Preview: Pitchfork Music Festival 2012
This year’s Pitchfork Music Festival descends upon Chicago’s Union Park this weekend, and I’ll be there to see, hear, photograph and write about as much music as I can. Ideally I’ll be posting some daily coverage, so be sure to check back throughout the weekend. Click on for a rundown of the weekend’s most intriguing and must-see sets.
Friday, July 13th
Lower Dens (Red Stage, 3:30):
Lower Dens are a Baltimore-based crew blending post-punk and dream pop. This year’s Nootropics was an enjoyable listen, and an early set time should make for a solid kickoff to Friday’s festivities.
Willis Earl Beal (Blue Stage, 4:15):
I’ve already experienced the bizarre spectacle that is Willis Earl Beal’s live show once this year, so I likely won’t venture over to Blue in hopes of securing a better spot for Olivia Tremor Control. If Beal’s Acousmatic Sorcery LP piqued your interest though, he’ll be worth checking out. His voice is powerful, his songwriting strong, and his inscrutably weird on-stage antics (capes, belt-on-chair percussion, backing tracks via an old reel-to-reel) always entertaining.
The Olivia Tremor Control (Green Stage, 4:35):
Reunited Elephant 6 collective heroes bring their 60s psych-leaning indie rock to the main stage. OTC only recorded two records back in the 90s, but both are sprawling collections of songs blending pop and intriguingly weird experimental diversions in equal measure. I caught one of their shows at Brighton Music Hall during their first run of reunion dates last year and had a blast despite knowing none of the songs at the time. Can’t wait to see them again.
Tim Hecker (Blue Stage, 5:15):
Experimental drone/ambient noisemaker Tim Hecker seems like a slightly odd fit for an outdoor summer festival, but nothing but positive buzz seems to surround his immense live performances. I’m certainly hoping to catch the end of this once OTC wraps up.
Japandroids (Blue Stage, 6:15):
Easily one of my most anticipated sets of the weekend. The Vancouver-based garage rock duo is riding high on the June release of the fantastic Celebration Rock, touring the US and garnering enthusiastic response to their incredibly energetic live shows. The cruel scheduling gods put their last Boston date on the same night as the Beach Boys 50th anniversary show, so I’m extremely happy to finally be able to see them. An upbeat festival atmosphere on Pitchfork’s smallest stage should make things even better.
Dirty Projectors (Red Stage, 7:20):
With Swing Lo Magellan blowing minds across the country this week, this will surely be one of Friday’s highlights. The Brooklyn-based experimental/art rock crew’s soaring group vocals and winding, complex instrumental arrangements translated incredibly well during the Bitte Orca tour, and I’m betting we can expect a similarly thrilling take on this year’s new material.
Dirty Projectors, photo by Tom Hines
Feist (Green Stage, 8:30) vs. Purity Ring (Blue Stage, 8:20):
Friday’s headlining slots present a potential conflict between Canadian singer/songwriter Leslie Feist on the main stage and dreamy synth-pop newcomers Purity Ring over at Blue. Despite being only a casual Feist fan, I may opt for her set over Purity Ring simply because I’ll be seeing them play the Paradise with Dirty Projectors on August 19th anyway. If your tastes lean more the electronic direction though, the much smaller (and likely much less packed) Blue Stage wouldn’t be a bad place to spend the evening.
Feist, photo by Mary Rozzi
Saturday, July 14th
The Psychic Paramount (Green Stage, 1:00):
If you’re an early arrival on Saturday, you’ve got no excuse to not check out instrumental noise/psych rock trio The Psychic Paramount. Last year’s II is an exhilarating forty minutes of noisy, pummeling jams that should sound colossal in a live setting. Even if you don’t dig noise, it’ll be a solid wake-up call.
Cloud Nothings (Red Stage, 1:45) vs. Lotus Plaza (Blue Stage, 1:55):
A rough choice between two bands touring excellent 2012 LPs. The more throat-grabbing of the two sets will likely be the new and improved, ferocious Cloud Nothings. The former basement solo project of frontman Dylan Baldi emerged this year with a jagged, intense Steve Albini-produced record that sounded exceptionally good at Brighton Music Hall back in March. On the other side of the park, Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt’s Lotus Plaza project will deliver shoegazing bliss in support of Spooky Action at a Distance. Having already seen Cloud Nothings, I’ll be opting for Lotus Plaza. Still, it’s one of the weekend’s more frustrating conflicts.
Cloud Nothings, photo by Ryan Manning
Atlas Sound (Green Stage, 2:30):
Another Deerhunter side project, this one belonging to frontman Bradford Cox, will go on around the time Pundt will likely be wrapping up. Atlas Sound has long been a fascinatingly calmer, quieter complement to Deerhunter, and Cox puts on a live show that’s impressive on a couple of levels. Highly recommended.
