Musicfest NW hits town this week (Sept 3-6) and the lineup has some promising names. I’m sure the crowds will be swarming over radio friendly Vampire Weekend (9/5 – 10:30pm @ The Crystal Ballroom) and all the cool kids will be at TV on The Radio (9/5 – 11:30pm @ Roseland), but the band I’m most looking forward to is Monotonix (9/5 – Midnight @ Satyricon).

Seriously who wouldn’t want to see a hard rock band from Israel band who crowd surfs while playing drums, lights their stuff on fire and generally rocks. There are bands which act insane… I believe Monotonix simply is.

Other bands which caught my eye (or rather ear) include: John Vanderslice (9/5 – 9:30pm @ The Crystal Ballroom), one of my local favorites Menomena (9/6 – 11pm @ The Crystal Ballroom) The Battles (9/4 – 7pm @ Wonder Ballroom)… and don’t forget Sir Mix-A-Lot (9/6 – 12:30 am @ The Fez). I intend to catch more bands this week after doing some scouting on their myspace pages.

Local 94.7 FM / KNRK has been of little help sifting through the line up. The so called ‘alternative’ station has been too busy playing David Bowie, The Cars and Tom Petty to actually lend some support to one of Portland’s biggest annual music events. Ironically it’s KEXP from Seattle who will be hosting some in studio sessions at the Doug Fir during the event (schedule here). Be sure to lend KEXP your support, they actually PLAY alternative music!