Remember that time Girl Talk played Pioneer Square at MusicfestNW? With all the toilet paper? Was that really only three weeks ago? Anyway. Somehow amongst all the festival madness, Rick Turoczy, the organizer of MFNW's Portland Digital eXperience conference, and Andy Baio, the organizer of the XOXO festival, got together with Girl Talk, aka Greg Gilles, after his show and recorded a video.

Turoczy already wrote a blog post over at Silicon Florist explaining how this came about and why it's interesting, so I'm just going to quote that:

Portland’s Andy Baio was in the final throes of organizing XOXO. Girl Talk was in Portland to play MusicFestNW. And I was busy running an event called PDXconf. Everyone was ridiculously busy. 

But see, here’s the thing. Andy had done a phenomenal deconstruction of Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals, crowdsourcing a list of each music sample and the length it was used. So having Andy chat with Gregg Gillis, the man behind Girl Talk, seemed like one of those random opportunities we couldn’t pass up.

So, we gathered at Webtrends, who were kind enough to host on extremely short notice, to film a conversation between Andy and Gregg, after Gregg finished his set.

The home stretch! (Bloggers in order of appearance: Arya Imig, Ruth Brown, Emilee Booher, Shane Danaher, Matthew P. Singer, Robert Ham, Mark Stock, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, Nora Eileen Jones, Martin Cizmar.)

Saturday

12:05 pm @ Doug Fir Lounge
I didn’t attend any MFNW on Friday so that I would be well rested and awake early enough to see Dinosaur Jr. at Noon on a Saturday in a small club. Hell yeah, brother. Shortly after getting on stage, Lou Barlow lets the s-h word slip. “The one thing they said not to do, and I did it,“ he apologized. The legendary trio had no setlist and welcomed shouted out requests from the audience. It’s a pity we were all just barely awake enough to not mosh, but there would be time for that later. (AI)

2:05 pm @ the Bing Lounge
Punctuated by earnest, honest and self deprecating banter, the Tallest Man On Earth’s Kristian Matsson played a short, moving set to a packed Bing Lounge. (AI)

2:32 pm @ Pioneer Courthouse Square
When I ran into Starfucker’s Shawn Glassford at Squarepusher earlier this summer, I teased the multi-instrumentalist that his group would have to kick it up a notch in the light show department. “We’re actually working on building a light wall,” he replied. On a trek from the Bing Lounge to the Dinosaur Jr. pop up shop, we stopped and caught a little of Starfucker’s soundcheck. Sure enough, there was that light wall, lookin’ good. (AI)

2:53 pm @ Red Bull Common Thread Dinosaur Jr. Pop Up Shop
Caffeine count at this point: tea, Guayaki yerba mate, Monster Energy drink at the Bing Lounge, and now a Red Bull. I’m kind of freaking out a little bit, talking a mile a minute, dropping my ice cream, and phone. I’m about to meet one of my favorite bands of all time, and I have a feeling I’m gonna be the Chris Farley to their Paul McCartney. (“Stupid!!!”) Meet and greets are weird for both signers and people getting their stuff signed, I’m sure but how could anything be more awkward than trying to interact with the notoriously taciturn J. Mascis? It wasn’t my most uncomfortable interaction of the day so it was totally worth it to get that purple J on the giant, giant posters available in store. It’s going to be really interesting to see where this Red Bull Common Thread series goes next. (AI)

3 pm @ Puppet Labs
The final event of Portland Digital eXperience is a hackathon using APIs from Spotify, Rumblefish, MapQuest and Twilio. There’s a big turnout and some pretty cool things are created—one uses a WW article to create a map of Elliott Smith songs and their inspirations around Portland. I hope next year’s festival has way more of these hands-on sessions, and more music tech mashups. (RB)

5:08 pm @ Doug Fir Lounge
Redd Kross are ripping through a really great high energy set but this damn cell phone keeps trying to get service. The McDonald brothers make a lot of jokes about turning off iphones before Jeff finally confesses it’s his iphone in the bottom of a John Lennon duffel bag that is the culprit. (AI)

5:09 pm @ Doug Fir Lounge
Redd Kross are selling cassette tapes of their new album Researching The Blues at the merch booth. Of course they are. (AI)

5:32 pm @ Someday Lounge
I agreed to watch a cell phone charging station at MFNW’s VIP revitalization lounge for a couple of hours, forgetting it was right up against Starfucker’s set at Pioneer Courthouse Square. C’est la vie. For the next few hours, it’s like I’m a bartender, providing a service, bullshitting with strangers. I drink another Red Bull, and it’s not so bad. (AI)

6:30 pm @ Pioneer Courthouse Square
AU is playing with a whole lot of energy, which sometimes proves to be a difficult task for opening bands performing in front of trickling, unsettled audiences. Some guy just stepped on the back of the stage and started rocking out hard with a huge smile on his face. I don’t know who he is, but he’s dressed so well that I feel like I should know. (EB)

