If, like us, September is way too far away for a Portland road trip, you’re in luck! That’s because PDX Pop Now!‘s 8th annual free festival is this weekend and with a super sized sample of Portland’s best bands, it’s totally worth the drive South.

Every year we’re introduced to great Portland bands we’d never hear about without PDX Pop Now!’s annual compilation CD. This year’s comp includes 41 tracks, including stand-outs from well known Portland artists Red Fang, Viva Voce, Drew Grow and Langhorne Slim, but more excitingly tracks from bands we can’t wait to hear more from like Lovers, Grouper, Guantanamo Baywatch, Bright Archer, Death Songs, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, the Angry Orts, Quiet Countries, the Minders and more. The perfect excuse, Block Party or not, to hear more of these artists is PDX’s Pop Now!’s free all-ages music festival, which includes many of the artists on the Comp and other notable Portland bands including Nurses, Kelli Schaefer, Radiation City, Loch Lomond and Wilamette Weekly’s Best New Band of 2011 And And And.

And did we mention it is FREE?

See the full schedule for yourself after the jump

PDX Pop Now! is FREE, all-ages and held at Refuge in Portland OR (116 SE Yamhill St.):

Friday, July 22

OUTSIDE 6:00: Jared Mees and the Grown Children 6:40: STLS 7:20: Blood Beach

INSIDE 8:05: Weinland 8:45: Onuinu 9:25: Lovers

OUTSIDE 10:10: The Minders 10:50: Golden Retriever 11:30: SLIMKID3 (of the Pharcyde) 12:10: And And And

SATURDAY, July 23

INSIDE 12:00: Ezza Rose 12:40: Yeah Great Fine

OUTSIDE 1:25: Archers 2:05: Palo Verde 2:45: Lost Lander

INSIDE 3:30: Karen 4:10: Loch Lomond 4:50: Wild Ones

OUTSIDE 5:35: Wizard Rifle 6:20: Living Proof 7:00: ExtrAlonE

INSIDE 7:45: Monarques 8:25: E*Rock 9:05: Blouse

OUTSIDE 9:50: Dusu Mali 10:30: Purple & Green

11:10: Purple Rhinestone Eagle 11:50: Nurses

SUNDAY, July 24

OUTSIDE 12:00: Water Tower Bucket Boys 12:40: Cloaks 1:20: Hausu

INSIDE 2:05: Port St. Willow 2:45: Rollerball 3:25: Nasalrod

OUTSIDE 4:10: Radiation City 4:50: Woolen Men 5:30: Diesto

INSIDE 6:15: Classical Revolution PDX 6:55: The Reservations 7:35: Holy Sons

OUTSIDE 8:20: Musee Mecanique 9:00: Kelli Schaefer 9:40: Brainstorm 10:20: Guidance Counselor