The Lonely Forest (5:40 at Yeti Stage) ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Here’s your annual glance at the schedule I’ll be trying to keep at this year’s Sasquatch.

Saturday May 29th

Hit the road early on Saturday because one of Sasquatch’s most unmissable sets is the first of the fest.

12:05 - Shabazz Palaces - Main Stage
1:55 - Mumford & Sons - Wookie
2:25 - Nurses - Yeti
3:00 - Portugal, the Man -  Wookie
3:30 - Tad -  Main Stage
4:05 - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros -  Wookie
4:30 - Aziz Ansari -  Rumpus Room
5:10 - The Posies -  Wookie
5:40 - The Lonely Forest -  Yeti
6:20 - Miike Snow -  Wookie
7:00 - The National -  Main Stage
7:30 - The Hold Steady -  Wookie

If you’re beat or want to save energy for the rest of the weekend, head to the campground or hotel after the Hold Steady. If not, stick around for the following big name acts who all put on solid live sets.

8:30 - Vampire Weekend - Main Stage
9:00 - Nada Surf -  Wookie
10:00 - My Morning Jacket -  Main Stage

The Local Natives (1:30 at Wookie Stage) ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Sunday May 30th

12:00 - Dinosaur Feathers -  Yeti
* Great Second Option: Caribou - Mainstage
12:30 - Langhorne Slim - Wookie
1:30 - Local Natives - Wookie
2:15 - The Long Winters - Main Stage (for a few songs, hopefully new & old before heading off to …)
2:35 - The Tallest Man on Earth - Wookie
3:20 - They Might Be Giants - Main Stage
4:15 - Avi Buffalo - Yeti
5:20 - Freelance Whales -  Yeti
5:50 - The xx - Wookie
6:25 - Vetiver - Yeti
7:00 - Girls - Wookie
7:30 - Fruit Bats - Yeti
8:15 - Dirty Projectors - Wookie (and hope they play “Stillness is the Move” 1st because…)
8:30 - Pavement -  Main Stage
9:45 - Public Enemy -  Wookie

Japandroids (5:10 at Wookie Stage) ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Monday May 31st

12:55 - Mayer Hawthorne -  Main Stage
* Great Second Option: Past Lives - Yeti
2:00 - Phantogram - Yeti
2:20 - Seattle Rock Orchestra - Wookie
3:00 - Fresh Espresso - Yeti
* Great Second Option: Drive By Truckers - Main Stage
3:25 - Quasi - Wookie
4:05 - Telekinesis - Yeti
4:30 - Dr. Dog - Wookie
5:10 - Japandroids - Yeti
5:40 - The Mountain Goats - Wookie
6:15 - No Age - Yeti
6:50 - Camera Obscura - Wookie
8:05 - MGMT - Main Stage
8:20 - The New Pornographers - Wookie

And while there are other acts after that … most of us have to go to work back on the Western side of Washington (or further) the next morning, so I say, see you later Sasquatch and drive home safe!

 
John Darnielle is a writer and storyteller without compare. He’s prolific, having been making tapes since the early 90’s, and among his favorite topics are metal, dysfunctional families, and growing up. He performs his songs with such attention to mood and delivery that sometimes I wonder if he’s more of a poet than a musician. Poetry has never really been my thing, but I think the Mountain Goats and their latest album The Life of the World to Come may be starting to change my mind on that one.

To one lucky winner, courtesy of Wake Up Productions, we’re offering a pair of tickets to this Tuesday November 10th’s Mountain Goats show at the Showbox at the Market, where they’ll also be joined by Final Fantasy. The first one to drop a comment in this post with your real email address (which remains hidden), will win. That easy. If you’re a new commenter, it’ll be held for moderation, but the timestamp will mark you the winner if you are first. I’ll be declaring a winner as soon as I see that winning comment.

Should you want to assure your spot at the show otherwise, you can snag early tickets via the Showbox’s Ticketmaster page.

I was hoping to make it down to this festival, but having committed to SXSW I’m not going to be able to. The announcement of the final line up makes missing The 16th San Francisco Noise Pop Festival, an even more bitter pill to swallow. In addition to the headliner previously announced (Mountain Goats, Cursive, Magnetic Fields) the festival will also feature: M. Ward / Zooey Deschanel, White Denim,  The Rosebuds, Blitzen Trapper, Fleet Foxes, Quasi, Fuck, The Walkmen, Broken West, The Dodos,  Throw Me The Statue, Grand Archives, The Builders and The Butchers, Stellastarr, Birdmonster, Human Giant, Film School, Helio Sequence,  Mstrkrft, Working for a Nuclear Free City, Great Northern, What Made Miluakee Famous, & Tilly and the Wall.

What a line up! It’s espescially exciting to see local bands like Fleet Foxes, The Builders and The Butchers (PDX), Grand Archives, and Throw Me the Statues on the line ups. The festival runs from February 26th - March 2nd at various venues around San Francisco.

Few things in the world excite me more than Mountain Goats news. (this is pathetically, very true.) So my first peek at a new album cover, would have been the best news of any average day. Check out the ominous cover:

I can’t wait!!

But that was just icing on the cake. The oft whispered about John Darnielle penned chapter of the 33 1/3 series has an official release date, April 15th. The topic? Black Sabbath’s - Master of Reality. Darnielle + Sabbath + short novel = major geek out.

thanks Pitchfork for making my day!

What’s better than a tuesday being your Thursday? An official release date for the new Mountain Goats album! Basically, news about forthcoming Mountain Goats material, will always make my day and this news is certainly no different.

