We're going to go out on a limb here: the Bumbershoot announcement was released yesterday, and seriously you guys, it might be one of the best festivals of the summer. Sasquatch! is always a party, and Pickathon will be a one-of-a-kind experience -- but the lineup for this year's Bumbershoot seriously knocked it out of the park. It's fresh, relevant, exciting, and we Can. Not. Wait. for Labor Day weekend to get here already!

The video above gives a great visual introduction to all of the artists this year, but in case you just can't wait for it to play through, pop on over here and check out the whole shebang. We are most excited about Death Cab for Cutie (!!) playing Transatlanticism in its entirety (SHUT UP), Heart (SERIOUSLY!), MGMT, Tegan and Sara, Allen Stone, Matt and Kim, The Breeders (!!!!!), !!! (!), Deerhunter, Charles Bradley (<3), Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, The Zombies, David Bazan, Mates of State, Superchunk (!!!), Diamond Rings, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, Ramona Falls, Matt Pond, The Grizzled Mighty, Kithkin, 15 Years of Barsuk Records (celebrating Barsuk's 15th anniversary) (<3 <3 <3!!), and more, more, more.

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"Let's get on 95 / and feel the fire."

Charles Bradley isn't just a performer, he's a force. He's an experience. He's a feeling in your guts that all will be right with the world if we just love each other and try hard enough, that we can simultaneously transcend our heartbreak and embrace those sharp corners of our hearts that shape us. And his latest single, "Strictly Reserved For You," manages to embody his one-of-a-kind essence in the most beautiful and complete of ways -- it's a fully legit track, whether for your next mixtape or your next party playlist, and leads me to believe that the new album (Victim of Love, out last month on Daptone) is going to do some serious damage on this year's best-of lists.

With that said, we've got to take a minute to talk about this gem of a video. It seriously creates a near-indescribable level of joy that translates the heartburst-y bliss of Charles as we know and love him, presented with a hip, beautiful, clean-but-not-sterile vision that almost feels like we're following him through a week of his life. We see the streets he walks every day, we see his coffeeshop moments, his dance moves and work days and park days: Charles In His Van, Charles On His Street, Charles In His Jacket, Charles On A Soundstage, Charles In The Grass. (And ugh, can someone please make a .gif out of Charles Being Birthed By A Hydrangea Bush?? SO GOOD.)

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Seattle is divided into two parts: those who know Charles Bradley (and The Menahan Street Band) and those who don't. If you know Charles Bradley + Co., you've already got tickets for their show at Neumos tonight, and you'll probably be there at doors to get a spot up front (after you've tuned in to the KEXP in-studio they're doing at 1pm, of course). You've bought the album and seen the movie.

And you were beside yourself at Bumbershoot and Sasquatch! these past two years at getting a chance to see them live.

And if you don't know Charles Bradley, well -- you're in luck. We're here to help you out. Here's his official video for "The World Is Going Up In Flames" off of last year's smash, No Time For Dreaming.

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Let's jump right in: I'm torn between starting this post with "this Lemolo album is seriously haunting me" and "Lemolo could totally beat up your favorite synth-y indie dream-core band" because they're both true. In the case of the former, I find myself humming harmonies absentmindedly at varying points in my days and nights, wondering what the song is -- and then realizing it's a track off of The Kaleidoscope; and the case of the latter, the lyrics are smarter and more gripping than anything I've heard in this genre before, and the emotion-pendulum they swing on is more vast.

Whichever way you slice it, The Kaleidoscope is a keeper. It'll be your new go-to for warming up, coming down, pondering, soundtracking, arriving, leaving, making out, and everything in-between. The album as a whole is intelligent and tight, meandering over to casually shred your face off in one moment and placing it's hands directly on your heartstrings the next. There's such a big-yet-right-in-the-next-room feeling that pervades from start to finish, and it would be easy to make comparisons like 'Beach House with a better edge!' or 'Phantogram with less dance party and more smart-kid!' but we'd be doing Lemolo an injustice by saying so. Instead, I'll fine-tune it a bit and say that this album holds up to the landscape of Washed Out's "Feel It All Around" {one of my favorite dream-jam tracks} and the brilliance of a portion of the Broken Social Scene catalog {"Sweetest Kill" and "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl come to mind}, while still standing apart with a tone and center all it's own.

