The Hunting Grounds

This past Memorial Day weekend was the 11th annual Sasquatch! Music Festival. It's hard to put into words the experience of Sasquatch! for those who have not gone before. The Gorge Amphitheater is the best outdoor venue anywhere, it's every adjective you can use all at once. There are thousands and thousands of people all looking out for each other. The party doesn't stop unless you want to go to sleep. And of course the music is always top notch. So let me go over some highlights for you all.
Friday was sitting in line to get into the venue, then Starfucker was killing it at the huge Banana Shack now equipped with lasers and lights. After Starfucker we went to the Sasquatch stage to see some Girl Talk to kill some time before getting wrecked at Explosions In The Sky. Explosions was one of my favorite acts all weekend, people were throwing glow sticks for them and just generally rocking out.

Starfucker

Explosions In The Sky

Saturday we caught Reptar, who put on a great show followed by Starfucker again since I Break Horses couldn't make it. Alabama Shakes had a fantastic show as well. Purity Ring and Dum Dum Girls were my favorite shows on Saturday though Kurt Vile had a great show too. We also caught The Helio Sequence (really good live) and Tune-Yards before heading over to see the headliners, The Shins and Jack White.

Above: Reptar Below: Sol on the new "Maine" Stage

Dum Dum Girls

Helio Sequence

Purity Ring

Sunday came and we went in early to catch Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. who put on a great show playing all their good songs and a couple of new ones. After DEJrJr we saw Hospitality who were a new act for me, they played really well and have a cute rock 'n' roll sound. Then it was on to folk quintuple Trampled By Turtles and Here We Go Magic. Trampled By Turtles had a great set while Here We Go Magic had a much weirder sound than I thought they would. We caught the end of Blind Pilot which was awesome followed by The War On Drugs who were amazing! Then after a brief refueling at the campsite we proceeded back to the music for the night with Wild Flag, Star Slinger, The Head & Heart, The Walkmen, Beirut, Little Dragon, and Bon Iver. Little Dragon was really strange but the rest of the shows were absolutely beautiful.

(Above)Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (Below) Hospitality

Trampled By Turtles (Below)

Wild Flag

(Above)The Walkmen (Below) Beirut

Monday was finally upon us before we knew it. Feeling run down before the music began made me feel old so I decided to try and stay cool and take it easy. But it's hard to take it easy when Gary Clark Jr., Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and Joy Formidable rock so hard that the lead singer for Joy Formidable kicks a monitor off the stage. Though I had been standing in the shade all day I still felt really sunburned, but I trooped on catching Feist, Shabazz Palaces, and The Cave Singers. All of them had a fantastic show. We left during the end of Cave Singers to go catch Siversun Pickups, Tenacious D, and Beck. Though Mogwai couldn't make it we did end up catching a little bit of Nero on the way out. Tenacious D was probably my favorite show the entire weekend, though all performances have their own unique aspect. The D put on a rock opera, playing out their songs in a theatrical matter. At one point Sasquatch came out, killed the guitar player, picked up the guitar then proceeded to shred, making everyone in the audience go crazy. "Um... did Sasquatch just kill our guitar player?" asks Kyle Gas, then the guitar player gets possessed by Satan and challenges Jack and Kyle to a guitar duel. Quite an amazing performance from them. And oh yeah, they had a giant Phoulix a.k.a Penix on stage as well. After seeing that show rock is not dead.

(Above)Joy Formidable (Below) The Cave Singers

Tenacious D

Top 50 Albums of the Year Part 1 of 5: Pop

So another year is coming to an end, and that means best music lists will be popping up everywhere including Killing Sasquatch. I'm going to do it a little differently. I'll have 4 categories of great music then a top 15 list at the end.

So to start it off is the world renown genre of pop. Pop music is music that everyone can enjoy, no matter where you are from. It always has a catchy beat with lyrics and themes that embodies people's emotions. I feel like these albums have not only embraced those ideas, but pushed popular music into a great direction. This list is alphabetical order.

Alexander - Alexander

Alexander - Awake My Body by tosbagasırtı

The Antlers - Burst Apart

The Antlers - I Don't Want Love by Transgressive Records

Atlas Sound - Parallax

Atlas Sound - Terra Incognita by stopshakehoneygo

Big Troubles - Romantic Comedy

Big Troubles - Misery by Slumberland Records

Cults - Cults

Cults - Go Outside by underhisempire2

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - It's A Corporate World

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - Morning Thought by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues by subpop

Gauntlet Hair - Gauntlet Hair

Gauntlet Hair - Top Bunk by felixnicklas

Hooray For Earth - True Loves

Hooray for Earth - True Loves by memphisindustries

Jared Mees & The Grown Children - Only Good Thoughts Can Stay

Hungry Like A Tiger by Jared Mees And TGC

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

M83 - Wait by Reike

Portugal. The Man - In the Mountain In the Cloud

Portugal. The Man- So American by MMMusic

Starfucker - Reptilians

Bury Us Alive by starfucker_usa

Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation

Cannons by Youth Lagoon

Mothers of Gut Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

I came across Mothers of Gut while looking at the Family Times Records website. I listened to the track that was on there, "The Summer Century," and was instantly taken away by this band. The best way to explain them is a kind of psychedelic dream synth-pop groovy-ness. Check out their album on bandcamp and find out for yourself. (I recommend listening to this album with some good headphones)

After much deliberation (not that much), I decided to pick up the new debut Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. album, It's A Corporate World. It's really good. They are a mix of The Shins, The Radio Dept., and Ra Ra Riot. So they have that awesome indie guitar sound with a cool chill beat and cool use of vocals. Well you should check out the video, then check out more of their music here.

The Weekly Review of the Week

Now in the future I will post new releases every Tuesday, but since I just started today I will start with the hot new releases this week.
Cults debut album has finally dropped this week after a great single release last year. The self titled album sounds fantastic. It has a sort of dream-pop feel to it. The tracks that stand out most is "Go Outside" and "Oh My God." Overall the album sounds like a throwback to 50s pop with a new polished sound to it. Think Beach House meets Best Coast. And if you don't know either of those two bands then you should definitely check them out.
Another great album that came out this week is True Loves by Hooray for Earth. A really cool electro-pop sound that reminds me slightly of Yeasayer. Check out the cool video for the title track "True Loves."
Besides those two great albums Black Lips, Battles, Ida Maria, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. also came out with new releases this week.

The Artist of the Week for me goes to Oberhofer. I have just been listening to his music on repeat all week long, and though he's been around for a year or so I have just recently discovered him. I would put him in the realm of chill-wave, so if you're a fan of Neon Indian or Washed Out, give him a listen.