[Sasquatch! 2013] Our Most Anticipated Artists of the Festival (Day One and Two)

Only two days left until Sasquatch! begins. Tomorrow and the next day will see thousands of avid music fans journeying to The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA, prepping their campsites, stocking up on alcohol and drugs in anticipation of dozens of amazing performances. This year's lineup boasts some fantastic talent, such as The xx, Vampire Weekend, Sigur Rós, The Postal Service, Disclosure, Arctic Monkeys, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros and many, many more. It's a lineup worth salivating over.

As the festival quickly approaches, I've put together a list of some of the best acts playing each of the four nights. Each band comes with some recommended listening, because there is no better way to prepare for a festival than sampling what each band has to offer, whether you know them or not. Check out our most anticipated artists for days one and two after the jump, with days three and four to follow tomorrow.

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[Watch] Empire of the Sun Perform "Alive" During their First Concert in Two Years

Empire of the Sun are nothing if not theatrical. The Australian duo are known for their ridiculous outfits and fantastical presence, as evident in their recent video for the single "Alive." That theatricality lends itself perfectly to the stage, and last night the band performed for the first time in two years. The concert, taking place at House of Blues in Dallas, was bright with neon colors and vibrant outfits and Yahoo!'s On the Road series caught footage of them performing their new single. It was flashy, glamorous and downright awesome. Check out their performance of "Alive" below.

The band's sophomore album Ice on the Dune is out on June 18th.

[Watch] The xx and Jessie Ware Cover Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You" Live in Berlin

There's been a lot of love lately for Stardust's lone hit single "Music Sounds Better With You" (see Giraffage's fantastic remix here), and that continued last night. During The xx-led Night + Day concert in Berling, the band brought fellow Londoner Jessie Ware onstage to help them with a unique cover of the song. Ware's vocals add a touch of sensuality to The xx's atmospheric instrumentation. Let's hope a studio version hits the web soon. For now, you can watch the live version below.

The next and final Night + Day concert takes place at London's Hatfield House, with The xx leading a bill that includes performances from Solange, Poliça, Kindness and Mount Kimbie.

[Listen] Stream Giorgio Moroder's First-Ever DJ Set at Brooklyn's Output

For someone who has been such an influential figure in music history, it's surprising that Giorgio Moroder has never performed a live DJ set. Last night that changed. The 73-year-old musician, who recently appeared on Daft Punk's Random Access Memories, dished out a fantastic hour-long set at Brooklyn club Output. Put together by Red Bull Music Academy, the set saw Moroder remixing his own material. He even reworked his collaborative track with Daft Punk, "Giorgio by Moroder." Stream the full set below.

[Listen] Check Out Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros' New Single "Better Days"

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros' recording sessions for last year's Here left the band with a ton of songs. With so much good material, the band decided it was perfect for another full-length album. They'll be releasing Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros on July 23rd, and it's described by frontman Alex Ebert as the "rawest, most liberated, most rambunctious stuff we’ve done." For an initial taste of the LP, check out the opening track titled "Better Days." It certainly fits into Ebert's description, coming across as very free and impromptu. Stream it below.

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros Tracklist:
01. Better Days
02. Let’s Get High
03. Two
04. Please!
05. Life is Hard
06. If I Were Free
07. In The Lion
08. Country Calling
09. They Were Wrong
10. In The Summer
11. Remember To Remember
12. This Life

[Listen] Alabama Shakes - "Pocket Change"

We've not heard from Alabama Shakes for quite some time. Just last month I was talking about them with someone and for the life of me could not remember their name. I could however recall their album title, Boys & Girls, and the fact it came out in April last year. I'm full of useless facts about release dates and album titles, but forget the important stuff like band names apparently. Useless in a pub quiz. Anyway that was over a year ago, and now the band are set to appear on True Blood Volume 4 along with Flaming Lips, My Morning Jacket, and Best Coast’s Beth Cosentino. You can hear the Shakes' offering titled "Pocket Change" below via Entertainment Weekly

[Listen] Pharrell Williams' new 'Despicable Me 2' featuring track, "Happy"

The never aging Pharrell has been pretty busy lately, what with him featuring on the new Daft Punk album. You may remember way back in 2010, Williams was behind the soundtrack to the movie, Despicable Me, and now the sequel is about to be released, it appears he's contributing music to that too. The Despicable Me 2 soundtrack is set to be released in just under a months time on June 18th. The film will hit cinemas in the US on the 3rd of July with an all star cast of Steve Carrell, Kristen Wiig, and Steve Coogan. 

Genuinely enjoyed the first movie and will be checking out the new one when it's released. For now though I'm going to enjoy this disco fused joint below a little more.

[Watch] James Blake's KEXP Session

James Blake's new album Overgrown is a wonder to behold and he's currently showing his live chops across the US. While in Seattle recently, he stopped by KEXP radio station to perform some spine chillingly good renditions of tracks from the aforementioned album. The session is 30 minutes of pure brilliance from young Blake who is accompanied by a backing live band as you may have seen before if you've seen him live. Check it out above.