The lineup for this year's Sasquatch has got to be one of the most stacked festival bills to come around in a long time. Maybe ever. Couple that with the sweeping panorama that is The Gorge, and I'm already starting to regret not pawning my stereo or at least a kidney in order to deepen those pockets enough to make it out for the three day event. Maybe if I down the right (or wrong?) combo of pills, the Whitman Commencement ceremony I'm attending instead will feel like an equal substitute for an Animal Collective show. Here's hoping.
In light of the musical smorgasbord going down this memorial weekend, I've thrown together an appetizer platter of some of the many acts I'd push hard to the front for.
Sun:
Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"In light of the musical smorgasbord going down this memorial weekend, I've thrown together an appetizer platter of some of the many acts I'd push hard to the front for.
Sun:
(music video)
A band inevitably bordering on stardom. Grizzly Bear's rabidly-anticipated third LP Veckatimest officially drops next Tuesday, but it has already racked up some heavy lauding in major-circulaters like the NY Times and GQ. Of course, shit is well-deserved. As the great Nick "the Hair" Johnson points out, these dudes are truly the real thing. And with all the attention and surrounding expectation, you gotta appreciate how deliberately the band took their time in crafting Yellow House's (2006) follow-up. The above music video features scenes from The Red Balloon, a pensive french made film that (oddly enough) my mom used to show my protesting brothers and I as little kids.Mon:
To me, the deep-fried, irreverent, soul-garage get-down that King Khan and his Berlin-via-Montreal backing band, the Shrines, exorcise upon the listener is the embodiment of all the booze-perfumed sweat and sensory overkill that Sasquatch has to offer (in all of the most welcome ways, of course). As George Clinton once spoke "Free your mind, and your ass will follow." Don't sleep on this band.Tue: All Chillness aside, this duo works their contagious, puppy-dog energy to massive effect in the live setting, strumming and drumming as if they could will the world into understanding if they just played hard enough. Psychedelic folk-rock is a realm long and frequenrly traveled, but The Dodos penchant for incorporating the unconventional--West African percussion, dexterous country finger-picking, and the trombone--delightfully redraws the map.
Wed: The music that this Seattle girl/guy tandem make draws from the same wellspring of jangly folk and countrified blues the Stones were drunk off of early in their career; which is to say they picked a winning formula. Their Sasquatch set might do well as some low-key, midday decompression therapy.
Thu: Whether she's rapping over Madlib-aced bangers like the above track, or psychedelic soul-singing about the (still) crippling effects of crack in the black community, Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War (2008) is a tough, unpredictable listen. Yet one thing is always clear: the multi-talented, superla-fro songstress has got a vision. I wouldn't want to miss whatever she burns up the stage with this weekend.
Fri: Annie Clark releases her records under the above moniker because, although the deranged synchronized swim-pop arrangements are her brain's children, their music requires the collaborative effort of a band to bring it to life. With that proviso in mind, Clark's murderous guitar prowess and even more lethal charm should really be witnessed live, where she performs with her ziplock-tight backing group as St.Vincent. I saw her open for Arcade Fire a few years back.
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