FRIDAY THE BRADBURY PRESS The Bradbury Press have been compared to the Dave Matthews Band and early Counting Crows, so of course all the crazy-dancing, skirt-wearing Bumbershoot hippies are gonna LOVE them.
4:15 pm, the Backyard Stage BROADCAST OBLIVION Punkified power pop from former Scared of Chaka singer Dave Hernandez (also a member of the Shins), former Murder City Devils drummer Coady Willis, and bassist Drew Church of the Droo Church.
2 pm, EMP Sky Church SOLOMON BURKE A very welcome local appearance to augment the recent renaissance of this egregiously underappreciated '50s-'60s rock/R&B giant. If you hate good music, by all means, stay away.
7:45 pm, The Blues
& Volkswagen Stage (also Sat, 12:25 pm, Comcast Mainstage) BRANDI CARLILE Mellow singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile--a local lesbian idol, apparently--will soothe you with her guitar and wispy vocals. Think Ani DiFranco with less attitude, or Sarah McLachlan with more.
6:15 pm, the Backyard Stage THE DECEMBERISTS Scrabble-board scholars the Decemberists, whose thesaurian folk fables draw favorable comparisons to the lofty likes of Robyn Hitchcock and Neutral Milk Hotel, chart enchantingly verbose pop poetry.
3:30 pm, EMP Sky Church THE DIVORCE Remember when rock bands took the stage with cocky-rock-star attitude and the totally bitchin' songs to back it up, instead of hiding behind messy hair and trucker caps? The Divorce remembers those days too.
4:15 pm, What's Next Stage DUB NARCOTIC SOUND SYSTEM As if he needed another excuse to shimmy-shake his goofy ass, Calvin Johnson fronts the slapdash funk outfit DNSS--the sort of bass-heavy house band that gets the cops called.
5 pm, EMP Sky Church MAKTUB Seattle's '70s-style soul quintet Maktub, headed up by Reggie Watts, are capping off their summer of music festivals (they also made appearances at Sasquatch! and the Capitol Hill Block Party) with a laid-back Bumbershoot show. The dusky hour should provide a perfect backdrop for the getting-it-on grooves.
8:45 pm, Bumbrella Stage MODEST MOUSE Everyone who's heard the forthcoming album of new material from Modest Mouse claims it's the Northwest band's best ever. Even the most passionate fans will be blown away by the intensity of this well-loved indie rock act.
9 pm, Comcast Mainstage ONRY OZZBORN/SLEEP Onry Ozzborn, who recently released the recommended
The Grey Area, can really rock a party. Sleep, who like Ozzborn is also a member of the massive and prolific Oldominion crew, last year released
Riot by Candlelight, a CD that's packed with dark beats and original tracks and deserves your attention.
12:30 pm, EMP Sky Church QUASI Quasi's latest masterpiece,
Hot Shit, lives up to its name by taking the Portland duo in new directions, namely a bit of the blues. But this isn't another White Soledad Keys knockoff--it's beautifully orchestrated music that occasionally slips in a blues guitar move for a song, otherwise bobbing and buoying on some of the most heart-tugging, nuanced pop around.
6 pm, Comcast Mainstage THE ROCKFORDS The Rockfords are an all-local supergroup containing members of Pearl Jam, Goodness, and related satellite bands. Wondering what they sound like? Check the name--they're not called the Subtletyfords.
5:45 pm, What's Next Stage THE SHINS With members spaced from Portland to Albuquerque, the Shins are a band whose Seattle shows are not to be missed. They've been likened to every pop visionary from Brian Wilson to Donovan. Fans should look forward to the new Shins album,
Chutes Too Narrow, out in October.
7:30 pm, Comcast Mainstage VISQUEEN Luckily, Visqueen is a power pop band good enough to shoulder the blame for bassist Kim Warnick's decision to call it a day with Seattle institution the Fastbacks. Now she focuses full-time on this fun trio.
2:45 pm, What's Next Stage THE YOUNG MUSICIANS SHOWCASE The Clash-inspired pop/punk/reggae/rock act the Spit Licks, winners of EMP's 2003 Sound Off competition, are so much fun live, they're sure to get every booty in the place shakin'.