7:30 pm @ Pioneer Courthouse Square
Starfucker’s live show (which includes some fancy, synced lighting) has tightened considerably since the last time I saw the group. It’s nice to see a couple thousand people lose their shit over “German Love,” which is something I’ve been insisting should happen for a good long while now. (SD)

7:37 pm @ Someday Lounge
I’m supposed to close the cell phone charging station but a straggler’s android is still plugged in and the owner is nowhere to be found. I get a friend to watch the station for a minute while I try to find the Android owner. I ask a couple of people twice if the phone is theirs before finally hearing from my friend that the owner has retrieved his phone. (AI)

8 pm @ Backspace
“This venue is the best,” I overhear one of tonight’s performers say. “I just played Counter-Strike.” (AI)

8:05 pm @ Doug Fir
Kicking off the last full night of MFNW by drinking a beer alone in the corner upstairs at Doug Fir. I don’t think I’ve fully recovered from last night yet, but I’m determined to power through. It’s basically my job now. (MPS)

Girl Talk @ Pioneer Courthouse Square

Vivian Johnson

8:45 pm @ Pioneer Courthouse Square
The Pioneer Courthouse shows have leaned understandably toward mellower fare in past years, but Girl Talk’s ability to instigate mayhem on a grand scale argues for a reversal of this policy. I’d feel pretty well served if I paid the price of admission and was only able to see his light show/toilet paper cannons, to say nothing of the courtyard-spanning dance party that sets everyone from pinnacle to pit into motion. (SD)

8:45 pm @ Hawthorne Theater
The pre-concert music is a mix of ‘80s hip-hop. Perfect for opening act Xiu Xiu but hilariously out of place for the headliner. (RH)

8:50 pm @ Doug Fir
Screw Girl Talk: The We Shared Milk is dropping some killer hazy-stoned jams right now. They will be ruling Portland soon. (MPS)

9:05 pm @ Hawthorne Theater
Sadly, it looks like Jamie Stewart is on his own tonight. Guess he didn’t want the full band experience to overshadow the meek, quiet sound of Swans. #irony (RH)

9:07 pm @ Old Church
So pleased this place joined the long list of venues. It’s gorgeous in here. Pure Bathing Culture’s rubbery sound is bouncing off of the many soft walls of this beautiful chamber. The band sounds fantastic, like a girl-next-door version of Beach House. (MAS)

9:10 pm @ Holocene
Man, way to be late to Vice Device, me. VD—he he—is maybe my favorite band in Portland right now, combining my fondness for the sax and my predilection for music that scares me a bit. (JF)

9:20 pm @ Roseland Theater
J. Mascis is on stage with an acoustic guitar plugged into a lot of effects and at one point it sounds like a symphony of noise. It’s the perfect weird soundtrack to the emotionally charged conversation I’m having with a friend, but I stop him when J. plays “Not Enough” from last year’s solo record Several Shades of Why. (AI)

9:23 pm @ Hawthorne Theater
This is my first time seeing someone on stage hitting a gong with a slingshot. Will it be my last? (RH)

9:33 pm @ Old Church
You can’t carry a Heineken out of the small impromptu bar, so I’m stuck staring at old photos of Portland buildings that no longer exist. There’s an incredible light fixture in here and it’s blinking when Pure Bathing Culture plays extra hard. The band is playing wonderfully together, amazed by the echo chamber that is the Old Church and what its doing to their songs. (MAS)

9:37 pm @ Hawthorne Theater
Jamie Stewart is screaming about abortions while clawing at an autoharp and a theremin simultaneously. A guy up on the balcony yells, “It’ll be OK!” (MPS)

9:39 pm @ Roseland Theater
J’s set is over. “Alright, thanks. See ya in a bit, “ he says. I think he’s actually really enjoying the Common Thread concept. (AI)

9:45 pm @ Holocene
Was planning to camp out at Holocene all night, then realized: That’s not the MFNW way! Headed to Doug Fir to see this Kishi Bashi fellow the kids are talking about. (JF)

9:49 pm @ Roseland Theater
I’m continuing that emotionally charged conversation from earlier and Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine” comes on over the house speakers. The dude soundchecking vocal mics intones “Cocaine, cocaine, 1,2, check, check, cocaine, check check.” It’s funny, trust me. (AI)

9:50 pm @ Roseland Theater
Too tired and lazy to make my way over to the Hawthorne for Swans. I’m already wearing plaid, so I may as well go see Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. (RB)

9:50 pm @ Hawthorne Theater
All the heavy-hitters of the local music scene have made it out to see Swans: Jason Urick, Sir Richard Bishop, Jed Bindeman (Eternal Tapestry), Luke Wyland (AU). (RH)

