If the cornucopia of choices Bumbershoot gives you doesn’t satiate your taste for live music or if you just want to keep the party going longer, there are a couple recommended kick-off and after parties happening around Seattle.

Fellow local blogger and friend Travis Hay is hosting two official Bumbershoot parties. First up is a kick off show Friday night with a bevy of local talent, where with a five dollar raffle ticket you can enter to win a pair of tickets for each day of Bumbershoot, a Sub Pop Records prize pack, a EMP/SFM prize package and a pair of tickets to Bumbershoot for Sept. 5 that give the winner side stage access to the main stage to watch Rise Against, Hole and Weezer. Hell, I’m going to buy a ticket to see if I can watch Courtney Love from the side stage.

On Sunday Travis plays host again to two big name touring bands: Surfer Blood and Dead Confederate. (Plus another Athens’ SOTS favorite: Futurebirds.)

Drop your full name in the comments below and you’ll be eligible to win a guest list spot to Sunday’s after party courtesy of Hard Rock Cafe, Travis Hay and Sound on the Sound. We’ll choose a winner on Thursday at 12pm.

Saturday night the after party is at The Crocodile with a Bumbershoot artist taking the stage for the second time that day. In the name of community courtesy, we’re not going to come out and say who it is, but we did do the research for you.

Here are the specifics on all three nights of Bumbershoot parties:

Friday September 3rd

The High Dive - The FunOfficial Bumbershoot Kick Off Party with Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, Thee Emergency, Curtains for You, and Sol - $10

Saturday September 4th

The Crocodile - A Warp Records Recording Artist and Fresh Espresso - $17

We did the internet research for you … there is only one Warp Records artist playing Bumbershoot.

Sunday September 5th

Hard Rock Cafe - Official Bumbershoot After Party with Dead Confederate, Surfer Blood and Future Birds - 10 adv/15$ night of show

Baltic Cousins

Black Eyes & Neckties are dead. Long live the new bands that their death has born! It’s hard to see any positives when one of your favorite bands stops playing. However, when the death of a beloved band spawns brand new bands as great as Dog Shredder and Baltic Cousins, it’s impossible to stay upset.

We’ve already told you all about Dog Shredder, Josh (Homicide) Holland’s post-Black Eyes & Neckties band, but today I’d like to introduce you to Baltic Cousins. The post-BENT brainchild of Bradley (Horror) Lockhart, who was the front man of Bellingham’s bloodied and blackened horror heroes.

Baltic Cousins finds Brad far away from the theatrics of Black Eyes & Neckties and exploring the intersections of punk, folk, and Americana. With hints of early Modest Mouse, The Shackeltons and a Springsteen-ian attention and affection for the blue collar aspects of life and rock’n'roll,this is angry Americana … and I can’t get enough of it.

You can already stream “Fara,” which is our featured song of the week … but I wanted to share another favorite “How I Look” with you.

Baltic Cousins play their first Seattle show tomorrow (Sunday April 4th) at the VERA Project, opening for Surfer Blood. They’ll be joined by Sound on the Sound favorites What What Now and former Daily Choice Turbo Fruits. It’s a bill you won’t want to miss a single band of, so get their early.

Atlas Sound readies the crowd for “FOLK JAMS!” ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

As Atlas Sound’s Bradford Cox arrived to the Croc via Taxi just before showtime and shuffled through via Tribunali with bags full of pedals, we realized he was probably coming from weather-wracked Atlanta. Cox remarked from the stage that indeed his journey was “interesting” and lasted 14 hours, though it didn’t seem to dampen his spirits one bit. If anything the situation made Cox talkative and far more comfortable being the sole person on stage as a sole performer than I could have imagined for a guy who usually filter’s himself through layers of pedals. By the end of the night, we’d been asked to imagine the Croc as Cox’s bedroom, “a safe place” to share “folk jams” among friends. Cox’s humor made for a highly memorable first live Atlas Sound experience, and even missing his “poltergeisty” voice appliance cuts like “Walkabout” and “Criminals” turned out incredibly good live.

