This is simple: Sleigh Bells killed it at Sasquatch, and here's proof. Check out the eight Marshall cabinets: "Smoke" poured out of them when the set started. Incredible.

This was NPR Music's first time at this four-day festival. Listen to concerts from
Bob Mould, Dan Mangan, Death Cab For Cutie, Death From Above 1979, Foo Fighters, Iron And Wine, k-os, Local Natives, Mariachi El Bronx, Robyn, Rebecca Gates, Sharon Van Etten, The Antlers, The Head And The Heart, The Radio Dept., The Thermals, Washed Out, Wolf Parade, Wye Oak, Archers Of Loaf, Basia Bulat, Das Racist, Flogging Molly, Gayngs, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Typhoon, Black Joe Lewis, Black Mountain, City And Colour, Deerhunter, Guided By Voices, Major Lazer, Noah And The Whale, Rodrigo y Gabriela, S. Carey, Sharon Jones, The Decemberists, The Globes, Twin Shadow, Wavves and Wilco.

Beyond the blistering concert by Sleigh Bells, my favorite new discoveries include Other Lives, a band from Stillwater, Okla.

The band with the best sense of humor, Mariachi El Bronx, dressed in full Mariachi garb — and also played a larger stage a few hours later in a punk configuration called The Bronx.

A few bands I'd like to spend more time with include Washed Out, the electronic music from Georgia-based Ernest Greene, who performed as part of a four-piece band at Sasquatch.

A fascinating duo from Portland was Talkdemonic. Just processed viola and drums made for dreamy listening at the Gorge.

Crowd favorites included Das Racist, which included a brass section and the audience wearing Pizza Hut boxes for hats (in honor of the band's Pizza Hut and Taco Bell song).

The Head and the Heart already had a big fan base, but won over many new fans I talked with.

And a huge favorite was Chromeo, a band that makes the sort of music that I had hoped would never return: synth-poppy, later-period Hall and Oates-style cheesy dance music. One of the few moments at Sasquatch that I felt on the wrong side of the Gorge, though I might have been there all by myself.

For a bit of flavor, here are my 'minutes' from Sasquatch: 60-second video clips of some of the the many, many bands I've seen at the festival so far. I will post new videos as I shoot them, so keep checking back or follow us on Twitter @allsongs.

Of course, our main coverage of Sasquatch is here — click through for full concerts, photographs and much more. Enjoy!

For NPR Music's full coverage of Sasquatch Music Festival, visit npr.org/sasquatch.

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What's Sasquatch? It's a big, beautiful music festival held in Washington state on Memorial Day weekend, with a whole bunch of our favorite bands, such as Wilco, Death Cab For Cutie, The Antlers, Bright Eyes and many, many more. It all happens at the Gorge Amphitheater a few hours outside of Seattle, and NPR Music and KEXP will be there along with other stations (KUT, FUV, The Current, OPB) to live webcast and broadcast full concerts all day and into the night, May 27 through May 30.

I was trying to get a giant gerbil ball for All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen to roll around in while we're there. I don't think it's going to happen. But the photos we've seen of "the gorge" are so incredible and gorgeous, Bob says he's fairly certain he'll levitate at some point, possibly during Wilco's festival-closing set. So be sure to tune in for that.

We're always looking around the country at what's happening in the wonderful world of music and thinking of ways to share it all with you. But, as much as we'd like to, we can't be everywhere all the time. So while we went to Bonnaroo last year (and had an amazing time), this year we decided to head west to see what goes down at Sasquatch.

You can check out our full coverage here and see a list of some of the artists we'll feature. You'll be able to listen online and on-the-go in the NPR Music iPhone app. If you're looking for a specific band and don't see it on the list, we may still record it and post it on the site later. We also have to get permission from all the bands we feature and sometimes that doesn't always work out. Regardless, it'll be a great lineup and I'm sure you'll find something you love and plenty to discover.

While you wait for the festival to start, check out our Sasquatch audio player at the top of this page, featuring a mix of music by some of the bands featured this year.

Let us know if you've ever been to Sasquatch and what you think in the comments section.