Joey Does Pitchfork

By Joey on July 22, 2010 in main

Tallest Man on Earth
The sad tale of tallest man on earth starts with will call and ends with will call. I thought our passes would be fancier than they were, but instead we had to wait in the way-too-long-line with all of the other lowly “ticket buyers.” What made the experience undeniably better was that Kristian Matsson’s music, who is tallest man on Earth, wafted over the wrought iron will call tents. Unfortunately we were not able to get in time to see the Swede, but he did sound quite nice.
?/10 (doesn’t really count didn’t truly see him)

Liars
Unlike Greg Kot, I thought these cats were very high energy and despite the 100+ heat thing goin on, they could really rock. Liars had the captivating strange British lead man style, although the rest of the band was pretty captivating as well. Liars were feeling particularly math rocky to me on Friday, which is was awesome.
7/10

Robyn
This girl likes to dance, and was super excited to be there. Sadly, I was far away waiting for broken social scene, so I could hardly get my dance on, but if I were to dance her group was playing sweet electro-pop like man men. They all looked very Swedish and played many synths and multiple drum kits. Even from far away, it was a good time.
6.5/10

Broken Social Scene
Although BSS were looking a little aged and fretted over the sound for quite a while, these veteran rockers really seemed to take over the festival’s first day. In my mind, they were the best performers by a longshot, and the way they created a Phil Specterish wall of sound is great for live performance. My favorite part of the set was in the final song, a big crescendoing instrumental rock piece, that had everyone coming out and banging on something. Even their stagehand who had been tuning guitars and handing instruments throughout their set, grabbed a guitar and started jamming out with the band.
9/10

Real Estate
The main thing I can say about these guys is that for 1:45 in the afternoon, they played just what I wanted to hear: Lazy, breezy, beach-pop that still managed to be chalk full of energy. A really, really nice show to prep me for the upcoming festivities.
8/10



Kurt Vile
There is something to be said about ugly rocker frontmen with harpists in their band. Overall, pretty tight, except it felt a little bit like I was hearing the same song many times through. Probably not a performance I would seek out, but I’m not sorry I saw them.
5/10

Dåm Funk
This band resonated with my soul. Despite the extra 30 minutes spent setting up the various synthesizers, when Dåm Funk began their set, I knew they would kill that motherfucker and have everyone throwing their funk signs in the air. Keytars, Check. Moogs, check, angry pacing drummer, check. This band had it all. A stones throw and James Pants favorite, Dåm Funk laid down what they considered funk in a considerable fashion.



10/10 fun/funny scale. (3/10) musically imo

Smith Westerns
Hailing from my rival school North Side Prep (booo) these young rockers play poppy, indie folk love songs. They have a very loving and dedicated fan base, which is great, however I thought their music was a little in the ordinary if you know what I mean. Props to the lead guitar for his tone and style, which I thought were pretty hip. Front man definitely going for the dreamy whiny rocker if you are into that kinda thing
4/10

Why?
The truth as to why I was hanging out and seeing bands such as dåm Funk and The Smith Westerns, is that I was waiting for my beloved yoni and is ragtag group of musicians called why? (they actually weren’t that ragtag, I’d say yoni was the most ragtagish of all) Why was all that I hoped for. What got me on to why, were the stream of consciousness lyrics and phrasing of the singing/rapping. It wasn’t until I saw them live that I appreciated the musicianship of the group. These guys had five part harmonies, multi-instrumentalism, crazy time signatures and more flying out of their fingers and mouths. Yoni himself was captivating in his eccentricity and intensity, and as lyrical as ever.
8/10


Panda Bear
I respect Panda Bear’s set. Sure, it would have been pleasant to hear the haunting/catchy melodies of person pitch, but I truly respect him from breaking that mold and exploring more noisy/experimental routes. It was quite daring, as the crowd was clearly not excited, but logically, it seems to me, that hearing new exciting material is > than old familiars. Its similar to my requesting songs qualm on the radio. In this day and age, one can easily reproduce the songs that they know, but instead of using a disc jockey or performer to show them new material, they would rather hear the same things over and over. Panda Bear broke the mold and a lot of peoples hearts, but not mine!
7/10

LCD Soundsystem
Exciting! Energy! Long songs! All my friends! Very enjoyable even from far off, and I was feeling strong talking heads vibes.
8.3/10

Allá
Briefly caught one song. Sounded pleasant!
6.1/10

Cave
To my despair, we only got to stage b for these spelunkers with three songs to go. Three psychedelic jamming masterpieces if I may say so myself. Even though I only caught 3 songs, their newish album Psychic Summer has been playing on repeat in the ol’ iTunes. +, they are Chicago based so I might be able to keep following them around. This band was one of those I think I can, and really want to do that kind of music (but I need some damn pedals)!
8.2/10

Best Coast
Gonna go with not my favorite. Admittedly it picked up at the end when she started playing wavves covers (she’s dating wavves guy), and her last song legitimately had some pizzazz, but I’m really not into the cutesy rocketta with fairly bad backing musicians. She does have a nice voice, but I think that the sister drummer was just good enough for the part (sort of played the same slightly off thing the whole time), and the guitar player shoulda bought a bass because he was playing bass anyway with his guitar.
3.7/10







Beach House
I’ve heard mixed reviews from Beach House fans, but this performance gave them a clear yes in my book (blog more like it...). From the homemade sets to the heartfelt playing, to the substantial appreciation and love for the festival and other performers, these cats struck me as genuine. They were tight, dark, and I could feel emotions reverberating through the crowd. Nothing felt forced or acted, all the way to the climactic end.
8.8/10

LIGHTNING BOLT
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (I fuckin started that mosh-pit)
9/10

St. Vincent
Musically, the best in the whole fest. Everyone in this group plays at least two instruments, and from what I hear, the arrangements change almost every time they play. Fantastic sounding vocals, superb stage presence, and Annie is quite attractive as well if I may say so myself. Great cool down from lightning bolt/fish and chips, really dug the set. St. Vincent is up there on my see again very soon list.
9/10

Pavement
Vets play the show I wanted. Stephen Malkmus is so carefully composed, he coulda been Harrison Bergeron. Spiral stairs rocks out, guitar player rocks out, the drummer guy holds it down exactly how I’d expect, and the one dude who yells and plays cowbell was awesome. They played songs everyone recognized, and the crowd (almost completely pavement oriented based on the amount of grey hair) gleefully shouted along to almost every word. A satisfying end to a very satisfying fest.
9/10

GOODJOB PITCHFORK!
Overall: 9.2/10 and coming back next year.

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