Swans @ Hawthorne Theater, MFNW 2012

Nate Miller

Sebadoh @ Roseland, MFNW 2012

Ro Tam 

10:53 pm @ Roseland Theater
Holy shit. All of a sudden I realize this might be my favorite MFNW ever. There’s just been something about enjoying great bands with old friends, new friends, and colleagues that has been chill as fuck. It doesn’t hurt that my experience has been bookended on either side by Joyce Manor and Dinosaur Jr., two of my favorite bands this year. (AI)

10:58 pm @ Hawthorne Theater
Swans start tearing into the title track from its new album The Seer. Nearly 40 minutes later they will end the song, riding waves of shuddering volume and dynamics, and enveloping tribal rhythms. For the band, it looks like another sweaty day at the office; for everyone here in the audience, it’s a religious experience (RH)

11:10 pm @ Branx
Branx smells really fishy right now.  The things I do for you, Big Freedia. (NEJ)

11:10 pm @ Roseland Theater
Dinosaur Jr.’s drummer Murph is on stage meticulously adjusting his drum kit. That kit’s had a busy day too. (AI)

11:15 pm @ Crystal Ballroom
This place is packed. People are either frustrated about a) finding a place to stand in hopes of catching even a glimpse of who seems to be the shortest man on earth, or b) trying to experience the feeling of his songs through all of the crowd chatter. C’mon people—just hug ‘n’ sway. (EB)

11:18 pm @ Berbati’s
The Soft Moon is dark and droning, like the soundtrack to an ’80s horror film. Only this soundtrack has bounce. The drummer is beating the hell out of his equipment. I’m pretty sure a splintered piece of drumstick just landed in my neighbor’s drink. (MAS)

11:20 pm @ Holocene
Back at MFNW’s darkwave night, Dangerous Boys Club’s Aaron Montaigne is just a dancing silhouette amidst plumes of fog and fields of lasers. (JF)

11:20 pm @ Roseland Theater
Dinosaur Jr. are twenty minutes late to the stage. (AI)

11:20 pm @ Roseland Theater
J. Mascis appears to be wearing neon yellow teddy bear slippers. According to his instagram, they are actually Adidas sneakers acquired from the Adidas HQ earlier in the day: 

jmascis on Instagram

Needless to say, they are mesmorising. (RB)

11:20 pm @ Branx
Ass everywhere, ass everywhere. Big Freedia BROUGHT IT. The best thing about this show is watching Portlanders twerk and booty bounce. Priceless. (NEJ)

11:22 pm @ Branx
I know that majestic creature onstage in the kaleidoscope jacket!! GO JAMAL! SHAKE THAT THANG! (NEJ)

Big Freedia @ Branx, MFNW 2012

Morgan Green Hopkins

11:47 pm @ Hawthorne Theater
Swans seems like its far from over, but I manage to tear myself from the band’s grip to haul my aching bones downtown for one final show. (RH)

11:46 pm @ Roseland Theater
J. takes another swig of coconut water. I don’t even like coconut water, but I’m jealous he has something to quench his thirst. (AI)

11:50 pm @ Branx
Rather than the booty-shaking contests or the rapid-fire onslaught of club bangers, the best part of Big Freedia’s set winds up being the string of hard-assed a cappella verses she delivers by way of a closer. (SD)

11:54 @ Roseland Theater
Dinosaur Jr. plays “Feel The Pain”. I’m grabbing friends and strangers in the mosh pit by the shoulders and we’re screaming at each other, “I FEEL THE PAIN OF EVERYONE!!! AND THEN I FEEL NOTHING!!!” This is so much fun. (AI)

11:55 pm @ Crossing W Burnside
Sorry, Dino Jr., but I must leave you for Redd Kross. It’s been real. (RB)

12 am @ Doug Fir
The tap of Fat Tire ran out halfway through my cup, so the bartender gave me a whole other cup of Newcastle too. Cool! (NEJ)

12 am @ Dante’s
The crowd waiting for Redd Kross to come on stage deserves to be way bigger than this. Ah well, your loss, MFNW. (RB)

12:10 am @ Dante’s
The boys in Redd Kross look their age (bassist Steve McDonald will be 50 next year; his younger brother Jeff is in his late 40s), but everything else about them is as youthful as ever. The brothers McDonald hit their harmonies and swagger on the stage like it’s 1984 all over again. (RH)

12:14 am @ Roseland Theater
“Are you guys ok?” asks Lou Barlow. “I just wanna make sure you guys are okay.”(AI)

12:15 am @ Holocene
I see how Nite Jewel, aka Ramona Gonzalez, fits this bill, but it is decidedly the funkiest, most joyous act on it. Gonzalez compensates for her small stature by pogoing around the stage between keyboard parts. (JF)

