Once again, the good folks at Pitchfork were successful in putting on what has got to be the most intelligently run music festival in the United States. Here’s a rundown of what I saw over the weekend.
Edit: I recommend reading Marathon Packs’ posts about the festival. Eric put a lot of time and thought into his posts, unlike me — I dashed this post out as quickly as I possibly could at an internet cafe in Wicker Park, and left out quite a bit of what I wanted to say.
The Mountain Goats – John Darnielle came off well, but I’m not sure if this was the right setting for his songs, which gain a lot from intimate venues which are more conducive to hearing his lyrics. I know that acoustic guitar is Darnielle’s thing, but my mild allergy to the instrument when it is strummed keeps me from really bonding with his music, aside from “Dance Music,” which he played and I love without reservations.
Destroyer
Crystal Country / European Oils / Your Blood / Painter In Your Pocket / Modern Painters / It’s Gonna Take An Airplane / Rubies / Looters’ Follies
Destroyer “Looters’ Follies” – Destroyer’s set was an early peak for my experience at the festival. Though I would have most enjoyed a set of nothing but songs from Destroyer’s Rubies, Dan Bejar at least treated us to the entire first side of that record, along with a few solid oldies. I was especially excited for “Painter In Your Pocket” and “Looters’ Follies,” which were both gorgeous and rate as two of the four of five most memorable performances of my weekend. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)
Art Brut – I might be wrong, but I don’t think anyone on either day had as much of the audience as completely psyched as Art Brut, who tore through pretty much all of their first album as well as a handful of new songs, some of them apparently only half-finished. I wish that some people weren’t so hung up on the humorous, novelty elements of the band and would just embrace them as one of the most fun and consistently catchy punk bands in the world today. And seriously, if you can’t immediately tap into the raw, specific emotions of “Rusted Gun of Milan,” “Emily Kane,” and “Good Weekend,” then perhaps we should just consider that you may be an unfeeling turbodouche.
Ted Leo/Pharmacists – I missed the first half of this set, but arrived just in time for a really, really good new song with a rocksteady sort of sound to it, and a fantastic performance of my favorite Ted Leo song, “The Ballad of the Sin Eater,” that closed out the set. People were totally flipping out for Ted, as well they should.
The Walkmen – The new songs were a droney, non-melodic bust, but at least they played a bunch of solid oldies — “Stop Talking,” “The Rat,” “Wake Up,” “We’ve Been Had,” “Little House of Savages.” Those were great. Hugh McIntosh from the Childballads filled in on drums, which was…well, worthy of some extrapolation, I suppose.
The Futureheads
Decent Days and Nights / Area / Cope / Meantime / Back to the Sea / A to B / Favours For Favours / Return of the Beserker / Skip to the End / He Knows / Hounds of Love / Carnival Kids / Man Ray
They were alright. I’m just not that into them aside from “Decent Days and Nights” and “Skip to the End,” which were both great. I was impressed by the group’s harmonies, which were as crisp and clean as on the studio recordings.
Silver Jews – Not good at all. I’m fairly certain that every song was in the same key, which only made the sameness of the material that much more dull. Much of the set sounded like they were headlining the Pitchfork County Fair.
Bonde do Rolê
Bonde do Rolê “Ma´quina de Ricota” – I enjoyed them a bit more than I did at the Warsaw, though I had trouble seeing them from where I was in the tent. The sound was much better for this show, allowing their weird sort of Baille punk to have a greater visceral punch. Unfortunately Marina took a bad fall after crowd surfing in the penultimate song, and had to be sent to the hospital. The girls from CSS filled in on the final song, and it was great, though, you know, it would have been a lot better if Marina wasn’t injured. (Click here for the Bonde do Rolê MySpace page.)
CSS
CSS Suxxx / Patins / Alala / Fuckoff Is Not The Only Thing – Work It / Meeting Paris Hilton / This Month, Day 10 / Alcohol / Off The Hook / Art Bitch / Music Is My Hot Hot Sex / Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above
I’ve written so much about CSS lately, so I’m just going to leave it at this: CSS was rad, and they totally got the audience that they deserved.
Cage – I wasn’t very familiar with Cage before this set, but he was very convincing live, in spite of, or maybe because of, his odd mix of emo and Def Jux-style rap. Not bad.
Aesop Rock & Mr. Lif – I lost interest in this about halfway through, but it’s more of a comment on the overbearing heat and my desire to hang out for a bit than anything to do with the quality of their performance, which was pretty tight and entertaining.
Mission of Burma – They lost me on a few songs, but this was mostly quite good, and well worth standing around in intense sunlight for, especially on the old punk anthems. It was a thrill to look around and see all the fists banging to “Academy Fight Song” and “Photograph,” and I really enjoyed seeing them play “1001 Pleasant Dreams” from the new album.
Yo La Tengo
Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind / I Should Have Known Better / Mr. Tough / The Weakest Part / Watch Out For Me, Ronnie / Beanbag Chair / I Feel Like Going Home / The Story of Yo La Tango
If they ever release a cd of this set, it should be titled Yo La Tengo Is Murdering Your Attention Span. They played no hits whatsoever, and focused almost excusively on the long, droning songs from the forthcoming record. I’ve got nothing against those songs, per se, but it was just the wrong thing to play at this festival, where people had been baking in the sun for hours and maybe were up for something a little less boring. “Mr. Tough” sounded wonderful, though. Pretty much everything else that they played was very unengaging. Would it have killed them to throw in a few hits?
Spoon
Don’t Make Me A Target / The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine / Stay Don’t Go / Jonothon Fisk / The Beast and Dragon, Adored / I Turn My Camera On / Someone Something / Paper Tiger / Rhthm and Soul / They Never Got You / I Summon You / My Mathematical Mind
Spoon never disappoints me. After that passive-aggressive performance from Yo La Tengo, it was good to see the most pop
ular band at the festival bring their A game. Spoon are nothing if not a tight band, but they did seem a bit out of practice, or at least Britt did, as he botched a few lyrics here and there. The two new songs were promising, but the big thrills came from the familiar classics. “The Beast and Dragon, Adored” never seemed as anthemic as it did last night, and “I Summon You” revealed itself to be a major hit with the audience.
Os Mutantes – I really wish that Os Mutantes had gone on before Spoon, because as good as they were, I was pretty much done after Spoon’s set ended, and I suspect that was also the case for a lot of the audience. Never the less, they were a fine come down after a rather intense weekend, and concluded the festival on a rather spirited note.