Treefort Music Festival 3 of 4

Day 3 of the Treefort Festival sees some of the best acts all weekend with one of my favorite bands of all time, Built To Spill. My comrade, Keith, and I started the morning out by going to the Main Stage to see In The Shadow Of The Mountain. These guys have a really great rock sound leaning on the edge of psychedelic.

Performing next on the main stage was Tartufi, of the best bands from San Fransico, CA. They have some of the coolest use of vocal loops and a great metal influence to boot.

We then went over to The Linen Building to see one of the best new acts of all weekend with Red Hands Black Feet. It was seriously one of the most fun shows of the entire weekend. They got the crowd into it in a big way.

After having my face rocked off we then ventured off to Neurolux to see Le Fleur. Another great Boise band that is similar to Finn Riggins.

After cutting Le Fleur a little short we jetted over to the Main Stage to see local Portland, OR band, Typhoon.

Typhoon opened up for the headliners Built To Spill on Saturday night.

Afterwards we caught Shades who had some of the chillest vibes, then Teens who had one of the craziest shows I've ever been to.

For the Teens show I somehow ended up on the stage and signing for half of a song, so I wasn't able to snap a whole lot of photos.

Treefort Music Festival

To whoever says that Boise, Idaho doesn't know how to party will be proven wrong with the inaugural Treefort Music Fest happening at the end of March. This is one of the most stacked lineups of unknown independent bands I have seen! The headliners for the music fest are Built To Spill, Why?, and Of Montreal. With supporting bands such as Blitzen Trapper, Delicate Steve, Typhoon, and Finn Riggins, and a 4-day pass costing only 79 dollars there's really no excuse not to see this festival. Below are some excellent examples of why everyone should come to Treefort.
Desert Noises have a great sound that reminds me of a certain band named Fleet Foxes. Really catchy drums and groovin' bass lines makes it more uptempo, yet still sounds like a crisp sunny morning. Make sure you check out their album Mountain Sea on the bandcamp site. Also check out the awesome single "Oak Tree" below.

Next band I want to share is Red Hands Black Feet, an instrumental band that have heavy influence from Modest Mouse, Russian Circles, and Minus The Bear. They build up each track so well to a sometimes overwhelming climax, your not sure what just happened until after the fact. Check out their stuff here.


Last one for tonight is Shades. Their debut album Clear Motions just dropped last month, and I assure you it is a must listen. They have a great electro-pop chill wave sound going on. Great beats and cool vocals fill this album so go and check it out on their soundcloud page here.

Top 50 Albums of the Year Part 3 of 5: Misc. Category

This miscellaneous category contains everything from hip-hop to instrument and contains all the year's best EPs. Once again this list is alphabetical according to artist.

Das Racist - Relax

Das Racist - Girl by flyergoodness

Delicate Steve - Wondervisions

Delicate Steve - Sugar Splash by MOORWORKS

Exitmusic - From Silence

Exitmusic — The Hours by DOJAGSC

Peaking Lights - 936

Amazing and Wonderful by Peaking Lights

People Get Ready - People Get Ready

People Get Ready: "Uncanny" by Brassland

Phantogram - Nightlife

Phantogram - Don't Move by vibetothis

Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

Shabazz Palaces - Swerve... by subpop

Starfawn - Starfawn

Dark Touch by Starfawn

Nothing Dead by Starfawn

Surfer Blood - Tarot Classics

Surfer Blood - I'm Not Ready by Chris Topher Dawe

Toro Y Moi - Freaking Out

Toro Y Moi - Saturday Love by Carpark Records

Typhoon - A New Kind Of House

Typhoon - The Honest Truth by tender-loving-empire

Tender Loving Empire

One of the best record labels based in Portland, Oregon is Tender Loving Empire. Some of the greatest Northwest indie bands are on this label. Something about all the bands is that feeling of classic American nostalgia. Almost like folk music, but you can hardly say that about Finn Riggins. They are more of a prog-rock trio with some steel drums in a couple of their tracks. Though they haven't come out with a full length album in two years, they just released a single "Some Are Knightz."
Now Jared Mees & The Grown Children are one of my new favorite bands. They just released their third album on the label called Only Good Thoughts Can Stay, which is a very appropriate title for this album. Another thing about all the bands from Tender Loving Empire is that they put on great live shows, and it seems like they are always putting on shows all over the Northwest.
Other great bands include; Typhoon, Boy Eats Drum Machine, Y La Bamba, Loch Lomond, Radiation City, and more!
You can also stream full albums from some of these bands for free here.