OUR NUTTY NEIGHBOURS TO THE NORTH...

...by whom I mean who else but the residents of Olympia, Washington, once again wow the wondrous world with the Olympia Experimental Music Festival.

Now in its lucky 13th year, the festival is--or was, last time I saw it--hilarious, brilliant, and insane. This is not the snootypants brand of experimentica you may have been unfortunate enough to run into at hoity-toity venues (New York City, I'm thinking of you). This is genuine Northwest weirdness. Portlandia is represented by Dead Air Fresheners (pictured), Argumentrix, METAL, Celestville, Mood Ring, Nequaquam Vacuum, Shitty Vibe Smasher, Childhood Friends, White Rainbow, and A Garden to Play with Ghost. Somehow there's still room for bands from Washington state, Vancouver BC, SF, NYC, Montana, Athens, Australia, and of course, North Cambria, PA.

Solstice weekend, June 22-24. Keep reading for details. --Tif

From the Oly Fest freaks:

<http://www.myspace.com/room_220>Room 220 Guitars and
<http://www.myspace.com/kaosolympia>KAOS 89.3 FM:

The 13th Annual Olympia Experimental Music Festival

Thursday June 21st - Sunday June 24th
at the <http://pnwbands.com/eaglesolympia.html>Eagle's Hall in Olympia WA (805 4th Ave E, corner of 4th & Plumb)

with a Post-fest Party
Sunday the 24th at
<http://www.levoyeur.netfirms.com/>Le Voyeur.

To purchase tickets online, visit <http://www.buyolympia.com>http://www.buyolympia.com
Visit the Festival website at <http://duckhugger.com/olyexpfest>http://duckhugger.com/olyexpfest
30 Musical Acts, from the Pacific NW, elsewhere in the United States, and across the Earth as far away as Australia, Pushing the Boundaries of Audio Art to It's Very Limits!

All shows start at 7 p.m, except for Sunday, which starts at 6 p.m. and the Post-fest Party at Le Voyeur which starts at 10 p.m.

Full passes are $25, or $7 for each night.

Thursday, June 21st

<http://www.myspace.com/celesteville>Celestville (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/themoodring>Mood Ring (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/marissaandthemagic>Marissa Magic (Olympia, WA)
<http://www.myspace.com/derekmjohnson>Derek M. Johnson AKA M.E. & Me (Olympia, WA)
<http://svs.synthnoise.com/>Shitty Vibe Smasher (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/acreage>Acre (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/bluesabbathblackcheer>Blue Sabbath Black Cheer (Seattle, WA)

Friday, June 22nd

<http://www.myspace.com/forestfriends>Childhood Friends (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/argumentix>Argumentix (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/plants>Plants (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/jasminedreamewagner>Cabinet of Natural Curiousities (Montana)
<http://www.myspace.com/whiterainbowwhiterainbow>White Rainbow (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/deadairfresheners>Dead Air Fresheners (Portland, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle)
<http://www.myspace.com/alpsalps>Alps of New South Wales (New South Wales, Australia)

Saturday, June 23rd

<http://www.myspace.com/noahmickens>Nequaquam Vacuum (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/lalungs>L.A. Lungs (Tacoma, WA)
<http://www.myspace.com/metalisquiet>METAL (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/longleggedwoman>Long Legged Woman (Athens, GA)
<http://www.myspace.com/jptr4>JPTR (New York City, N.Y)
<http://www.myspace.com/thismachinekillscops>Better People (Athens, GA)
<http://www.myspace.com/oliversquashmusic>Oliver Squash (North Cambria, PA)

Sunday, June 24th

A Garden to Play with Ghost (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/wendyatkinson>Wendy Atkinson (Vancouver, B.C)
<http://www.duckhugger.com/woodpaneling/index.html>Wood Paneling (Mason County, WA)
<http://resipiscent.com/midmight/index.html>Midmight (San Francisco, CA)
<http://www.myspace.com/ericostrowski>Eric Ostrowski (Seattle, WA)
<http://www.myspace.com/noisettes>Noisettes/Walrus
<http://www.myspace.com/walrusmachine>Walrus Machine/LAMP (Seattle, WA)
<http://www.hansgrusel.com/>Hans Grusels Krankenkabinet (San Francisco, CA)

Post-fest Party also Sunday, June 24th - 10 p.m. at <http://www.levoyeur.netfirms.com/>Le Voyeur, this event is free to all, pass-holders or not.

<http://www.myspace.com/rexmattress>Mattress (Portland, OR)
<http://www.myspace.com/yourdrugsmymoney>Your Drugs My Money featuring La Maison (Paris, LA, Fiji)

What is the Festival about?
<http://www.myspace.com/olystrangemusic>The Olympia Experimental Music Festival was founded in 1995 by L. Jim McAdams and was produced under the umbrella of the Olympia Strange Music Society, which Arrington de Dionyso had created earlier in the same year. While Mr. McAdams gladly served as a conduit for the very first event, the festival began through a series of e-mails by fringe music artists from around North America who actively wished to play in Olympia. Thus it could be argued that the first festival really founded itself.

Since it's magical beginnings as a group vision on internet mailing lists, the Olympia Experimental Music Festival has been curated by L. Jim McAdams, Arrington de Dionyso, Aerick Duckhugger, Ashley Shomo, Eric Ostrowski, Michael Griffin, Harlan Mark Vale, and Dick Metcalfe (who was also responsible for starting the festival's first ever website).

This years chief organizer is KAOS DJ extraordinaire Domenica Clark, and her chief lieutenant is once again L. Jim McAdams (albeit 13 years older). Mr. McAdams booked the Saturday 6/24 lineup, while Ms. Clark is responsible for bringing us the other three equally remarkable nights.

The festival continues to move forward every year on the fervent belief that while Olympia is certainly a fertile ground for independent rock music, there are other genres of very visceral music that were and continue to be underrepresented in the "scene".