The biggest news in Northwest music this week is, of course, Sasquatch. While the two day festival features stellar international acts, it is truly a Northwest festival, with one of the three stages devoted entirely to local bands.
On Saturday, the Yeti Stage hosts Blitzen Trapper, Gabriel Teodros, The Blow, Viva Voce, Visqueen, Mirah and Aqueduct.
On Sunday: The Blakes, Stars of Track & Field, Minus The Bear, Helio Sequence, Common Market, Smoosh and Jesse Sykes.
On top of that, a few Northwest acts have crept over to the other stages: Dandy Warhols play the Wookie Stage on Sunday, while The Saturday Knights, Neko Case, and The Long Winters take the Sasquatch Mainstage on Saturday.
By my count, that makes 18 (and, yes, I’m counting Neko) of the 47 bands from the Northwest. That’s 38% local — not too shabby when you’re trying to lure bigger acts like Bjork, Arcade Fire and the Beastie Boys. Nicely done, Sasquatch!
If you’re heading out to The Gorge, be sure to grab the KEXP Sasquatch podcast before you go. Load it into your iPod (or alternative music player), and you’ve got 13 songs to listen to while you sit in traffic, including The Black Angels, Ghostland Observatory, Helio Sequence, Spoon, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Arcade Fire, The Hold Steady, and many others, hosted by Cheryl Waters. Here it is:
Music That Matters: Sasquatch! Music Festival 2007 (MP3)
And if you’re in the mood to reminisce about last year or want to see what all the fuss is about, check out our photos from last year, thanks to KEXP Photography Coordinator Gregory A. Perez:
For those of us in the city, it can seem like Sasquatch is a black hole that pulls all music attention away from Seattle for a while toward The Gorge, but there are other events going on this Memorial weekend in the Seattle for those too trepid to make the trek.
The last Friday of every month, KEXP hosts the best in Portland music at a Seattle venue as part of the PDXplore series, in effort to bring together the Portland and Seattle music scenes. This Friday, May 25, at the Sunset Tavern, you can catch Casey Neill and Little Sue. The show starts at 7 pm sharp and will cost a measly $6.
Casey Neill - We Are The City (MP3)
Little Sue - Blinded (stream)
To see what else is going on this weekend, check out the KEXP Club Calendar. Also, tune in to Audioasis on Saturday from 6-9 pm for live performances by Patient Patient and Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head.
If you have any Northwest music or music news to share, email us at blog@kexp.org.
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[...] Read the full article by Jim, KEXP [...]
[...] Yesterday’s post, like on all Thursdays, focused specifically on the Northwest (Sasquatch, duh!), and in that very short time a whole bunch of non-NW related stories fell through the cracks here at the KEXP Blog. So, today, while all of your officemates have fled to hills, beaches, and in-laws’ houses, you can kick up your feet, watch a few videos and reconnect with the world. Don’t worry — your boss is probably on vacation too. Here’s what’s been going on: [...]