Thursday, July 16, 2009

Pitchfork Music Festival

Of course, several of the bands I most want to see at this weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival are playing at the same time, so I'll be seeing some half-shows. But, one of the biggest advantages of the P4k fest is it's condensed lineup that stresses quality over quantity — at a reasonable price. There are only two bands playing at any one time, as opposed to 4 (like Bonnaroo). Plus I won't have to dodge trust-fund hippie acts cluttering every other stage. Instead I'll have to watch my back for scarfed trust-fund brats riding around on fixed-gear bicycles.

I plan on taking some pictures, and maybe some short videos.

Bands I don't plan on missing:

SATURDAY, JULY 18

8:30 The Black Lips (I will probably have to skip the National, they play at 8:40. Oh well, I see them as more of a sit-at-home-with-the-headphones kind of band rather than a jump-in-the-heat-and-sweat-all-over-your-neighbors kind of band. And who would want to miss the dissolving depravity of a Black Lips show. It's rock 'n' roll devil's music with all the fun and dirt and stink of the garage. )




5:30 Wavves (He had an onstage breakdown a few weeks ago in Europe, and then broke his wrist skateboarding this week. We'll see how well the lo-fi train wreck plays out.)

4:30 Ponytail (Orgasmic screams bellowing from a petite art school student backed by post punk guitar riffing and swirling? Sounds good to me.)

3:35 Bowerbirds (In a festival concert setting, I like big loud guitars and concussive drumming more than mellow, female/male singer-songwriter duos, but their album is tits. I'll probably just leave the Pains of Being Pure at Heart show 15 minutes early to catch the last few songs from this boyfriend/girlfriend team.)



3:20 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (A Pitchfork-endorsed act with a gag-inducing name? Check. Abuses all the "correct" influences at just the right time to be "hip"? Check. Do I like them anyways? A little bit.)

2:30 Fucked Up (Hell yeah, Pink Eye and his other misfits are going to destroy. Too bad I'm going to be too tired after this show to enjoy the rest of the day.)




SUNDAY, JULY 19

8:40 The Flaming Lips (nothing to say here. The put on a fucking spectacle.)

7:25 Grizzly Bear (The first half of their new album, "Veckatimest," is pretty awesome. The rest? Puts me to sleep. Either way, I'll wanna catch a little of the most blog-buzzed band of the year)

6:30 Vivian Girls (Along with Grizzly Bear and the rest, P4k might as well be called Brooklyn Weekend: Chicago Addition. Oh well. These girls ain't too shabby.



5:30 Japandroids
5:15 The Walkmen

(This is the scheduling conflict I'm most pissed about. I've worn out my copy of Japandroids 2009 full-length debut "Post-Nothing," and the Walkmen's "You and Me" is one of my favorite records (and classiest) of '08. I figure since Japandroids only have one full length, and the Walkman have half a dozen, the latter's show will go quite longer. So they should have scheduled Japandroids first, so you could start there an then move on. Oh well.)










4:15 The Thermals (This is my most heavily anticipated show. I'm going to injure myself. Hopefully the set is "The body, the blood, the machine" heavy.






2:30 Blitzen Trapper (Some roots-rock will be a nice change of pace from the rest of the noise damagd, post punk fair filling the lineups here. Plus, Blitzen Trapper rule. Will be a good start to day number two.



1 comment:

Amber said...

I'm jealous. I hope you had fun! I expect blog updates.

Also, I like the new embedded music files. That's a nifty little device.