Youth Lagoon (Blue Stage, 3:45) vs. Flying Lotus (Green Stage, 4:15):
While not the most direct conflict of this year’s fest, a good spot for one would likely mean sacrificing the other. Youth Lagoon’s subdued, gorgeous dream pop has evaded me with sold out or poorly scheduled Boston shows, so that’s likely where you’ll find me. I’m curious enough about beat-smith Flying Lotus’ mix of DJ-ing and original compositions to possibly duck out early, though.
Wild Flag (Red Stage, 5:15):
Wild Flag is the thoroughly awesome new project from former Sleater-Kinney members Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, former Helium member Mary Timony, and former Minders member Rebecca Cole. Think S-K with a heavier classic and psychedelic rock influence. They also play amazing covers (Fugazi, Television, Misfits, to name a few). Not to be missed.
Sleigh Bells (Green Stage, 6:15):
2012’s Reign of Terror brings out a slightly more refined (i.e. less gratingly in-your-face) side of noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells. The drum machine + metal riffs + female vocals formula remains essentially the same though, and seeing the drummer-less trio (a second guitarist joins them live nowadays) translate those songs to a huge crowd on the main stage should be interesting. Hopefully it’ll also be enjoyable in the visceral, earmworm-y way that their best songs are on record.
Sleigh Bells, photo by Patrick Odell
Hot Chip (Red Stage, 7:25):
Synth-pop/dance-punk purveying Londoners Hot Chip have an exceedingly catchy and fun new record called In Our Heads, which their sub-headlining set on Saturday will likely draw heavily from. An upbeat, danceable set will be a perfect high before the comedown (or simply a really weird tone-setter) for a headlining set from…
Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Green Stage, 8:30):
The reunited post-rock legends will deliver one of their notoriously heavy sets of massive, crescendo-driven instrumental songs to close out Saturday. Saturday’s headliners have traditionally been a bit more…fun than Godspeed, but the band’s immense live shows are always spoken highly of. If continuing to dance is more to your liking (no judgement!), Grimes headlines the Blue Stage at 8:40.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Sunday, July 15th
Dirty Beaches (Green Stage, 1:00):
2011’s Badlands sounds like a no-fi Suicide playing rockabilly covers, so this should be an interesting (at the very least) start to the festival’s final day.
Iceage (Green Stage, 2:30), Thee Oh Sees (Blue Stage, 2:50), Ty Segall (Red Stage, 3:20), The Men (Blue Stage, 3:45):
Sunday afternoon offers a stacked lineup of noisy choices. Danish No Wave noisemakers Iceage and Brooklyn’s The Men will offer up clanging, energetic noise rock, while Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall will tend toward lighter brands of psychedelic garage punk. A bit weird for Pitchfork to schedule four bands with overlapping sounds and fan bases straight in a row like this, but music festivals wouldn’t be music festivals without set time conflicts. Personally I’m leaning toward Iceage -> Ty Segall, but your feelings may vary.
The Men, photo by Kevin Faulkner
Real Estate (Green Stage, 4:15):
Real Estate’s calm, dreamy guitar pop should be a lovely fit for a late Sunday afternoon, and especially relaxing after the onslaught of loud bands immediately preceding them.
Chavez (Red Stage, 5:15):
No one seems excited to see reunited 90s math rockers Chavez but me. Their reformation is hardly news (they technically never even broke up), but they’re an awesome and under-appreciated band in the vein of Polvo or Seam. Check them out if you have a chance.
Beach House (Red Stage, 7:25):
Another one of my most anticipated sets of the weekend is the soaring, beautiful dream pop of Beach House, whose new record Bloom is a front-runner for my favorite album of the year so far. The duo impressed at the 2010 festival in support of Teen Dream, and things are looking even better for a sub-headlining set Sunday night.
Vampire Weekend (Green Stage, 8:30):
The weekend will draw to a close with one of the festival’s most “eh, I guess”-inducing headliners to date. Vampire Weekend’s indie pop charms are not lost on me entirely, but there were any number of more interesting possibilities for Sunday night. I’ll stick around regardless, if only to hear “Oxford Comma.”
Keep in mind of course that these are merely my personal recommendations for the weekend. Many, many other artists will be performing, and you can check out the full schedule here.
Also, don’t forget that you can follow along with the festival even if you’re thousands of miles from Chicago via streaming from Pitchfork.tv.
It should be a fantastic weekend of live music! Perhaps I’ll see you there. Or back here. That’s probably more likely.