Bumbershoot: Beyond the Main Stage

With a hefty lineup, this year's Bumbershoot looks especially appealing. While some big names get top billing, the weekend offers a ridiculous amount of great music. Here are our top five bands that we can't wait to tell you all about.

Atlas Sound
Bradford Cox, better known as lead singer/songwriter of Atlanta, Georgia’s Deerhunter, created Atlas Sound as an outlet for the songs that didn’t quite flow with a five-piece band. Cox’s two solo albums, 2008’s "Let The Blind Lead Those Who See But Cannot Feel", and 2009’s "Logos", are slower and static filled, with echos and distant sounding dream pop.
Saturday // Broad St. Stage // 4 p.m.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
L.A based Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, A 10-member plus ensemble of cheery stomps and whistles, claps and brass horns, create music that’s sepia toned and impossibly cheery, like driving a vintage VW bus through the desert, playing musical instruments on train tracks and abandoned trucks, holding hands and riding bikes with your best friends. Oh wait! That already happened.
Saturday // Broad St. Stage // 7:30 p.m.

Ra Ra Riot
Upstate NY's Ra Ra Riot have only been in the game for three years, but with two albums (on non other than Seattle's Barsuk Records) under their belt and a sweet, melodic blend of strings and indie pop on their latest release, 2010's "The Orchard," you'd have thought they've been at it for much, much longer.
Sunday // Broad St. Stage // 5:45 p.m.

Jenny & Johnny
Jenny and Johnny, a power duo consisting of Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis, and longtime boyfriend and music collaborator Jonathan Rice, decided to start a new project (since RK’s never-announced hiatus, Lewis has been responsible for two critically acclaimed solo releases- 2006’s Rabbit Fur Coat & 2008’s Acid Tongue) of songs that came (inevitably) from living together. Melodic and effervescent in a California-tinged way, you can hear their first three singles in anticipation of their debut album, "I'm Having Fun Now", thanks to the hot pink cassette tape widget they released last week.
Monday // Starbucks Stage // 6:45 p.m.

Surfer Blood
As if their song about Twin Peaks didn’t sell us, the video for their single “Swim” (a Pitchfork top 100 Best Song of 2009) did, with its mirage of purposeless debauchery. With their early 2010 release "Astro Coast", Surfer Blood sounds like a Built to Spill with foamy, catchy, clappy songs and a sincere fan base.
Monday // Broad St. Stage // 7:30 p.m.

Honorable Mention Acts We're (Also) Stoked For:
Justin Townes Earle, Meat Puppets, Health, Neko Case, and Bob Dylan...a budding folk singer we're not sure you've heard of.