The king of snark and Brooklyn star-searching announced the dates for its fourth annual music festival (fifth, if you count its turn curating the inaugural Intonation Festival in 2005). As usual, Pitchfork Music Fest’s set for late July, the weekend of the 17th through 19th, in Union Park.
Tickets go on sale Friday, March 13.
Hey, no acts have been announced, but let’s take a crack at the lineup. In my Lolla crystal ball–gazing, I mentioned that Grizzly Bear seemed like a shoe-in headliner. The band’s upcoming album is, somehow, like the Iron Man 2 for kids who shop at American Apparel. I would’ve put the much-hyped Animal Collective at the top, but the band played last year—just before it really blew up. Doh!
But here are the other acts that the site’s been big on in the last few months. Put money on ‘em:
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To quote Daft Punk with a lisp, this year’s P4KMF felt harder, better, faster and throng-eder than ever before. Seriously, those 17,000 people felt like 35,000. Imagine asking everyone at the United Center to come down on the court, and you’ll get a decent sense of what the two fields can feel like at their capacity.
Overall, festival organizers ran a much better fest this year than last, even with the added obstacle of daily downpours. Communication with attendees was constant, additional food vendors brought the queues down to a ten minute wait, more Port-A-Potties meant fewer crossed legs and draining the fields kept Union Park from pulling a full-on Glastonbury.
The new and improved Balance Stage, in the former location of the Flatstock Poster Fair, benefited from the move. Only the Ghostface Killah performance, originally intended for the big stage, bled throbbing bass over the without-hope folk of M. Ward. One minor suggestion for the B Stage: Open an entrance/exit to the grounds in the back. Getting around Beer Row, through the bottleneck, was a bit of a hassle. Well, make that two suggestions: How about calling the two main stages A & B, and the third stage C? Makes sense, no?
Speaking of those P4KMF main stages, we’re still waiting for another special “festival moment” to top the Go! Team gettin’ down with kids from the neighboring pool during 2005’s Pitchfork-curated Intonation Fest. Considering the festival is all about the music, man, here’s my rundown of the ten best moments on the A & C stages.
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We’ve finished posting all our Pitchfork Music Festival photos to our TOC Flickr page. You can see crowd shots, as well as more photos from Day Three acts like Health, Bon Iver, Spiritualized, and Dinosaur Jr. here. Our Day One and Day Two photos are also up for your amusement.
And we’ve also posted more reviews of Spoon, M. Ward, and the set list from that abbreviated Cut Copy set on Day Three here, along with reviews from Days One and Two, respectively.
Photo: Matt Taplinger
See photos from the third day of Pitchfork Music Fest in our Flickr set here, and read our reviews from Day One and Day Two.
De-hydrate: In keeping with the fest’s effort to be more responsive to the needs of the crowds, Pitchfork crews were out in force before the gates opened, siphoning standing water on the grounds into buckets and helping the now-hot sun do its work. Of course, fest organizers know that any work they do as custodians on the park this year, ensures an easier time with the Park District next year. – Scott Smith
Mahjongg: Starting half an hour late in deference to the churchgoing folks across the street from the B stage at Randolph and Ashland, Mahjong actually proved to be worth the wait. What makes most skronk-noise bands intolerable is their desire to favor volume and kitchen-sink instrumentation over catharsis and an underlying purpose. But Mahjongg throws all manner of white-boy-funk between the squeals of guitars and Space Invader keyboards of their sonic sandbox, demonstrating their desire to free your ass, with the expectation that your mind will follow (If Devo ever had their way with “Trampled Underfoot” it would sound like this). Falsetto vocals provide enough cover for those who wouldn’t normally give themselves over to dancing. Early crowds at Pitchfork at notoriously slow to warm up, so it’s notable when the non-hippies start to groove, especially with the sun now high in the sky. Sure, the lyrics get lost in the wash – especially farther back – but dance music usually gets by just fine without it. Especially when Mahjongg makes it more about the angles than the curves. – SS
Times New Viking: Like Guided By Voices, this co-ed trio crawled from some tin can in Ohio with a slew of retro-minded, fuzz-spewing lo-fi recordings that sounded like they were recorded through a walkie talkie. In a toilet. In a submarine. 40 years ago. Both bands recorded for the Philly noiseniks at Siltbreeze Records before steppin’ up to the indie big leages of Matador Records. However, unlike GBV, when you brush the studio (or, well, lack of studio) static off the band in a live setting, you’re not left with surprising, Who-loving classic rock nuggets. Nope, it’s still thrashy organ-driven garage punk, but with clearer vocals. At their best, TNV bring to mind Pavement’s diaper days, i.e. Pavement at their worst. But even in the baking mid-day heat, these punks summon the wild energy of more air conditioned humans. Before one number, drummer-singer Adam Elliot (the Genesis comparisons begin and end there) announces, “This is the longest song in our set.” It’s precisely 3 minutes and 18 seconds long. An ADHD epic!—Brent DiCrescenzo
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The best music festivals have moments that seem to spring out of nowhere and capture the weekend’s vibe perfectly.
Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav giving haircuts to festival attendees on Saturday for the low, low price of 2 dollars? That was one of those moments.
Photo: Matt Taplinger
Check back for more updates all day from Pitchfork. Check out pictures from Day 2 in our Flickr set and read our write-ups from yesterday here.
Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar: If Beirut (the indie rock cause célébre, at least the past few years) was all you’d experienced of Balkan brass band music, the first act of Day 2 likely delivered a pleasant surprise. Under another cloud of summer drizzle, Serbia’s Boban and Marko Markovic Orkestar gave a master class in iron, brass band energy and syncopated, head-bobbing beat construction. If only PE’s Bomb Squad and this band could get together, we could create a funk-pocalypse!
Wearing white button-down shirts and khakis, there was no mistaking the tentet for hipster runaways. Instead, the massive ensemble deliver orchestral, well-defined madness with the lean kinetic energy of New Orleans. And because the melodies pass by at such blazing fast tempos, when the flugelhorns play “in unison,” it has a cacophonous effect. In other words: Reckless, wild and completely coordinated.
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Check back often for more updates from the Pitchfork Music Festival. See pictures of Mission of Burma, Sebadoh and Public Enemy from the first day in our Flickr photoset.
Wet, wet, wet: A 4:30pm downpour dumps a layer of humidity and mud on the proceedings but crowds are light so nothing’s going all Woodstock ‘94 just yet. In fact, things are so sparse that most of the crowd is caught off-guard as Mission of Burma starts off the fest - and the night - in a surprisingly punctual manner. - Scott Smith
Mission of Burma: Being the conscientious Bostonians that they are, Mission of Burma kicked off its classic album set for Vs. a bit early—5 minutes before 6pm on a grey, sticky night in Chicago’s Union Park. Vs., released in 1982 on Boston’s Ace of Hearts records truly is a classic in my book—but it’s far from chock full of hits. It was easily available in used record shops during the later part of the decade—MOB were a cult band for post-punk fanatics only.
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If the Pitchfork Festival’s Thursday afternoon symposium at the Chicago Cultural Center was intended for us to believe the hype surrounding tonight’s Public Enemy performance, well, it worked. The brains behind P.E.—producers Hank and Keith Shocklee, MC Chuck D and "media assassin" Harry Allen—enthusiastically reminisced, playfully argued and inspired with their story of a bunch of music geeks from Long Island with a mission and a chip on their collective shoulder.
The poor moderator, Kembrew McLeod, tried to interject when he could with questions and academic contextualization. The guy didn’t stand a chance. The Shocklees railroaded him. This wasn’t a lecture as much as elders sitting on the stoop and flashing back. Much of the talk reiterated what we learned from Shocklee in our interview about the roots of P.E. One thing became clear: No group has put more thought and sweat into advancing hip-hop.
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Whether meaning to or not, Pitchfork has become a full-fledged brand. In part because it established itself as the authority on certain segments of independent music. But while it’s rightly seen as the know-it-all when it comes to music reviews, it’s shown a refreshing willingness to adjust its plans for its annual music festival to suit its growing audience.
Last year, in a post-mortem on 2007’s Pitchfork festival (the 2nd outing under its own banner after an initial year of Intonation collaboration), I lauded the fest as a solid weekend of music, but one that had outgrown its humble beginnings: “The accolades will no doubt increase so long as organizers don’t ignore the need for improvements…Pitchfork prides itself on an affordable concert experience, but it should also ensure a comfortable one as well.”
By all accounts, organizers recognized the problems of last year and made some adjustments for this weekend. Last year’s dangerous crowd control problems should be alleviated thanks to moving the “third” stage to an area at the back of the park and upgrades should take care of the sound problems that plagued several acts. Hopefully, better food, drink and other facilities will also follow.
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For the last couple years the Pitchfork Music Festival has been preceded by a week of lunchtime concerts at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Randolph Café, featuring one local band each day, booked by local independent clubs like the Hideout and Schubas. This year, both P4k and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs are taking it to the next level with Audible Architecture: Chicago Nightclubs at Noon, a new (almost) weekly lunchtime performance series on Mondays at Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion.
I’ve gotta hand it to ‘em—this is fairly ambitious, even for our culturally-enlightened city. Strangely, local eclectic weirdos Bird Names (pictured) kick things off on June 16th. Considering their fan base, I’d be surprised to see anyone at the show other than cops on Segways and squirrels. Thankfully, the programming improves throughout the summer. Bill Callahan of Smog strolls in on July 28th, followed by Tortoise on August 4th, and Dutch post-punk pioneers the Ex, who will share the stage with Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria on August 18th.
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