This Saturday, the University of Wisconsin student radio
station WSUM will be responsible for one of the Memorial Union Terrace’s most
exciting student-run programs of the fall, Snake on the Lake Fest. Starting at
4 p.m., Terrace-goers will witness the kick-off of an evening sure to be full
of exciting music sponsored by a multitude of student organizations and campus
businesses.

Formerly titled Party in the Park, Snake on the Lake Fest is
the radio station’s yearly celebration that station manager and primary event
organizer Y Mae Sussman says is an event for all to enjoy.

“The event is intended as a sort of ‘thank you’ to the
listeners as well as the community overall for its support of student radio,”
Sussman said.

With that in mind, the event includes a wide variety of acts
sure to impress listeners of all backgrounds. Regional performers include
Pistols at Dawn and El Valiente. Pistols at Dawn is a rock band from Chicago
whose MySpace describes them as “music to waterboard to.” With charmingly deep,
authentic vocals and a standard, comfortable sense of rhythm, Pistols is sure
to be a crowd pleaser.

Madison’s own indie band, El Valiente, is a complicated yet listenable
experiment of melody-centric sound curiously accented with impetuous rhythm.
With inspirations like Sonic Youth, Mogwai and The Flaming Lips, as well as an
invigorating inclusion of the glockenspiel, this band’s American Football-esque
sound is something that will certainly stir Pitchfork fanatics and the more
casual listeners alike.

Saturday’s programming continues with acts such as Damien
Jurado, Awesome Color, Miles Benjamin Anthony Johnson and headliner Tortoise.

Damien Jurado is a Seattle-based singer and songwriter whose
folk sound and gentle vocals resonate beautifully in the indie tradition.
Promoting a recent album release while on tour, his eerie voice is a faintly reminiscent
combination of TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe and The Moldy Peaches’ Adam
Green.

Hailing from Great Lakes, Mich., Awesome Color is a
psychedelic, sharp exploration of sound whose stop in Madison is part of a
North American tour to promote a fall album. Recently signed to Ecstatic
Peace!, Awesome Color’s sound resembles indie favorite Animal Collective but
seeks to complicate sound differently with its lofty guitar parts and
startlingly monotone vocals.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Johnson from Brooklyn, Ore., is
responsible for a debut album replete with several well-known indie phenoms.
Grizzly Bear’s Chris Bear, Chris Taylor and Daniel Rossen are also joined by
Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio to really complement Johnson’s distinctive sound
on his album. His vocals are eerily suggestive of Bob Dylan or Mason Jennings
while still evoking a sound completely new and different.

Tortoise, entering its 18th year as a band, will conclude
the evening of music with its ethereal, aged-to-perfection instrumental
routine. The exploratory nature of this Chicago-based band’s music combined
with its limitless range of influences has resulted in sounds that listeners
have been returning to again and again for nearly two decades. The band’s
timelessness is largely attributed to how impossible the sound is to
characterize or easily listen to, which in turn makes a live show impossible to
miss.

In between musical acts, WSUM’s DJs will be putting together
their own sets which is a throwback nod to the event’s “Party in the Park” days
as a DJ exhibition as well as a fun way to see what the music buffs at WSUM are
made of.

The event is sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Directorate,
ASM, Underground Printing, Underground Textbooks, The Onion, University Heath Services
and Downtown Madison Business Improvement District. This wide range of
sponsors, in addition to the extraordinary quality of musical acts, is another
indication of the exceptional reputation the Snake on the Lake Fest has garnered
for the past few years.

Although the event’s popularity has grown since its
inception, many still question its unusual name.

“The station is colloquially known as the Snake on the Lake,
so the name seemed appropriate,” Sussman explained.

Come to the Memorial Union Terrace Saturday in order to
support as well as experience this remarkable showcase of musical talent sure
to electrify listeners or even people just wondering what this strangely named
festival is all about.