Every single song has a piece in it somewhere that punches us square in the gut, in the very best of ways. "On Again, Off Again" is the big single from the album, and of course there's the "Open Air" video... it's great to finally hear tracks from shows put to waxdisc, like those two, "Who Loves" and "Whale Song" -- but "Move Me" is taking the proverbial cake at the moment. "Move Me" wraps the listener around the axle with the line that repeats I don't / want to / be away / from you / too long, and coincidentally enough, that's exactly how we feel about this album (and this band in general, PS).  I'd strongly encourage every single one of you reading this to be sure and catch Lemolo at Columbia City Theater this Friday and Saturday, but both shows are sold out. You'll just have to get yourself over to the Capitol Hill Block Party for a chance at taking in a live set.

While the Lemolo release and this next one have nothing to do with each other, they both hit my stratosphere in the same week, and so I've taken them in at the same time -- and as a result, there has definitely had a yin-and-yang effect taking place. When I'm all full-up on Lemolo's smart soundscape-y vibes, I shift my attention to my other favorite thing of the moment, the equally smart yet sonically-opposite Foreign Spells {the new Young Evils EP}. Foriegn Spells is short, to the point, and provides an excellent sampler-pack of songs that show the direction the band is headed in. While we've made no secret here in the imaginary office about how much we loves us some Enchanted Chapel, we're double-down excited about the new tunes that the Young Evils have seen fit to bestow us with, especially now that we've got "Darker Blue Bayou" in the flesh and can add it to the next mix we make. With the last release as evidence to compare and contrast against, the songs seem smarter, darker, fuller, and more concise -- the EP really shows the listener the difference between a bright idea and more of a fully-formed realization of what these stellar musicians are capable of. And while Foreign Spells is totally killer on the stereo, as is the case with many other bands, we think these lady-and-gents do their best work live -- so be sure to get yourself to the formal release party at Barboza next month, on July 13th.

There have been a handful of tracks that are making their way onto mixes of late, and a few doing repeat duty, so I thought it best to mention them as well if we're talking about what's been filling our imaginary ears and iPhones with happiness. Some are new-new, some are new-to-me, and some are just new in that they were buried at the bottom of the stack and recently found their way back up into heavy rotation.

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{This is part one of a three-part Sasquatch! 2012 photo recap. Be sure to check out part two here, and part three here!}

It was an incredible long weekend at the Gorge again this year for the 2012 installment of the Sasquatch! Music Festival, which took place this past Friday {5/25} through Monday {5/28} out in the lovely, dusty, sunny town of George, Washington. After sitting through what felt like endless traffic -- three and a half hours from the highway exit to the parking lot! -- we finally found ourselves traipsing around the grounds, poring over the schedule to see what we could still catch a glimpse of before the night wrapped up. Our hopes were high for day one, but we wound up missing Yellow Ostrich and Allen Stone because of the backup -- however, we did manage to catch a litte bit of Santigold, all of Girl Talk's bright-light-infused, toilet-paper-gun-shooting, ass-kicking party set, and a good portion of Explosions In The Sky as they tore up the crowd with their wall-of-sound instrumentals before we packed it in for the night.

Here's a few photos from day one, starting with our multi-hour traffic front- and rear-view:

Girl Talk! Gigantic, awesome, and seriously -- TOILET PAPER GUNS:

Explosions in the Sky:

We started out day two {Saturday} with high hopes for some good times, and our girl Sasquatch! did not disappoint. From start to finish, the sets were full of funk, soul, beats, lady-power, and righteousness. There's nothing quite like having a big serving of Pickwick for breakfast, and we were front and center at the big stage when they took to it at noon, dropping a seamless set to a rowdy, happy crowd. It only felt right to stay on the soul boat for Charles Bradley immediately after that, soaking in all of his modern-legend-ness. We took it all to heart, especially and extra-very-so when Charles sang those lines about "you" right out to the crowd, implying that it wasn't a love interest, but the very people who stood there bearing witness to his set. "Without you, there is no me!" he called out, and meant every ounce of it.

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In the throes of a killer party at the Neptune last night, we were thrilled beyond belief to find out the details on another most excellent year for the Sasquatch! music festival, taking place out at the Gorge on Memorial Day weekend {May 25-28}. Sasquatch! is by far one of our favorite fests every year, and 2012 is going to be no exception.

