It ain't the heat, it's the humility.
Concert Review
Band of Horses, Chin Up Chin Up, Man Man, Chicago Underground Duo...
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
Pitchforkfest, Union Park, Chicago, IL
or 'It ain't the heat, it's the humility.'
Not to turn this music review on my website into a review of a website that reviews music, but we should start with something about the Pitchfork phenomenon. PitchforkMedia.com has become the media giant when it comes to small, unknown, unsigned or minor-label indie music acts. It seems if you're into music but not corporate music (MTV, VH1, ClearChannel)... then you read Pitchfork. Although, surprisingly, and sadly, that's not that many people. Which is why you may be saying, "I've never heard of this pitchspoon or whatever." But for all indie fans out there, Pitchfork is how we find out about music we would never have heard otherwise. The ironic phenomenon is that for many indie fans, this bastion of "independence" has become the Holy Light which tells them what to love without question and listen to obsessively, thus in a sense becoming another corporate drone.
But if you can face someone else's strong opinions without losing your own, then Pitchfork is a good place to find exposure to a world that is mostly beyond the spoon-fed commercialism of popular culture. Though sometimes they go too far. In an effort to avoid the mainstream, they lean towards the freaky-weird bands, seemingly just because they are unknown. They'll try to hype up bands like lame basement-rockers Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and pedophile-freak-rocker Devendra Banhart, and mystifyingly, most everyone jumps on the bandwagon. But amongst the super-odd are some really talented and enjoyable bands that just never get Top 40 exposure. Artists like Sufjan Stevens - who may just be the best new artist you've never heard.
And just like the site, the Pitchfork Music Festival was a mix of all the flavors of indie music - from talented unknown rock bands, to underground hip-hop, to weird freak-rock, to avant-garde jazz, to overly-hyped talentless hacks. For two full days, dozens of musicians and thousands of sweaty hipsters converged in the triple-digit temperatures at a sweltering sun-drenched Chicago park for all the sounds and sights (and smells) you'll never experience at any mainstream shows.
The day started off with Chicago's own Chin Up Chin Up. Initially it was a little hard to concentrate and enjoy the music in the sticky oven-baked heat. Friendly announcers warned us to use the buddy system and watch our friends for signs of dehydration while we rocked out. But after a few songs, I started to get into the band, even moreso than I had from the CD. Try Collide The Tide and let me know what you think. Anyway, after a quick half hour, we turned around to hear the next band on the stage on the opposite side of the small park. I guess with so many bands at a two-day festival, they don't get to play very long sets, so I never really got a great flavor of Chin Up Chin Up, but in the heat, that was ok... I wouldn't have had a very long attention span.
The act I really came for was Band Of Horses. Give The Funeral a listen and you'll understand. They are complex and yet catchy. Serious and yet playful. Emotional and yet rock. The show was such a good time that I could finally forget about the heat for a minute. Which was mainly to the credit of lead singer Ben Bridwell, who knew how to relate to the crowd like we were his best buddy. He cracked me up with his bantering as if we were two guys sitting at a bar. "So how's it going?" He'd ask nonchalantly. "Oh, just working and hanging out," he'd answer though the question was unasked. After each song he'd humbly ask the crowd the how it went. "So-so?" *wavering hand gesture* "Pretty good?" Then "Not bad?"
But besides those two bands, there weren't many that I could really get into. Admittedly, we couldn't stay the whole evening so we missed out on some acts I would have liked to see. But the other ones we did see seemed to be the kind that are weird just for weirdness' sake. The Mountain Goats are listenable for only a few songs before the voice grates on you. The Chicago Underground Duo are really good jazz musicians with interesting arrangements and samples, but spin each song off into an unending avant-garde chaos that never climaxes. And although Man Man are hailed as Pitchfork's Next Big Thing! they just are too odd for me. Strange howls and freaky noises and such are ok, I guess, if you're not taking yourself too seriuosly. And they seemed to be having fun, but not in a They Might Be Giants or Flaming Lips fashion... but more in the early Animal Collective experimental "psych folk" or "noise rock" genre, which I guess you just really have to be in the mood for. ...And yes, I'm a little hypocritical since I'm a big Matmos fan, who make entire records based on the noises sampled from a plastic surgery, but come on, they are responsible for all the amazing production sounds behind the recent Bj�rk collaborations, so of course I am a fan.
Other bands we would have liked to see at PitchforkFest but had to leave and couldn't make both days: Silver Jews, The Futureheads, The Walkmen, Ted Leo & Rx, Art Brut, Matthew Dear, Spoon, Yo La Tengo, Mission of Burma, The National, Jens Lekman, Danielson, Tapes 'n Tapes, Glenn Kotche. And yes, besides, being interesting bands I wanted to see, that was also just an attempt to boost my hits through google searches. Sue me. :)
Posted by heydomsar
2006-08-02
go back | random brainstorm | go forth
Rachel Ray - 2009-05-03
The cold wind was the reason - 2009-03-02
The Collected Wisdom of Angela Chase - 2009-02-15
All's well that ends well. - 2009-01-07
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. - 2008-10-04
