Thoughts on Pitchfork Festival 2012 lineup additions

And the plot thickens. After a somewhat disappointing initial lineup, the Pitchfork Music Festival added twelve more acts to the mix today: Dirty Projectors, Sleigh Bells, Flying Lotus, Danny Brown, The Olivia Tremor Control, Clams Casino, Iceage, Purity Ring, The Men, Schoolboy Q and The Atlas Moth. Several of these bands do lessen the blow of Vampire Weekend still being a probable headliner.

Dirty Projectors blew me away when I saw them perform in a Cape Cod movie theater two years ago. Reputable bands usually don’t perform at movie theaters, or on Cape Cod at all for that matter, so it was an odd show on a few different levels. The band claimed to be playing some low-key dates to warm up for their Coachella appearance, which they seemed more than prepared for already. Oddness aside, they pulled off the impossibly complex-sounding material from Bitte Orca brilliantly. This set will likely see them revisiting those songs as well as playing material from their new record apparently in the works. This is definitely one to be excited for.

The tour behind Sleigh Bells’ solid new record Reign of Terror fails to make a stop in Boston, so here’s my one opportunity to see them this summer. The band headlined Pitchfork Fest’s smallest stage two years ago, so they’ll likely be moved to one of the larger stages during daylight this year. I feel like part of the fun of seeing this band would be the chaos they will surely set off at smaller club shows, but I suspect they’ll have a strong enough presence to be pretty entertaining in this setting as well.

I saw The Olivia Tremor Control this past September at Brighton Music Hall, when I was familiar with precisely one of their songs. Even so, I was impressed by the band’s lengthy set of psychedelically-tinged indie pop songs and occasional forays into experimental ambient territory. They played the hits, so to speak, but were also brave enough to recreate all ten ‘Green Typewriters,’ a spectacle which involved ex-Neutral Milk Hotel member Julian Koster using a large Christmas lawn ornament as a percussion instrument. I’m eager to see the group again now that I’ve properly familiarized myself with their lengthy-but-brilliant two records.

Experimental electronic musician Flying Lotus and noise-rockers Iceage and The Men will also be on my radar to check out. So, still no Pulp or Refused (and hope for either fading rapidly), but still a solid update on the lineup. It’s shaping up to be a pretty eclectic list this year.

Also, three day passes to the festival are now sold out. Individual days only from here on out.