12:15 am @ Roseland Theater
I’ve just been thinking how this mosh pit for Dinosaur Jr. has been the most fun I’ve had in a mosh since seeing Weezer in Seattle last summer. It’s cathartic and raucous all at the same time. I gotta get some fucking water though. On my way to purchase it I run into Kathy Foster from the Thermals, who opened that Weezer show. As I approach the counter for a bottle of water, the band plays “Freak Scene”. Of course they do. (AI)

Touche Amore @ Backspace

Andy Wright

8 pm @ Rontoms
I’ve no interest in Silversun Pickups, so I’m closing out MFNW with Portland music agency Marmoset’s free, all-day showcase of local bands on the back patio at Rontoms. Free beer and burgers from Violetta? Can’t beat that. Although at this point of the weekend, the slow, gentle harmonizing of Pearly Gate Music is not what I want or need. I’m taking my burger home. Fare thee well, MFNW 2012! (MPS)

11:15 pm @ Missisippi Studios
The hardly-mentioned finale show featuring Earlimart is the perfect sendoff to MFNW. Deep Sea Diver may be putting on the best set of the weekend. Jessica Dobson’s voice is angelic and she’s teaching us all a thing or two about how to play a guitar riff. Plus, there’s a guy in a sport coat playing the tambourine and a few pots and pans. (MAS)

12:00 am @ Mississippi Studios
Earlimart is cool and crisp, true pros. Aaron Espinoza has been compared to Elliott Smith his whole career and, as he sends his drummer to the bar and plays alone, it seems a pretty accurate assessment. Both are whispery vocal wizards, so introverted you wonder if they’ve ever seen daylight. (MAS)

12:35 am @ Mississippi Studios
I spent the day listening to System Preferences so that I could politely request new Earlimart tracks. But I can’t get myself to ask, frozen by the fact that this year’s festival is a song or two from over. Earlimart resumes it gorgeous brand of sublimely subdued alt-rock and I brace for the end with a cold margarita. (MAS)

Click below to launch photo gallery:

Navigating MusicfestNW can leave even lifelong Portlanders looking like common tourists, standing dazed on a street corner, trying to figure out which direction to head. Every night is a treacherous journey in which one bad decision can ruin the entire evening. Don't worry, though: WW is here to help. Plotting the perfect schedule can be overwhelming, but it's not impossible. Each night of the festival, check back here to read our music experts' suggestions for making your MFNW the best damn MFNW it can be. That way, you'll never be on the receiving end of that most painful of statements: "Oh, dude, you shoulda been there!"

SATURDAY

And And And
8 pm, Aladdin Theater
And And And can’t stop, won’t stop. Not content just being considered one of Portland’s best young bands—a designation made official when it placed first in Willamette Week’s 2011 Best New Band poll—the group is also one of its most tireless. It plays constantly, hosts its annual rigsketball tournament, and churns out gloriously shambolic, beer-sodden shoutalongs at a rate that would make Robert Pollard jealous. MATTHEW SINGER.

Girl Talk
8:30 pm, Pioneer Courthouse Square
I thank Girl Talk for Miley Cyrus. While vaguely aware of the Disney created phenomenon of the Achy Breaky bloodline, I’d never actually heard her until “Party in the U.S.A.” popped up 15 minutes into Girl Talk’s All Day. Without context or baggage, the song grabbed me hard. I didn’t need to know where it came from, it was enough to hear a simple, innocent pop song about how music can cure our anxieties.Dozens of songs found their way into my library this way, starting with a snippet from Girl Talk and growing into full-blown appreciation. At its best, the Girl Talk experience isn’t about nodding along to the songs you know, it’s about downloading all the music you’ve ignored until Gregg Gillis mashes it up and spoons it into your ears. It’s magical, really. As often as Gillis’ sonic collages remind you why you loved Of Montreal’s “Gronlandic Edit” or UGK’s “Int’l Players Anthem,” they push you toward things you’d never know you liked until they’re presented in a neutral context. Yes, Girl Talk is known for wildly enjoyable shows—you will not have more fun at any concert, ever. And, yes, Gillis deserves credit for boldly interpreting archaic copyright laws in a way that could go very wrong. But most impressive is the way the Pittsburgh native can confront our prejudices and expectations with the simple joys of a great hook. MARTIN CIZMAR.

And the train kept a-rollin’... (Bloggers in order of appearance: Emilee Booher, Ruth Brown, Mark Stock, Matthew P. Singer, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, Robert Ham, Reed Jackson, Nora Eileen Jones.)