We're particularly excited about partying down with the likes of Jack White, Beck, Tenacious D, Beirut, Girl Talk {hell yes!}, The Head and the Heart, Tune-Yards, Wild Flag, Blind Pilot, Mark Lanegan Band, The Cave Singers, Grouplove, Ted Leo, Deer Tick, Alabama Shakes, We Are Augustines, Shearwater {!!!!!}, Charles Bradley, Pickwick, Hey Marseilles, Sallie Ford, Dyme Def, Fresh Espresso, and Katie Kate -- but by no means does that even scratch the surface of the seemingly-zillion fantastic bands included on this year's lineup. As usual, there's a thoughtful mash of notable locals and squee-worthy headliners, so much so that slapping down the ticket price to spend the long weekend with twenty-plus thousand of your closest friends is an absolute no-brainer.

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2011 was {is still!} a great year, not only for releases but also for live shows, festivals, and those grit-of-the-stage-under-your-fingertips kinds of moments that we have all come to love and live by: nights like The Head and the Heart blowing the roof off of Porterhouse in West Seattle, a few sweet Lovesick Empire sets, John Darnielle's solo show at UW, and some incredibly intimate events like David Bazan's performance at Barsuk Records and some killer in-studios at KEXP. And with that said, here's the start of {one of} our 2011 countdown, featuring our top moments and photos of the 2011 festival circuit:

Favorite photo #10: Andrew McKeag :: Whether he's taking a big stage with his regular band {The Presidents of the United States of America}, holding court as a Honky, or anything in-between, this man simply does his thing with an understated level of skill that most musicians can only hope to attain (and manages to look pretty damn good doing it, too). Pictured above as part of the Kasey Anderson and the Honkies set at this year's installment of Bumbershoot, Andrew made us pretty happy to have gotten to the 'fest in time for the early bands that day with this dead-on look into the lens. {more KA&tH shots from the 'shoot} {POTUSA official} {KA&tH}

Favorite moment #10: WATERS :: Maybe it was just that moment -- being New York City for a few days and suddenly realizing that the city has basically charmed your pants right off, and being totally okay with it -- in conjunction with some incredible live sets day after day after day,  but we really, really did very much dig the WATERS set that went on as part of KEXP's broadcast from the Ace Hotel for this year's CMJ. It was all those things you hope for from an indie rock band: big guitars, a cohesive sound, and an overwhelming sense of want-more! once the music stops playing, all wrapped up in a surprise as we hadn't seen or heard them enough previously to know what to expect -- get a taste of their glorious noise over at Stereogum, where a post this year offered a free download that's still up for the taking. {more photos of WATERS at CMJ 2011} {WATERS}

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Yup. There sure are a lot of exclamation points up in that headline, and with good cause: we're heading off for Austin City Limits this weekend, to catch some bands and some tan in the near-hundred-degree sun. Between pre-trip laundering, hydrating, charging our camera batteries and getting all that three-ounce-or-less business handled for the flight, we thought we'd take a minute to let you know about some of the acts we're particularly excited about this year -- especially since there seems to be a particularly strong PNW presence to be reckoned with every single day of the 'fest.

The start of the fest on Friday is kind of like easing in to that hot, soapy, not-too-dirty-yet festival bath. Hometown heroine Brandi Carlile will be getting things going early in the day, and we're hoping her sweet sounds will put us in the right kind of mood to slide over into Ray LaMontagne's late afternoon set -- they're both playing at the AMD stage starting around 2p. As the day darkens, we hope to get a little more gritty with the Cave Singers, and while Cold War Kids and Bright Eyes blow their sets out back-to-back {on the Honda and AMD stages respectively, for those of you following along in your custom-made schedules at home}, we might have to weasel our way forward to get a bigger-than-Bumbershoot-sized helping of Charles Bradley as he closes out the Vista Equity stage just before forever-legend Mavis Staples. As to whether we end day one with Kanye West or Coldplay -- my vote's on Kanye. But seeing as the fest is all sold out except for a few Sunday passes, we might not be able to make it close enough for a photo report. Fingers crossed!

Pending crowd surges (and weather permitting), we hope to also make time to get a little Delta Spirit, Smith Westerns, Kurt Vile, and Santigold into our schedules too!

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Another beautiful Labor Day weekend has passed, and with it came three days spent at our annual Seattle Center-ed music and arts festival, Bumbershoot. While we didn't catch every single act on our dance cards, we managed to get ourselves in front of the stages of a lot of long-standing and new-style favorites: bands like Lemolo, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, and Pickwick, just to name a few. Between the bands, sunshine, the yummy eats, and KEXP's gorgeous semi-secret music lounge -- it was a weekend to be reckoned with!

Here's a few bright spots from the weekend...

Kasey Anderson & the Honkies:

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