12:30 pm, the Backyard Stage SATURDAY AESOP ROCK & MURS These two heroes give their admirers hiphop from and for the head. They are complex rappers who use the form as a medium for expressing the very personal. Murs raps about his fears, hopes, failings, desires, and politics, while Aesop Rock's raps are profoundly psychological--they reveal, layer after layer, the constantly troubled state of his mind.
6:30 pm, What's Next Stage BOBBY BARE JR. The leader of the shit-hottest Southern-fried rock band this side of the Cumberland River arrives on the mellower heels of last year's triumphant Bloodshot solo LP.
6 pm, the Backyard Stage BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA Yes, they're blind. Yes, they're from Alabama. But only Lester Maddox would have the balls to call these sublime gospel-blues vocalists "boys" to their faces.
4 pm, McCaw Hall THE CATHETERS If Mudhoney could create a less cynical but equally talented young offspring, this band would be it. Their sludgy punk sound is as fierce as it is heavy.
3:45 pm, What's Next Stage SHEMEKIA COPELAND Daughter of blues guitar great Johnny Copeland, the junior Copeland belts the blues beyond her years--a young vocalist bred on the roots of tradition.
7:15pm, Comcast Mainstage (also Mon, 8 pm, The Blues
& Volkswagen Stage) THE DANDY WARHOLS Portland's doyens of decadence return from the land of Eurofame and car-commercial licensing lucre to enthrall the yokels with often-brilliant drug pop.
8:45 pm, What's Next Stage THE DEAD SCIENCE Featuring members of Xui Xui, the Dead Science mixes avant jazz and pop noir, causing several fans and critics to compare the trio to Nick Cave.
12:30 pm, EMP Sky Church KATHLEEN EDWARDS Edwards is a rising star whose January 2003 album,
Failer, was a, um, winner. She lives in rural Ontario and writes lilting, lyrical folk-country songs.
8 pm, the Backyard Stage MACY GRAY Whether or not you think she's a great R&B artist, it's impossible to dislike Macy Gray's voice--which wavers between sounding whiskey soaked and helium filled.
1:45 pm, Comcast Mainstage WANDA JACKSON WITH THE DONETTES Local rockabilly throwbacks the Donettes play as support to the real McCoy in one Miss Wanda Jackson. Now in her mid-60s, Jackson's been an American icon for nearly five decades--a foremother of female-fronted country.
8:15 pm, The Blues
& Volkswagen Stage KINKY A worldbeat group from Mexico (via London), Kinky specialize in mashed genres and upbeat, party-slapping music, which means hopping people and, surely, backward baseball caps.
2:45 pm, Bumbrella Stage KINSKI (Not to be confused with Kinky.) Space rock that comes in two flavors--heavy psychedelic expansions and fragmented experiments with unusual methods of playing and creating instruments.
5 pm, EMP Sky Church MINUS THE BEAR Heroic local quintet boasting complicated songs with funny titles and more time signatures than a goddamn calculator. Do they rock? You bet your sweet ass they do.
1:45 pm, What's Next Stage THE PALE Watching sparkly indie rock that's reminiscent of local favorites Death Cab for Cutie on a beautiful summer day... well, there ain't nothin' finer.
3:30 pm, EMP Sky Church PI Drum, bass, and vocals, punctuated by a horn--you know, jazz. Pi belongs to the local Oxygen Ensemble collective, if that carries any weight with you.
4:15 pm, Northwest Court Lounge TRIBUTE TO RHYTHM AND BLUES (BONNIE RAITT, ETC.) Remember, once you add anything interesting, it stops being the blues. Highly recommended if you think the last 40 years have been a waste of time.
7:15 pm, Comcast Mainstage VOYAGER ONE Lovers of shoegazer bands like Ride and Catherine Wheel will be overjoyed by Voyager One, Seattle's best representation of the early-'90s British psychedelic aggression typified by the Verve.
2 pm, EMP Sky Church ROBERT WALTER'S 20TH CONGRESS Funk/jazz from San Diego, with Robert Walter stationed behind a piano, leading his orchestra through music that is always respectful to history.
