The Sights and Sounds has been invited to cover the 2013 Hangout Music and Arts Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama and as part of our coverage of the event, and in an effort to continually bring you the best in new and great music, we will be running a series highlighting the artists set to perform at this year’s event. Read about the bands, find some new artists to listen to, and enjoy the sounds below.

The week of the big show has arrived! Anticipation is growing knowing that I’ll be hitting the road to jam out to some great music on the beach in a couple days. As you plan which acts to see, a lot of names might come up that you don’t recognize, so we will be putting our standout acts for each day into a nice little SoundCloud set over the next three days that you can listen to on your way to the venue.

If Saturday was heavy on the hip-hop sounds, consider day three to be an indie-rockers dream. While the morning session ushers out the last of the hip-hop with Oakland group Zion I, our afternoon schedule sees the west coast shift from hip-hop to indie as Best Coast takes the stage. While most of the EDM fans grab their early afternoon rage fest with Baauer and the “Harlem Shake,” you can probably find me hanging with the indie-pop jams of GROUPLOVE. Rockers Moon Taxi will be a nice follow up to either previous acts, whether you choose to continue rocking out or grabbing a breather after the Boom Boom Tent.

Another tough decision besets festival goers for the late afternoon slots as UK songstress Ellie Goulding will have kids “Starry Eyed” while Porter Robinson brings the noise in a performance I’m looking forward to. One of my most anticipated sets comes from Imagine Dragons afterward. I’m looking forward to seeing how they perform live and if it’s sounds as good as they do digitally. Following is EDM kingpin Steve Aoki, and while I know he puts on an amazing show, my eyes have seen it a couple times and I will be listening to the amazing sounds of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the music off their new album Mosquito.

Bloc Party rounds out the evening set with Trey Anastasio Band and Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit. And while Bloc Party will be my choice for one of the final performances, my mind will be focused on the final act of the weekend: Stevie Wonder. With more than 2 hours of set time, the magic he creates on stage is something I’ve wanted to witness for a long time. It will be a phenomenal ending to an amazing weekend of great music and art.

Day 1 Playlist – Day 2 Playlist – Day 3 Playlist

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