From Pitchfork, I learn that John Darnielle’s latest release, Heretic Pride, will be out on February 19th. According to Darnielle, they’d love to release the album tomorrow but,

“We are really excited about this album, and we wish it were out right now, but there is a law against releasing albums in December unless you are Queen. Any album you see released in December is actually by Queen, no matter what it says on the cover. Then in January everybody is recovering from having listened to too much Queen. Hence, February. See you then!”

I have no doubt it will be worth the wait, so I’m going to pleasantly bide my time till February 19th.

No really. What could be more perfect than a Mountain Goat and a wombat?

Tip of the Hat to Brooklyn Vegan for the amazing photo

This month’s list is shorter than usual, because I spent much of December re-listening to the Best of 2006 to prepare my year end lists.

Sister Winter- Sufjan Stevens *

Xmas Cake - Rilo Kiley *

Every single Track of Oh These Troubled Times - The Sea Navy (fantastic! clever! catchy! unsigned?!?!)

The Only Living Boy in New York- The Long Winters (Paul Simon cover) - Live at KEXP from 2003

Wild Sweet Orange - liked everything I’ve heard 

Orinda- The Antiques (who’s entire album Nicknames and Natives is solid)

All of The Time- Locksley (ahhhh! they cloned the beatles!)

Intervention - Arcade Fire (from the forthcoming Neon Bible)

 Elvis Perkins live from the Living Room in NYC- circa 2002 (featuring early versions of what would become Ash Wednesday)

Underwater (You & Me) - Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah (from their forthcoming album)

Sway - Voxtrot

Power Doesn’t Run on Nothing- The Thermals

all of Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case (seems to get even better with each listen)

The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton - Mountain Goats

Menomena’s Friend and Foe Album (it’s gonna be big in ‘07)

* the only Christmas songs I can stomach… and they’re so gorgeous they get all year play.

Since I don’t have my act together yet on the Protest Songs of 2006 yet, here are Abbey and my lists for Northwest shows of the year. Unsuprisingly we share a few of the same this year. Checkout the “No Children” video from the concert we went to for a crowd sing-along.

Abbey’s List

1.Elvis Perkins - The Tractor Tavern - November 16, 2006 (With Pernice Brothers) Watch : While You Were Sleeping (Live) (YouTube)

2. The Mountain Goats - Neumos - June 9, 2006 (With Barbara Morgenstern and Kimya Dawson)Watch: No Children - June 9, 2006 (YouTube)

 3. Ghostland Observatory - The Crocodile Cafe - October 19, 2006 (Early Show with the Coconut Coolouts)

4. Dr. Dog, Elvis Perkins, and The Cold War Kids - The Crocodile Cafe - September 12, 2006

 5. (tie) Cursive, The Thermals - Neumos - October 20, 2006 (With Chin Up Chin Up) and The Figurines, Speaker Speaker - The Crocodile Cafe - Halloween 2006

Damn! You Just Barely Missed The List:
Thee Emergency, Devotchka, Ghostland Observatory, and The Long Winters - KEXP BBQ at a random field in “South Lake Union”

The National - Neumos - October 6, 2006 

And if I wasn’t so Drunk… I bet You Would’ve Made My List:
Built To Spill- Showbox - You opened with a searing version of “Car”… and that’s about all I remember.

Josh’s List (I am limiting my list items to a single act, not an entire bill.)

1. The Constantines - Sasquatch 2006
At the Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge in May, the Constantines put on the show of their life. Play a song here. Band your head there. Suddenly solid, paintball size hail began to fall. Fans who had formerly been lounging on grassy knoll in just barely 60 degree weather were scattered, to take cover in the beer garden if you were of age, or to dive under a picnic table if you weren’t, at least to wait out the maelstrom for a few minutes. Unfortunately the hail didn’t stop. 10 minutes passed and the Neko Case show at the mainstage never started. The band didn’t flag for a second, hanging from the rafters of the stage and playing just as fast as normal, turning what could have otherwise been wet towel into the most memorable concert moment of the year. After attempting to pack our selves into the already sopping and overcrowded covered beer garded we decided to go with the flow and join the insane superfan mob in front of the stage. By this time the downright painful hail had driven all but a few brave souls under cover. Those remaining few were dancing hard, among large elecrified cables, surrounded by inches of hail (turning to slush) building up on the grass. After twenty minutes the band decided to call it, but not before making a number of new fans in the form of some festival fans. We were drenched and shivering and glad we weren’t electrocuted, but we didn’t care because this show was instantly historic in our minds.
Watch: Constantines at Sasquatch in a Hail Storm (YouTube)

2. Elvis Perkins - The Tractor Tavern - November 16, 2006 (With Pernice Brothers)

3. Cold War Kids - The Crocodile Cafe - September 12, 2006 (With Elvis Perkins and Dr. Dog)

4. The Mountain Goats - Neumos - June 9, 2006 (With Barbara Morgenstern and Kimya Dawson)

5. Death Cab For Cutie - Key Arena - December 9, 2006 (With Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists)

The Decemberists are ”on notice” for their collaboration with MTV to have some fans create a video for them using some prerecorded footage of the band members on top of a green screen. Colbert has provided green screen footage of himself and wants the fans to insert him into the video along with the Decemeberists.

John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats does an interview with Spinner over at AOL and also does a number of songs. John Roderick also does a hilarious interview with the DL over at AOL.

Neko Case implores the male youngsters to stop wearing the pencil pants. To funny to pass up.

Pitchfork has the full news about the dates. In short Darnielle and friends will be playing twice in Seattle in March: March 2 at Neumos and March 3 at Triple Door. I would sacrifice my left nut to get a ticket for the Triple Door show. Hopefully it won’t come to that though.

In other Mountain Goats news Stylus has a “Seconds” feature about an epiphany moment that one writer had while listening to a Mountain Goats album.