9 pm, Bumbrella Stage SUNDAY AMERICAN HI-FI They sing that "Flavor of the Week" song. "Her boyfriend, he don't know, anything about her! He's too stoned! Nintendo! I wish that I could make her see." Yeah! That one!
5:15 pm, What's Next Stage BLACK EYED PEAS One of the nation's premier hiphop crews, these guys put on a great show that betrays no apparent interest in rap's poisoned diamond culture.
1 pm, Comcast Mainstage COMMON Anyone who has seen veteran rapper Common perform knows he's a true showman. His raps may be serious, spiritual, and political, but when he is on stage he's there to entertain. Common gives the crowd everything he's got--he works hard to get the audience involved and keeps them on their feet.
4 pm, Comcast Mainstage ANDREW COX Andrew Cox is a Seattle-based DJ who spins and produces house, trance, and techno. Though active on the scene, there is very little written about him or the kind of music that he is associated with. Maybe next year Bumbershoot will invite Juan Atkins, Derrick Carter, Rhythm & Sound, and Deep Chord, along with Andrew Cox, and celebrate the arrival of electronic dance in Seattle with one big rave at the heart of the festival.
7 pm, EMP Sky Church DE LA SOUL Fourteen years after their genre-engendering debut (and 12 since their self-written obituary), De La Soul continues to amaze old fans and seduce new ones. Don't miss this chance to see one of the great American bands in action. (Appearing as part of "Hip-Hop 101" with Common and Black Eyed Peas.)
2:30 pm, Comcast Mainstage. DOLOUR It's tough to sour on Dolour. Sweet, sappy, lovey-dovey pop songs never go out of style, especially when sung by a group of adorable crush-worthy boys.
2 pm, EMP Sky Church DONOVAN Some call him Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, or Ione Skye's dad. To me, he is the man who dared to say "Hail Atlantis!" in a pop song.
8 pm, McCaw Hall EEK-A-MOUSE This toaster--Jamaican rapper--has been around since the beginning of history, and he is beloved by frat boys across the country, who can't get enough of his ghetto humor and the funky way he dances. He was once a funny joke, but now he's just a joke.
8:15 pm, Bumbrella Stage EVANESCENCE At the recent 2003 Teen Choice Awards, Evanescence's single "Bring Me to Life" was voted "Best Rock Song." America's future is totally fucked.
9:15 pm, Comcast Mainstage GOGOL BORDELLO Like being thrust into a multi-culti musical style stew, this eclectic Gypsy punk troupe is world music for those who cringe at the mere thought of that phrase.
3:45 pm, Bumbrella Stage KARSH KALE A percussionist for folks like Herbie Hancock, Jah Wobble, and DJ Spooky, Kale's solo work fuses elements of electronic dance and Indian folk--and although conceptually it sounds about as tasty as a fusion of mayonnaise and battery acid, the product is solid.
9:30 pm, EMP Sky Church (also Mon, 1:30 pm, Bumbrella Stage) CHUCK PROPHET Chuck Prophet--"the missing link between Paul Westerberg and Bob Dylan" (aptly put by
Q Magazine)--is, above all else, an American: disillusioned, folksy, and earnest. Very apple pie.
4:15 pm, the Backyard Stage RADIO NATIONALS Kinda like R.E.M. if R.E.M. had stuck with their early material and fostered a rich back-porch, alt-country feel. Solid songwriting and good, dusty-pockets rock.
12:30 pm, EMP Sky Church THE RUBY DOE With the intensity of a great Fugazi track and the ability to transcend their influences with tons of melody, the Ruby Doe are a standout in the Seattle rock scene.
5 pm, EMP Sky Church THE SPITS Hands down one of the craziest--and coolest--punk rock acts at this damn festival. They've got the costumes, the hooks, the keyboards, and the terse faux-Brit accents to bring their anthems home.
3:30 pm, EMP Sky Church SUPERSUCKERS Tongue-in-cheek rock 'n' roll that's all about living life as a badass, the Supersuckers play some of the catchiest devil-horned garage punk around.
9:15 pm, What's Next Stage THE THERMALS Stranger scribe Zac Pennington claims the Thermals, a Guided by Voices for the spaz-pop generation, are "the greatest songwriters of the 21st century." Zac Pennington is often wrong. Not this time, though.