2:45 pm @ Doug Fir Lounge (KEXP session)
I really enjoy the driving drum work in Lost Lander’s music. Makes me feel like I can scale a mountain during the peak of a blizzard. (EB)

4 pm @ Leftbank Annex
At Portland Digital eXperience, an all-star Portland music industry line-up of Larry Crane, Mike Thrasher, Jared Mees, Maggie Vail, Bob Ham, Christopher Kirkley, Alicia Rose and Aaron Colter are talking independent music in the digital age. For me, this is by far the best panel of the conference. Spotify once again takes a beating. Also, I can confirm a sighting of Bob Ham and Mayor Sam Adams in the same room, finally putting to rest persistent rumors that they are actually the same person. (RB)

6 pm @ Pioneer Courthouse Square
I am here watching Gardens & Villa mainly so I don’t go home and fall asleep. The lead singer is wearing some sort of quiver of flutes on his back. He uses one of them for a Fleetwood Mac cover. (RB)

6:30 pm @ Sunset Highway
The fact that I’m missing Menomena is killing me. I feel high-strung and about to snap. Fellow drivers are staring because I’m wearing the expression of pure fear. I may miss this one. And live Menomena—in whatever incarnation it happens to be in—is a bit of a rarity. Fuck Friday night dinner traffic. (MAS)

6:57 pm @ Pioneer Courthouse Square
Danny Seim’s echoing falsetto sounds so good right now. With a simple foundation of keys and reverb to back him (not to mention the setting sun), these slow resolving moments are part of what I love about Menomena. (EB)

Menomena @ Pioneer Courthouse Square, MFNW 2012

Inger Klekacz

Pioneer Courthouse Square, MFNW 2012

Inger Klekacz

8:30 pm @ the Crystal Ballroom
Listening to “The People I Know”—*the* Hosannas jam, as far as I’m concerned—I realize: This doesn’t sound like shit! Props, Crystal, on the new sound system. (JF)

Danny Brown @ Roseland, MFNW 2012

Leah Nash

Yelawolf @ Roseland, MFNW 2012

Leah Nash 

DJ Mr. Jonathan Toubin @ Holocene, MFNW 2012

Nate Miller 

Click to launch photo gallery:

Navigating MusicfestNW can leave even lifelong Portlanders looking like common tourists, standing dazed on a street corner, trying to figure out which direction to head. Every night is a treacherous journey in which one bad decision can ruin the entire evening. Don't worry, though: WW is here to help. Plotting the perfect schedule can be overwhelming, but it's not impossible. Each night of the festival, check back here to read our music experts' suggestions for making your MFNW the best damn MFNW it can be. That way, you'll never be on the receiving end of that most painful of statements: "Oh, dude, you shoulda been there!"

Menomena
6:30 pm, Pioneer Courthouse Square
Menomena looks a bit different than it did when the trio-turned-duo-turned-quartet hit the MusicfestNW stage back in 2010 with since-departed multiinstrumentalist Brett Knopf. Though the band’s a bit more emotive and harder rocking these days, what hasn’t changed is the Portland outfit’s smarts and painstaking attention to detail—both of which help make new record Moms a Portland standout. CASEY JARMAN.

AAN
8 pm, Star Theater
That Aan’s talent for conflating psychedelic flourishes, alt-rock muscle and pop irresistibility sounds effortless is itself part of the trick. Since 2007, the Portland-based quartet has used the songwriting of guitarist-vocalist Bud Wilson as a foundation for its meticulously constructed pop-rock skyscraper. The group’s Amor Ad Nauseum LP, due later this year, is likely to be among the sonic highlights of the next 12 months. SHANE DANAHER.

Danny Brown
9 pm, Roseland Theater
It wasn’t until last year’s tantalizingly (and accurately) titled XXX album that Danny Brown won a Best New Music nod from Pitchfork and began enjoying the sort of widespread popularity that follows such an anointment. But in the few years leading up to his lionization, the Detroit rapper released a string of consistently thrilling mixtapes nearly on a par with the bizarre brilliance of XXX. Which isn’t to say Brown hasn’t matured or progressed over the years—XXX found him laying down rhymes cleverer than ever—but his shape-shifting, dexterous talent seemed almost already fully formed on Detroit State of Mind, the mixtape that kicked off his solo career in 2007. So the guy did not come out of nowhere in the middle of last year. But Brown’s lyrical eclecticism and Promethean vocal attack aimed for slightly more baroque derangement and desire on XXX, and the result felt like an apotheosis, if such a lofty concept can coexist with multiple tunes devoted to cunnilingus—and why shouldn’t it? CHRIS STAMM.

Trampled By Turtles
10 pm, Aladdin Theater
A certain justice is served with Trampled by Turtles’ music. The Duluth, Minn., quintet comes from a genre and a city that shared prosperity in the late 1800s. Bluegrass provided the soundtrack for the port town’s many thriving steel mills and copper mines. Like ghosts from a bygone era, Trampled by Turtles’ familiar rootsy sounds and hard-charging four-part harmonies are turning heads toward the Midwest. New album Stars and Satellites, the band’s finest work since its 2003 inception, demonstrates a group in top form. In a log cabin on Lake Superior, Trampled by Turtles set out to create a single living organism. This was new territory for a band that typically banks on re-creating its animated live approach in the studio. Many of the band members share a punk-rock past, so naturally, there’s pace and freneticism to much of the new record (“Risk” and “Walt Whitman”). But like wise old men, frontman Dave Simonett and his troops slow before the aches set in. And it’s that kind of natural awareness that makes Trampled by Turtles so irresistible. MARK STOCK.

