Seattle Techno

Friday night was the flipside of this. In the basement of the Alibi Room after midnight, a crew called Knight Riders assembled DJs from various scenes to play whatever they fancied. Clips from David Hasselhoff films were projected on the wall while too-loud bass competed with nasty ghetto-tech and ravetastic tracks from 1992. It was a free party, and there were all kinds of people there—travelers who found fliers at the Green Tortoise Hostel, weirdos from the Papa Roach show up the street, sexy androgynes with Bowie-esque dance moves. It made me think of my first night clubbing in Vancouver, at Shine. We just stumbled onto it, descended down some candlelit stairs and into a night of top-notch music. I’m happy to report that Seattle’s officially got that vibe going on.