It’s the 11th edition of MusicfestNW and like usual, there’s way more than live music than you can possibly devour so it’s best to choose your plan of action for each night and see if you can stick to it. This is the one time of year where every lineup is absolutely stacked with your favorite bands, local and otherwise. The Pioneer Courthouse Square showcases are back as are the free Nike gigs at the Wonder on Thursday (The Joy Formidable and Brand New) and Friday (Reptar and MSTRKRFT). The five-day extravaganza kicks off on Wednesday, September 7th and runs through the weekend, Sunday, September 11th. Some tickets to individual shows are sold (or selling) out but some all-fest wristbands are still floating around, so check out your remaining options here to make sure you can get into the gigs you need to see.
With 190+ acts at 20+ venues, here are a few of the acts OMN will not miss at MFNW 2011:
Opening night at MFNW might offer the fewest options but those with wristbands will be rearing to go and locals like Sean Flinn & The Royal We will provide the lighter yet captivating, emotive folk fare at Bunk Bar while riot grrl become riot woman Corin Tucker (formerly of Sleater-Kinney) will headline with her band, which includes Sara Lund (Unwound) and Seth Lorinczi (Golden Bears), at Mississippi Studios. Right click to download the first single, “Doubt,” from The Corin Tucker Band’s Kill Rock Stars debut, 1,000 Years.
Also, for more familiar faces in a new band, one of the Corin Tucker openers is Hurry Up, a new effort from Kathy Foster and Westin Glass of The Thermals with Maggie Vail (K Record, DJ Magic Bean, Bangs).
OMN will be hitting Bumbershoot this weekend to get an early glimpse of The Kills but you catch them at the Crystal Ballroom, which is sure to fill to capacity so get there early and be prepared to wait in line. You may know Alison Mosshart from her time with Jack White’s The Dead Weather, but she really shines in the minimalism beside guitarist Jamie Hince. Releasing their fourth album, Blood Pressures, in April, allow the bluesy, garage rockin’ duo to blow what’s left of your right mind.
Must-see local openers: Who cares if you stay for the headliners, here are some OMN favorites that open gigs on Thursday.
Aiming “to make the best record that we could,” the husband and wife combo of Viva Voce released their fifth, full-length studio album, The Future Will Destroy You earlier this summer and you can hear a sampling below. Of course, you could stick around for the freshly reunited Archers of Loaf if you must.
Brainstorm helped shut down this year’s PDX Pop Now! fest with an amalgamated punch of styles, and now that the duo has added a friend (Aidan Koch from The Bubs on synths) expect even more noise from these bombastic blenders. Plus they’ll hold down the Doug Fir stage with samplistic electro-poppers Purity Ring (a new project from Corin Roddick, of New York’s Gobble Gobble, with vocalist Megan James) and White Arrows, who are set to release the RAC-produced “Get Gone” (below) and a debut record (also produced by Portland via Porto RAC-founder Andre Anjos) in the near future. Headlining the not-too-shabby bill are MFNW 2010 performers Phantogram.
---Get the rest of OMN's picks here.
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