1:30 pm, What's Next Stage OMAR TORREZ WITH ORPHEUS Local Omar Torrez creates what he calls "Flamenco Soul and Groove." What this means is up to you to decide, but Torrez routinely plays around town, which must mean that he's good. Perhaps better than good.
6 pm, the Backyard Stage VENDETTA RED Hardcore lite--otherwise known as screamo--that's very popular with the mainstream radio rock alterna-kids, and a singer who has a lot of charisma with the crowd live.
3:15 pm, What's Next Stage MONDAY CARISSA'S WIERD Having announced that they plan to disband very soon, this show promises to be sadder and more bittersweet than the local six-piece is already. See them while you can.
12:30 pm, What's Next Stage THE CRIPPLES Keytar-skewed noise pop that's equal parts quirky and catchy, the Cripples are one of the many stars on local punk label Dirtnap's amazing roster. Don't miss this one.
12:30 pm, EMP Sky Church WESLEY HOLMES DJ Holmes spins a deep and penetrating mix of techno and soul, with old-skool overtones and a tribal backbone.
7 pm, EMP Sky Church IMPERIAL TEEN Following their stellar show at Seattle's Bent festival in June, the elder statespersons of art pop return for another round of brilliantly skewed rock 'n' roll, immaculately performed. If you've never seen them, you're stupid, and here's your chance to get smart.
6:30 pm, What's Next Stage SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS Funky FUNK!! That's what Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings got... and it's the REAL deal. Think James Brown in 1968 and you're dead funking on!
4 pm, The Blues
& Volkswagen Stage DANIEL LANOIS The producer whose sound defined the '80s mainstream plays vaguely Southern mood pop for people who don't think he needs to be forgiven for U2 being huge.
4 pm, McCaw Hall THE LONG WINTERS While Seattle is swimming with talented indie popsters, the Long Winters are making probably the biggest splash nationally, thanks in part to gorgeous harmonies and ebullient melodies. Another highly recommended show.
5 pm, EMP Sky Church MS. LED Kick-ass local combo fronted by the ferocious Lesli Wood. Expect thrashing, punk-influenced pop rock girded by fierce intelligence and emotional directness.
2 pm, EMP Sky Church THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS Electric Version is a fine follow-up to
Mass Romantic, full of the harmony-drenched magic from this Vancouver, B.C.-based band that features former Zumpano singer Carl Newman, Neko Case, and Dan Bejar from Destroyer.
4:30 pm, What's Next Stage PEDRO THE LION I defy you to write about PTL without a single reference to God or beards, or an ill-placed reference to something called "emo." Additionally, I defy you to find a more important Christian pop songwriter in Seattle than Pedro's Dave Bazan, a man as hairy as he is temperamental. I defy you.
8:30 pm, What's Next Stage WILLY PORTER Exploring the acoustic-soundscape genre semi-popularized by such sensitive souls as Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges, Willy Porter crafts "finely detailed musical stories" in a "unique narrative voice."
2:30 pm, the Backyard Stage R.E.M. You probably already know who these guys are, so what you should know about their current tour is they've been pulling out a lot of the old hits--good news for both those lost around "Losing My Religion" and the newbies who never heard their perfect "oldies" like "Superman."
8:30 pm, Comcast Mainstage JESSE SYKES & THE SWEET HEREAFTER One of the sweetest-voiced gals on the local alt-country scene, Jesse Sykes' haunting voice and darkly tinted tales are definite showstoppers.
6:30 pm, the Backyard Stage UNITED STATE OF ELECTRONICA Seattle's United State of Electronica are the disco rock version of Disney's Main Street Electrical Parade. And that isn't a bad thing. They get the crowds going.
3:30 pm, EMP Sky Church REGGIE WATTS Maktub's frontman experiments with multiple genres on his recent solo debut, delving into space pop and hiphop, but sticking mostly with what he does best--sensuous neo soul.
Noon, Bumbrella Stage WILCO From alt-country also-rans to darlings of the underground in one hyperintentional LP. Strip away the fuzz and there are some great songs in there.
7 pm, Comcast Mainstage