Each Tuesday stop by Muzzle of Bees for our recommended purchases for the week. There are no records for the release date of May 29th that are of particular interest to us, therefore we suggest you check out some of our previous recommendations:

Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #12
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #11
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #10
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #9
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #8
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #7
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #6
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #5
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #4
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #3
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #2
Tuesday’s Gold: What We Recommend #1

Download: eMusic
Buy: Strictly Discs

Here are the Wisconsin shows we recommend you take in this week. Check them out below and let us know which ones you’ll be attending or ones you think should really make our list.

6/1 – Beach House/Clientele – High Noon Saloon, Madison
6/2 – The Rosebuds – House of Rock, Eau Claire

+Remember to bookmark our shows page for all your Wisconsin concert announcements+

Following The Blow, I caught the first half of Viva Voce. Their Get Yr Blood Sucked Out has been getting great reviews. Viva Voce is Anita and Kevin Robinson, also hailing from Portland. They make hard, fuzzed out rock. Kevin is on drums and provides backing vocals. Anita’s lead vocals are calm and quiet, in contrast to the heavy chords of her electric guitar. They seemed to be finding their feet, a little unsettled, so I left to catch Neko Case’s full set.

Neko Case is still touring in front of her 2006 Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Here, you can read Ryan’s review of her Madison show in April. Her Sasquatch set was, of course, much shorter and relied much more heavily on her extensive back catalog. She played a great version of “The Tigers Have Spoken.” Her big, bold voice filled the Gorge, the country elements mixed perfectly with the view, which has a distinctive southwest desert feel.

Myspace: Viva Voce
Myspace: Neko Case

We arrived, set up our tent, and rushed to make it down to the festival area. We were caught in the (inevitable) festival line to get into the venue itself. Finally, we made it past the ticket takers, lugging our bag stuffed with sunscreen, hoodies, sandwiches, a blanket and everything else we would need for a twelve hour day of music.

We ran and caught most of The Blow‘s set on the smaller of the two side stages. The first artist ended up being the biggest surprise of the festival.

The Blow started as a solo project of Khaela Maricich, and became a duo w/ Jona Bechtolt (also known as YACHT) for the 2006 release Paper Television. Khaela was on stage giving the vocals. I couldn’t see Jona, but assume he was in the back laying down the blips, beats and tunes that make up the rest of The Blow’s music.

When I listen to Paper Television, or The Blow’s earlier release, Poor Aim: Love Songs, I like the music, but I’m not knocked down. With Khaela on stage, it was a whole different experience. Between songs, she was relaxed, chatting with the crowd. She would tell a little story like:

(rough paraphrase) “I was thinking that it is so hard to find songs that addressed sexism and the gross inequity in pay between men and women. And why doesn’t someone write about it? After all, women have such inherent worth, it’s like women are just sitting on a pile of gold.” Then she would half speak, half sing into the opening track off Paper Television – “Pile of Gold.”

During songs, she was all over the stage, full of energy, jerky dancing. She explained that she has only written one real love song and played the crowd favorite, “Parantheses.”

The crowd was larger than I expected. Everyone knew every word. With her energy, stage presence and the great beats, I’m confident that if her show had happened later in the day, it would have turned into a fierce dance party. Instead, her early time slot meant that everyone was just settling into the festival feel, still a little awkward and unsure.

She closed with “True Affection.” The crowd was definitely hoping for a few more songs, but the strict festival time schedule rules all. So she wrapped up singing “Just because it’s real doesn’t mean it’s gonna work… You were out of my league, at a distance that I didn’t want to see. I wanted you nearer,” and waving goodbye.

Myspace: The Blow

(travis)

Before diving into a discussion of the music at the Sasquatch Music Festival, I should give a brief introduction.

The specifics:
Sasquatch Music Festival
May 26-27, 2007
The Gorge Amphitheatre on the Columbia River outside of George, Washington.

The interpretation:
The venue is in Grant County, Washington, which produces more potatoes than any other county in the nation (take that, Idaho). It’s in the middle of sparsely populated Central Washington, three hours from Seattle, three hours from Spokane, five hours from Portland. It is dry and treeless and in the middle of all this, tracing the county line, is the Columbia River.

and snug up against the river is the Gorge Amphitheatre.

So, you sit on the lawn and look downhill toward the main stage. Trailing behind the stage is the Columbia.

I mention this simply because the environment, the view, affects both the artists who perform there and the experience that the audience has. It, literally and figuratively, provides the backdrop for the rest of the festival.

A disclaimer: there were so many artists at Sasquatch that I can only provide a sample.  I didn’t see everyone I would have liked. If you made it, you should add your thoughts.

(travis: MoB Summer West Coast Correspondent)

From their recent induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Eddie Vedder joins R.E.M for a rendition of “Man On The Moon.” We missed the actual induction ceremonies, and were happy to see this wound up on youtube.