Fresh Espresso tried to get things going early, but with a restless crowd who would rather talk than participate, the usually strong interactive elements of the set came off flat. They were the only of the three acts appearing this night to also appear on the Sasquatch line-up, and I think their style will go over a bit better in that setting. And though their record Astrocoast is a great record, headliner Surfer Blood may be suffering a bit from over-hype, being asked to headline before they’re completely ready for that expectation. I’ll be ready to hear these gents again in 6 months, once they’ve doing it every day for a while and they are as tight as can be.

Following the second band, threaded together crowd-sourced video’s created for the “I am Sasquatch” campaign revealed revealed the big names on the line up to the delighted squeals and cheers of hipsters surrounding me. Vampire Weekend and LCD Soundsystem were the big winners on that count, with Massive Attack being the big silent “Wha?” For us of course the small names and locals who didn’t get mentioned were the highlights of the full list: Nurses, The Local Natives, Shabazz Palaces, The Lonely Forest.

Adam Zacks, you’ve done it again. I mean where else can you see Ween and Public Enemy on the same stage?

Fresh Espresso ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Fresh Espresso ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Atlas Sound ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Surfer Blood ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Surfer Blood ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Flickr: The Sasquatch Launch Party at the Crocodile with Surfer Blood, Atlas Sound, and Fresh Espresso

Surfer Blood at Chop Suey ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Want to get an early line on those sure to be in high-damand ticket’s for Monday’s free Crocodile show that aren’t even available yet? Here’s how:

Esurance is currently running a ticket giveaway via Facebook. All people have to do is tell us what their favorite song would be if they were Sasquatch, himself. Our favorite three answers will win a pair of tickets to the Launch Party on 2/15. Winners will be announced tomorrow morning at 9am. All the details can be found at www.facebook.com/esurance.

Sasquatch is doing something a little different for the 2010 festival. They’ll be announcing the festival’s eagerly anticipated line-up at a free live show next Monday (February 15th) at the Crocodile. The evening will feature three bands we’d be thrilled to see at Sasquatch itself: the summer sounds of Surfer Blood, the epic experimentation of Bradford Cox as Atlas Sound, and Seattle’s favorite party soundtrack, Fresh Espresso.

It’s a line up that would sell out if The Crocodile was charging $20 a pop, so you better believe it will be a packed show with that oh-so-enticing free price tag. Here’s how you can guarantee you’ll not only see three great bands, but you’ll be the first on the block to hear who’ll be serenading you over Memorial Day Weekend.

Free tickets are available courtesy of Esurance by listening to 107.7 The End all week to win, or by stopping by either Easy Street Records locations starting Friday, February 12^th at 9:00 a.m. (limit 2 per person).

Japandroids at Capitol Hill Block Party 2009 ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Editors Note: It’s hard to believe, it’s already time for us to start recapping 2009…but here we go. Every day of December we’ll share with you one of our favorite photos we’ve taken in the past year. Hope you enjoy!

Japandroids are headlining the Chop Suey tonight, and we couldn’t be more excited to take the opportunity to channel our inner teenager. They put on one of the more engaging sets of this year’s Block Party, for me just behind the indefatigable performance by the Beth Ditto-led Gossip, pushing curfew to play their effusive hit “Young Heart Sparks Fire” followed by a ten minute jam. Had they been slated for midday instead of the last set of the weekend on the small stage, I think we’d have had another Starfucker situation on our hands. I fully expect one to break out tonight. We’ll be there, trying not to be a square

Surfer Blood ::: Photo by Ian Witlen

We jealously watched from afar as fellow music writers and blogger tweeted their way through this year’s CMJ in NYC, and one new name kept coming up: Surfer Blood (@SurferBlood). With an album due out in January and a bundle of those good words to send them on their way, this Florida five piece is currently trying to avoid the fate of other notable (but nameless) web-built sensations who proved to be not quite ready for prime time just yet. Being tour buddies with Japandroids along with a killer first single is, I’d say, a pretty good start:

MP3: “Swim” by Surfer Blood from Astro Coast (out Jan 2010) courtesy of the Orchard

Today, Tuesday December 1st at Chop Suey, Surfer Blood will be opening for Japandroids, with Portland’s World’s Greatest Ghosts also in support. Tickets are $10 in advance.