’Ecco: Elegantly brash glam-disco from a British Columbia-based androgyne with impressive vocal range. Fans of late-’70s Bowie, mid-’70s Roxy Music, and Sparks, take note. (Nov 7, Salmon Bay [Upstairs], 8:30 pm)
• Rogelio the IIIrd: The guitarist from Mexico psych-rockers Diles Que No Me Maten goes off on a weird electronic tangent. I’ll bet your drug money that this hombre is into the Residents. (Nov 7, Cathedral, 5 pm)
Finally, here are some new changes to Freakout operations from executive director Skyler Locatelli.
• Cathedral Event Space: Thursday-Saturday: box office, merchandise, free programming and 21+ bar, with proceeds benefiting Freakout.
• Sunset Tavern is the only 4 x day ticketed venue, 4-day pass is only way in on Thursday + Sunday.
• Smoke Shop is a 4 x day venue and is free as part of the City of Seattle Neighborhood Matching Fund program.
• Salmon Bay Eagles, Tractor Tavern, Conor Byrne, Nectar Lounge, Hidden Hall (new venue this year), Add-A-Ball (new venue this year and free entry) are Friday and Saturday only.
• We have 24 international artists performing this year, 30 percent of our lineup, all part of our International Music Initiative.
Scope the full lineup here and download the app here.
(Freakout happens Nov 6–9 at various venues, 21+; buy tickets here.)