Melvins (Lite)
10:30 pm, Hawthorne Theater
Formed in rural Washington in 1983, the Melvins have defined independent, uncompromised success. Originally damaged by Black Flag and Black Sabbath, the group has gone on to major-label heights thanks to its own influence on Nirvana. Eventually leaving the corporate world unscathed and ever more popular 30 years later, the band now tours and albums spewing out at an alarming rate. Melvins are thriving with souls intact and no lousy day jobs. NATHAN CARSON.

Future Islands
11 pm, Branx
Samuel Herring’s voice, a theatrical and growling mega-instrument in itself, is the defining characteristic that will make or break one’s relationship with Future Islands. It soars, hurdles and croaks its way across the Baltimore band’s saturated synth-pop landscape, creating a conflicting sound that’s often epically cathartic. In concert, it’s not uncommon for Herring to slap himself or peer at the crowd with madness in his eyes. EMILEE BOOHER.

Fucked Up
12:30 am, Dante’s
Damian Abraham’s lithe energy is infectious, probably because it comes from a dude of such formidable stature. As the frontman of a band called Fucked Up, though, it shouldn’t be surprising; Abraham’s tuneful screaming meshes very well with his nude stage dives and angry, cynical, symbolist lyrics. Tonight the band performs its full album David Comes to Life. NORA EILEEN JONES.

This is when MusicfestNW really starts. Thursday is the day of the festival when it begins to seem as if there’s a band playing on every corner, at all hours. It’s when you have to start making agonizing sacrifices on your schedule. And it’s the night you have to decide whether to leave the club and get to bed because you’ve got a meeting at 8 am, or stay for the encore. As your trusted guides to MFNW, WW’s music staff always stays for the encore. Well, most of the time. (Bloggers in order of appearance: Ruth Brown, Mark Stock, Reed Jackson, Matthew P. Singer, Emilee Booher, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, Robert Ham.)

3:40 pm @ Leftbank Annex
Meanwhile, at Portland Digital eXperience: Gang of Four’s Dave Allen is on stage laying into a software engineer from Spotify over how little he makes as an artist from its streaming content. It is both awesome and super awkward. (RB)

4:15 pm @ PDX
The white wristbands of MFNW 2012 look like hospital patient bracelets. There are a lot of escapees out there. I like to imagine fans fleeing their houses through a window via a rope made of bed linens. (MAS)

7:47 pm @ PDX
Curse you, rich lineup! The sacrifices begin too soon. Naytronix and Trampled by Turtles at the same time—a torturous decision. I’m going to let Obama’s DNC speech decide, somehow, someway. If the Prez mentions youth and education more than old school values and a commitment to seniors, I’ll see Naytronix. Otherwise, it’s bluegrass at the Aladdin.

Lightning Bolt @ Hawthorne Theater

Catherine Moye

(MPS)

9:05 pm @ Aladdin Theater
Wow, I’m pleasantly surprised by the lead singer of These United States, Jesse Elliott. He’s got a nice blend of energy, crackle and twang that fits the band’s country-rock style extremely well. (EB)

9:10 pm @ Branx
Stay Calm's Claudia Meza says Omar Souleyman doing sound check in Western garb surprised her. "I was like, 'Who is that?' He's just a man, guys." (JF)

9:10 pm @ Star Theater
My first stop of the night and who do I see ready to stamp my hand? WW’s own Aaron Mesh. Being a big time journalist apparently has its perks. (RH)

9:10 pm @ Aladdin Theater
“Wanna come up here and form a big sweaty lake of humans?” Jesse Elliott asks the crowd as his chin-length hair grows sweatier by the second. (EB)

9:20 pm @ Star Theater
The handsomest member of the People’s Temple, a decent enough little garage pop group from Michigan: “I’ve never been to Oregon before. There’s lots of...nature...and stuff. It’s really cool.” (RH)

9:25 pm @ Branx
I really miss Explode Into Colors—the band sort of soundtracked my first year in Portland—so the Stay Calm songs that sound like EIC leftovers are my favorites. The last few have been killer. But wasn’t Zac Pennington in this band, too? What happened to him? (MPS)

9:25 pm @ Branx
Is Stay Calm's Claudia Meza plagiarizing her own Explode into Colors guitar riff? Or is SC playing an EiC cover?!? Wait, no, neither...Man, I miss that band. (JF)

Mean Jeans @ Star Theater, MFNW 2012

Andy Wright

Purity Ring @ Ted's

Andy Wright

Flying Lotus @ Wonder Ballroom, MFNW 2012

Nate Miller 

King Khan & the Shrines @ Dante's, MFNW 2012

Andy Wright

Navigating MusicfestNW can leave even lifelong Portlanders looking like common tourists, standing dazed on a street corner, trying to figure out which direction to head. Every night is a treacherous journey in which one bad decision can ruin the entire evening. Don't worry, though: WW is here to help. Plotting the perfect schedule can be overwhelming, but it's not impossible. Each night of the festival, check back here to read our music experts' suggestions for making your MFNW the best damn MFNW it can be. That way, you'll never be on the receiving end of that most painful of statements: "Oh, dude, you shoulda been there!"

