We've entered the age of the mega-festival. Bigger stages and more mainstream bookings rule the day. The chances to be exposed to up-and-coming artists are getting scarcer and scarcer, and in our opinions as music obsessives, that was one of the great thrills of a long day of live music. Fortunately around these parts we've seen a few new smaller focused festivals emerging. (for example Northwest Terror Fest which we helped sponsor) Timber! Music Festival is another one helping us recapture that thrill, and after all, they're in our front window, so how about a preview.

It's a bit of a journey out to Carnation to catch it, but the line-up looks to be worth it. It's three days loaded with Northwestern talent including plenty of artists with records we love and stock. We do our best to keep you in the loop on local records, so here's a few tracks from artists we stock in the shop AND are gracing the stages of Timber!

Ruler 'Easy Life' from Winning Star Champion:

New Barsuk signees making straight-up indie-rock. The Northwest sound!

Cumulus 'Do You Remember' from Never Meant It To Be Like This:

Classic indie-pop from Alexandra Niedzialkowski & company. 

Polyrhythmics 'Cactus Blossom' from Caldera:

Well, technically from Oregon, these guys make heavy instro-funk for future breaks.

Naked Giants 'Sluff' from Sluff:

Upstart local snot-rockers making hooky alt-garage.

Silver Torches 'If I Reach' from Let It Be A Dream:

Shimmering moody Americana-tinged indie. Fans of The War On Drugs take note.

Car Seat Headrest 'Live at KEXP'

These guys played our in-store stage, and it had a wild energy, we'll leave you with this live video for a taste of what to expect on that front.