mfnw announces 2012 festival lineup : girl talk, passion pit, beirut...

If you just returned from Sasquatch, you may have caught a few of the 2012 MFNW headliners at the Gorge. That and you may not be ready for another festival already.

Don't fret, the 12th annual edition of MusicFestNW doesn't start till September 5th. And it'll run until September 9th in venues across town. Plus, it's heavy on the hometown acts.

There's no full schedule yet but we do know that the three nights of music in Pioneer Courthouse Square include Beirut (Friday, September 7th), Girl Talk (Saturday, September 8th), and Silversun Pickups (Sunday, September 9th)—for your Sassy reprise. And Passion Pit kicks off the fest at the Crystal on Wednesday, September 5th plus plays a second show on Thursday, September 6th.

Other artists with dates attached include Old 97's performing Too Far To Care in its entirety at the Roseland and Trampled By Turtles at the Aladdin on Thursday, September 6th. Friday, September 7th brings The Helio Sequence to the Crystal, Yelawolf to the Roseland, and Trampled By Turtles (again) at the Aladdin. And Saturday, September 8th is Typhoon at the Aladdin, Dinosaur Jr. at the Roseland, and The Tallest Man on Earth at the Crystal. Advance tickets for all of the above can be found on Cascade Tickets.

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Read the rest and get the full lineup on OMN.

day three : hard to say goodbye to such a solid sasquatch

“Nothing gets me out to Sasquatch at noon,” said a concertgoer after witnessing the soulful, bluesy grit of UK rockers The Heavy who kicked off the final day of Sasquatch on the main stage. It’s an endeavor to stay inside the The Gorge Amphitheatre for 10 to 12 hours of music, and often festival goers neglect a few early acts for a later start. But numerous fans continued to gush praise for The Heavy, remarking that the quartet, plus guest brass, should have replaced Pavement on the Sunday night bill.

MCing a solid mix of tracks from their debut as well as their most recent release, The House That Dirt Built, The Heavy’s lead singer Kelvin Swaby told the crowd, “I think we need to make some more noise,” as they mixed reggae with souled out horns in a blend of anthemic blues rock. The crowd that was filtering in and filling the pit was treated to blazing energy and immediately threw up arms and swung hips to “Sixteen” and “No Time.”

Guitarist Dan Taylor and bassist Spencer Page were impressed not only by the “outrageous setting” but also the response, especially from all American audiences, saying that they prefer playing the USA to Europe. “The American crowd is not reserved about enjoying themselves.” Always letting loose, they did so in a riotous manner as The Heavy closed the first set of the last day with “How Do You Like Me Now?”

Posting up on the side stage was the thin-mohawked Kelvin Swaby to witness an utterly different breed of soul-inspired grooves. Yellow tambourine in hand, a carefree Mayer Hawthorne brought his timeless, white boy Motown to the main stage. Bopping and clapping on sugary tunes like “Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin,” the sun peaked out to shine on his sunny soul music. The audience screamed when asked and smiled at his cheesy, endearing interludes. From the jazz club to the open air, Mayer Hawthorne and The County soaked up the adoration with funky basslines and a few bars of Snoop Dogg’s “Gangsta Luv,” a track which Mayer Hawthorne remixed for the Top Dogg.

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Read about sets from Neon Indian, She & Him, MGMT, Passion Pit, and more on OMN.

q/a : mayer mawthorne learns how to sing new soul

Andrew Mayer Cohen grew up on Hawthorne Road in Ann Arbor, Michigan, just outside of The D. Listening to “the best music ever made” while riding around in his pop’s car, Motown soul and Detroit jazz became the samples for his favorite hip-hop tracks.

A singer, songwriter, producer, rapper, disc jockey, audio engineer, multi-instrumentalist and more, Mayer Hawthorne is “just trying to make music that’s timeless.” Lately, that’s been a fortunate calamity of ’60s Motown-style soul, an act that’s touring around the States as Mayer Hawthorne and The County.

Mayer is also one-third of the electro-soul-hip-hop group Now On (where his nom de guerre is Haircut), and recently, he’s been caught kicking it with Snoop Dogg.

Next up, Mr. Hawthorne comes to Eugene and Portland opening for the indie-electro (and also falsetto singing) Passion Pit...

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Read the rest on OMN.

hey champ, download me

For months I've told everyone but my blog to download the Hey Champ Remix-Tape--featuring one of 2009's best remixes, Passion Pit's "Little Secrets (Hey Champ Remix)," as well as The Sounds, a little re-vanitized Carly Simon, and The Cool Kids.

What are you waiting for?

hockey vs passion pit : dance battle at the crystal on monday

http://tinyurl.com/yzfxsjh

crystal ballroom announces december shows with metric, passion pit, hockey, vampire weekend, spoon, and more

http://tinyurl.com/yehvyvl