Copy
8 pm, Branx
An adept remixer and distinctive artist and DJ, Copy, born Marius Libman, is anything but a facsimile. His sound, a DIY but complex and inventive electronic creation, has garnered him a sound fan base both in his native Portland and abroad. His most recent album, Hard Dream, is an exploration of different tempos and genres, from disco to soulful rock—all with an 8-bit aesthetic. Nerdy, yet satisfying. NORA EILEEN JONES.

Cheap Girls
9 pm, Backspace
Cheap Girls’ bio states simply that it is a “rock band from Lansing, Michigan.” We could leave it at that, but that doesn’t quite capture what makes it a great band. The trio falls in line with some of the best acts from the Midwest—Soul Asylum, Son Volt, Bob Mould—by turning pain and misery into melodic, fist-pumping anthems. ROBERT HAM.

Passion Pit
10 pm, Crystal Ballroom
When “Sleepyhead” came out in 2008 on Passion Pit’s debut EP, Chunk of Change, it was a huge deal. It lifted the tenuous art of vocal sampling and manipulation out of its old haunts—mainly hip-hop and electronic music—and placed it squarely within a pop context. What’s more, it did it well. From there, Passion Pit had an enormous task on its hands: to follow up “Sleepyhead,” and to do it with the same amount of fiery finesse. Cue 2009’s Manners, the band’s first full-length album and the exact thing fans wanted from Passion Pit. Full of sparkly production and soaring, exultant melodies, Manners’ positive sound belied its underlying introspective ambivalence. Gossamer, which came out July 24, follows effortlessly. On the album, singer Michael Angelakos explores a wider range of musical moods than he did on Manners, allowing some of the lyrical melancholy to seep into the production—and it is gorgeous. NORA EILEEN JONES.

Old 97’s
Roseland Theater, 10:30 pm
Too Far to Care—the album Dallas-based Old 97’s will be playing in its entirety at this year’s MFNW—opens with “Time Bomb,” a song about a doomed romance that 97’s frontman Stewart Ransom Miller fears will destroy him. Soon enough, he’s rebounding with one night stands and threatening to burn down a nightclub. It’s a glorious descent told through Miller’s twangy poetry, which in turn is set to jangly guitars. MARTIN CIZMAR.

You have heard the purple-drunk, stumbling beats of chopped-and-screwed hip-hop. You have heard the catchy hooks and pristine vocals of electro-pop. You have not, however, heard the two together—until you've heard Purity Ring. The duo, playing MFNW fresh off the release of its hotly anticipated (and, it turns out, hype-worthy) debut Shrines, is in the avant-garde of hip-hop's invigorating advance into pop music. Be there with it. JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG.

Flying Lotus


11:30 pm, Wonder Ballroom

Steven Ellison, commonly known as John Coltrane’s nephew, even more commonly known as Flying Lotus, first made his name at the forefront of the fizzling L.A. beat scene in the late 2000s. His first album, Los Angeles, was an electrified, spaced-out take on the sample-based production made golden by hip-hop greats like J. Dilla. Since then, he’s grown immensely, diving further into experimental jazz, funk and electronic fusion by blending together upright basses with cracked-out synths. To compare him to anyone today would be tough, but the heavy sound of jazz great Pharoah Sanders could be deemed a blueprint. REED JACKSON.

Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three
12 am, Mississippi Studios
Years before Jack White took Pokey LaFarge under his wing, LaFarge wowed audiences with his dapper looks, suave personality and old-time country-ragtime sound. But where revival music often seems out of place, his feels wholeheartedly sincere—as he is, to the bone, exactly who he presents himself as on stage. Joined by the solid South City Three, LaFarge’s live show brims with talent and the splendor of a wandering man. EMILEE BOOHER.

Five straights nights of music isn’t something to dive into headfirst. You must ease into MusicfestNW slowly. That used to be much easier to do. Typically, the first night of MFNW features only one marquee show. This year, there were at least three. So much for taking it easy. Here’s how music staff started their week of debauchery, exhaustion and tinnitus. (Bloggers in order of appearance: Matthew P. Singer, Robert Ham, Ruth Brown, Arya Imig, Reed Jackson, Emilee Booher.)

