Festivals, Concert Series, and Mega Shows, Part 3: Something About Trees

This weekend is Boise, Idaho's Treefort Music Fest. Checking out their website, I am seriously impressed with their lineup. Not because of the big names they landed (they list Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings as their big headliner, followed by Animal Collective and The Walkmen, hardly show-stealing headliners if you ask me), but because of the dozens and dozens of small, awesome bands. Consider this your mini PNW SXSW. A NXNW, if you will. What also struck me? That there are so many bands from Idaho! It's like a music fanatic's dream, discovering tons of new music (and isn't that how SXSW started out?) Other notables at the festival include bands whom we have covered here in the blog already, Naomi Punk and Stickers, and other Seattle-area bands, including The Pharmacy, Pickwick, Deep Sea Diver, Rose Windows, Polyrhythmics, Truckasaurus, Kithkin, Pony Time, Kris Orlowski, Neighbors, and Edmund Wayne. There are tons of other bands from all over the nation, though. If you're looking to go on a road trip this weekend, Treefort Music Fest should be your destination.


 

 Timber! Outdoor Music Festival is Seattle's newest music festival, taking place in rural King County parks in Carnation July 26-27. Think of it as the brother festival to Artist Home's already popular Doe Bay Fest. Look forward to camping and glamping in conditions that are bound to be far nicer than what you might find at venues such as The Gorge. The festival website offers a variety of camping options for you to purchase. They haven't finished announcing the lineup, but I'm excited to see The Helio Sequence on the bill. Other notables include in-vogue band Lemolo and the fun and funky Kithkin. Festival tickets are only $45 (excluding camping), so if you are willing to potentially pass up Capitol Hill Block Party (the date doesn't appear to be set yet, but last year it was on this last weekend in July), these are a good deal. Who doesn't love grooving outside in the gorgeous PNW summer sunshine?




Interested in seeing where and when there are music festivals, concert series and mega shows? Check out the list I've compiled under the page link to the right titled Festivals, Concert Series, and Mega Shows for 2013! Did I miss anything? Leave a comment!

SWL #6: Gems, "Phillip's Glass Eye"

 

Gems are funky in a way that is almost unfathomable to the uninitiated. The Seattle-based band utilizes two different drummers and two keyboardists to sculpt their stellar electro-grooves, and on their only release to date, 2011’s eponymous ep, it definitely pays off. “Phillip’s Glass Eye” is a track off that record and it’s a great example of what makes the band worth spending time with; tight, syncopated rhythms propel the tune as it careens through jazz and krout-infused spasms of dance rock. The band is having a listening party for their new record, titled "Tall Mountain", at Vermillion on the 22^nd of this month (March, 2013). Be there or be square.

SWL #5: IG88, "Heat Back Stroke"

Branden Clarke, aka IG88, is a Bellingham/Seattle-based DJ that releases IDM/trip-hop music on Portland’s Nueva Forma audiovisual label. To celebrate his birthday a few weeks ago he released an awesome beat tape containing the short, but super chill closer “Heat Back Stroke”. Take a listen, and if you like it you can still get the tape as a free download on his bandcamp page along with his last full-length, titled "A Loom and Not Me". 

SWL #4: Nouela, "Fight"

In my opinion, Nouela Johnston can do no wrong. I've been following the Mountlake Terrace native's music since Mon Frere, and her most recent incarnation as the lead singer of her self-titled band has resulted in some very lovely, energetic and mature music.

Blame five years of piano lessons as a kid, but I'm a sucker for a singer-songwriter who focuses on the piano. Nouela's debut album came out in June of 2012; "Fight" is the first single. The driving, dramatic beat of the piano, together with her layered, looping vocals get me dancing every time. The subject is complicated, an outline of what it feels like to struggle for your dreams, despite the adversity that may pose. I love this line:

"I'm so tired of wishing (I don't wanna fight)
That a Cadillac in a cul-de-sac (I don't wanna fight)
Would be a life worth living (I don't wanna fight)"