Festivals around the nation are adding days—or in Coachella's case an entire, identical weekend—and still selling out faster than ever, all while streaming their performances live from the location. And new ones for EDM kids and bassheads, indie hipsters and rock'n'rollers are cropping up every year.
Sasquatch was proud in declaring the addition of a fourth day of music last year (Friday), and they'll continue the trend this year with what is a loaded half-day on Friday, May 25th. Plus, the Gorge Amphitheatre built a new stage, which is dubbed The "Maine" Stage, that now sits on the sloping hill behind the bowl. It'll feature 12 acts over the four days, primarily NW hip-hop. (KEXP has a nice roundup of the NW beats here.) Festival creator Adam Zacks explains the idea:
"Last year, there was a new, relatively modest sized stage installed at the epicenter of the Gorge property that we wanted to make use of. Since a lot of hip-hop uses minimal gear it seemed a logical use of the space, and a way to be more inclusive of Seattle’s hip-hop scene."
Celebrating a decade last year, the 2012 Sasquatch! Music Festival at the Gorge spans this Memorial Day weekend, Friday, May 25th through Monday, May 28th, and will bring more than 100 acts to its five stages including 10+ Portland-based groups.
If you didn't get your hands on tickets this year, check in with us on OMN as we publish daily updates and video interviews from the fest, and follow our stream of consciousness on Twitter. And speaking of streams, you can catch some Sasquatch from home as 94.7 FM will be broadcasting private performances and interviews with bands like Blitzen Trapper, Santigold, Metric, Greylag, The Head and the Heart, Joy Formidable, Fun., and more.
Now, here are our picks, plus a roundup of the bass offerings at this year's fest:
Friday, May 25th
The first do-not-miss set of the fest comes at 6:30pm on Friday from the creative hotbed of the Midwest in the form of Poliça (pronounced po-lisa). Even with the names Bon Iver (Mike Noyce is featured on the record) and GAYNGS (Ryan Olson is the mastermind producer behind the beats) attached to the act, vocalist Channy Leaneagh (formerly Casselle) is plenty deserving of the attention she's been receiving. And although neither of the two aforementioned men tour with Poliça, she's found a more-than-adequate backing band to support her electro-R&B vocals, which are delicately manipulated and Auto-Tuned with mesmerizing effect. Just check out "Lay Your Cards Out" featuring Bon Iver's Mike Noyce on vocals:
The oft-Diplo-produced Santigold came back in 2012 with her second album, which also featured production from Q-Tip, Boyz Noize, Buraka Som Sistema, Switch, and Ricky Blaze—who contributed to the record's second single, "Disparate Youth"—watch it here.
The only Portland band playing on opening day will get the family-friendly, festival treatment on the billing: STRFKR. Proudly claiming as Starfucker as our own, check OMN's interview with bassist Shawn Glassford from last week and enjoy the vid for "Bury Us Alive" from 2011's Reptilians here.
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