6:30 pm @ Instrument
“Here’s to Musicfest!” I exclaim with a mix of joy and regret as myself and Bob Ham knock together plastic cups full of complimentary Heinekens at the festival kickoff party. And we’re off! (MPS)

6:30 pm @ Instrument
New music editor Matt Singer and I toast the start of another Musicfest. We’re already exhausted. Time for a complimentary ice cream sandwich. (RH)

7:24 pm @ Everyday Music
I’ve reached the limits of my mingling abilities at the kickoff party. So, I do as God intended: I find the nearest record store. (RH)

8 pm @ Instrument
The addition of Portland Digital eXperience (oh, that capital X is going to drive me insane all festival) to MFNW gives the kickoff party an interesting mix of rockers and startup geeks. I pass the time playing “PDX or MFNW?” (RB)

MFNW + PDX kickoff party @ Instrument

Natalye Anne St. Lucia

8:03 pm @ Hawthorne Theater
Joyce Manor are probably the band I was most excited to see at MusicFestNW and, in a room full of moshing and singing fans, I’m clearly not the only one. Two songs into the band’s set, people start crowdsurfing. At 8:06, a group of people in front starts singing along so loudly that Joyce Manor’s frontman turns the microphone towards them. (AI)

Crowd at the Roseland, MFNW 2012

Andy Wright

9:08 pm @ Roseland Theater
Hungry Ghost sounds positively huge through the Roseland’s sound system. Bluesy, beautiful stuff. (RH)

9:10 pm @ Mississippi Studios
Adventure Galley’s youthful, high-energy guise channels sweaty college house parties. Come to think of it, I may have actually gone to school in Eugene with some of these guys. (EB)

Red Fang @ the Roseland, MFNW 2012

Andy Wright

Passion Pit @ the Crystal Ballroom, MFNW 2012

Mike Grippi

10:37 pm @ Crystal Ballroom
Passion Pit have a packed house of people taking full advantage of the Crystal Ballroom’s bouncing floor as they kick into “Carried Away”, one of my favorite tracks from their new album Gossamer. I’ve made a lot of jokes about Passion Pit over the last several years but I’m ready to take a break from that. (AI)  

Hot Snakes @ the Roseland, MFNW 2012

Lana Mac

11:00 pm @ Hawthorne Theater
Against Me!’s set nearing a close, I could rush over to the Roseland and catch the tail end of Hot Snakes, or head to Doug Fir for Sloan. As I said earlier, though, after four years of covering MFNW, I know the key to surviving it all is taking things slow. I opt to call it an early night. (MPS)

Navigating MusicfestNW can leave even lifelong Portlanders looking like common tourists, standing dazed on a street corner, trying to figure out which direction to head. Every night is a treacherous journey in which one bad decision can ruin the entire evening. Don't worry, though: WW is here to help. Plotting the perfect schedule can be overwhelming, but it's not impossible. Each night of the festival, check back here to read our music experts' suggestions for making your MFNW the best damn MFNW it can be. That way, you'll never be on the receiving end of that most painful of statements: "Oh, dude, you shoulda been there!"

Wednesday, Sept. 5

Joyce Manor
8 pm, Hawthorne Theater
There’s a familiar comfort in Joyce Manor’s nostalgic melange of ‘90s emo and pop-punk—think Get Up Kids when they were good, Alkaline Trio when it was worth listening to, Jawbreaker circa 24 Hour Revenge Therapy—but the raw vigor of youth coursing through Joyce Manor’s short, sincere celebrations of heartache and hope keeps everything swirling and swaying in the cutting, electric present. It’s as good as poppy punk gets. CHRIS STAMM.

LP
9 pm, Crystal Ballroom
Toiling for years as a professional songwriter-to-the-stars and cult favorite amid the Los Angeles art-pop circuit, Laura Pergolizzi had already amassed a boatload of tunes expressly designed to showcase her big voice and little instrument (she plays the ukulele) to best advantage before winning mainstream recognition through “Into the Wild.” JAY HORTON.

Against Me!
10 pm, Hawthorne Theater
The hullabaloo over transgender Against Me! frontman Tom Gabel transitioning to frontwoman Laura Jane Grace threatens to detract from a real important piece of this band’s puzzle: Against Me! is one of the great American punk bands of its generation, with politically minded lyrics and victorious, catchy riffage aplenty. CASEY JARMAN.

Sloan
11 pm, Doug Fir
Are you the sort of person who might threaten a move to Canada if things go awry this November? Maybe it’s time to brush up on Sloan. There’s a lot to hear, as the indie-rock quartet has been together for 20 years, but Twice Removed, which will be played in its entirety at MFNW, is a great place to start. Sloan’s floppy-haired,
Beatlesque ’90s college rock—sorry, let’s call it “uni rock”—will serve as an expat’s Gin Blossoms. MARTIN CIZMAR.