It seems like every city is trying to have 'the next SXSW' (QRO recap) - an indie music industry festival spread across venues to promote local acts & rope in out-of-town ones, like Austin's famed one: Cincinnatti's Midpoint, San Francisco's Noise Pop, Las Vegas' immediately preceding Neon Reverb, Toronto's honestly imitating North-by-Northeast, Brooklyn's small sophomore Northside (QRO recap), or Los Angeles' current Sunset Strip (QRO recap) & upcoming new Culture Collide (QRO Festival Guide).  But, other than New York's almost-as-old CMJ (QRO recap), the best out there has to be from 'the next Austin' - Portland, Oregon's Music Fest NW.  Like the getting-bigger-every-year Sasquatch! Music Festival (QRO recap) just to the north at the start of the summer, MFNW has been building every year, with a great line-up of Pacific Northwest locals & those from farther afield, to close out the summer of 2010: 

The new Mellows 7" It's In the Stones/Ghostriding, available for free download at their Bandcamp and in a beautiful vinyl format at Royal Rhino Flying Records,  may surprise you if all you knew about the project was that Cory Levinson (of Kohwi) was involved. Kohwi comes with more electronic bravado, while Mellows packs more of a 90s indie rock punch, with positive Pioneer Valley vibes. The track included for download here "Ghostriding" sounds like the second coming of the Black/Deal vocal duo, with a little contemporary 8-bit thrown in for good measure. No epic hookery here. Just a perfect little gem of a pop song: this is the reason the "Repeat" button was invented. Download, buy the vinyl, and enjoy!

Stream "Ghostriding"

Download It's In The Stones/Ghostriding 7"

Buy the vinyl at Royal Rhino Flying Records