Pitchfork Recap
In past years I've held this notion that festivals must be consumed whole. That in order to make the experience "worth it" a festivalgoer should probably forsake things like comfort, food and bathroom breaks in favor of getting the most out of your ticket price with a good spot up front. (For $65 dollars a day, Lollapalooza is still one of those festivals.)
On the other hand, at $15 a day you can pretty much sit back and enjoy the ride, and that's what most of us did this weekend. 100-degree-plus heat index figures had me favoring shade for the majority of acts. We hung out, listened from afar, played cards, and enjoyed the very reasonably priced $4 beers.
The music lessened my guilt by being mostly mediocre. First day recap:
Hot Machines: Solid noise-rock. I can't believe this band only has one 7" out and they're playing Pitchfork. A sign of good things to come?
Ted Leo: maybe the most high-energy mainstage show all weekend. I still can't get into Ted's albums, but his live show is total hotness.
Band of Horses:. Lead singer Ben Bridwell called the crowd "Dudes" several times, which I liked. BoH's songs have some challenging vocal acrobatics, and he did a fine job singing with power and staying true to the melodies.
Destroyer: Probably the 2nd-most anticipated set for me this weekend. My man Dan just could not keep it together. The band, and the vocals sounded sloppy. Definitely a group to see in a small-room.
Matthew Dear also dropped a fantasticly hot set of punchy, crisp techno at the Biz 3 tent. I'll definitely check him out next time he spins at SmartBar.
Day two, more of the same:
Tapes 'n Tapes: Good songs, but the performance was flat-out sloppy. The band was cleary trying to look like they were rocking though, and the crazy keyboard / tambourine player who constantly bashed the drummer's cymbal felt kinda postured and insincere.
Jens Lekman: (pictured above) Flat-out the highlight of the entire festival. Jens, and his Robert Palmer-esque all-female backing band charmed the socks off the crowd with peppery horn arrangements over finger-snap tunes. Jens has that truly rare talent to make people laugh, sigh, dance, sing-along and just feel joy for 35 minutes. In an era when so few musicians truly entertain, Jens feels like the biggest show in Vegas. If his first couple of releases are any indication, this guy is poised for a Sufjan-like rise to indie stardom once his next LP drops in early 2007.
Danielson: Based on Daniel Smith's live voice, I can only assume it took literally hundreds of takes to nail down the vocals on their latest disc, Ships. The man has one hell of a wretched cackle, and I'm typcially a fan of cacklers.
Aesop Rock: Sounded hot. Unfortanately this was the hottest part of teh day and I was content to kick it under a tree and listen from a distance. I regretted not getting up closer for this one.
Spoon & the National: Again, I just hung back for these two sets, but they sounded good. Did they just play the CDs over the PA?
Liars: I just really don't get their appeal, or how 70 minutes worth of noise constitutes a profound concept album. Unless of course the concept is to sound like sh*t.
Yo La Tengo: Pretty good live, I thought. They did their usual combination of bass-line heavy extended jamming, and short cutesy pop numbers. I'd like to see them again sometime with a smaller crowd, and less drunk.
Aside from Jens' set, I think the Phoenix show at the Double Door on friday was the true highlight of the weekend. They play shamelessly hooky pop that I like to call "the closest I'll ever come to liking Matchbox 20." Look for their new disc, It's Never Been Like That to show up in my favorites of 2006. The show was, simply put, badass.
On the other hand, at $15 a day you can pretty much sit back and enjoy the ride, and that's what most of us did this weekend. 100-degree-plus heat index figures had me favoring shade for the majority of acts. We hung out, listened from afar, played cards, and enjoyed the very reasonably priced $4 beers.
The music lessened my guilt by being mostly mediocre. First day recap:
Hot Machines: Solid noise-rock. I can't believe this band only has one 7" out and they're playing Pitchfork. A sign of good things to come?
Ted Leo: maybe the most high-energy mainstage show all weekend. I still can't get into Ted's albums, but his live show is total hotness.
Band of Horses:. Lead singer Ben Bridwell called the crowd "Dudes" several times, which I liked. BoH's songs have some challenging vocal acrobatics, and he did a fine job singing with power and staying true to the melodies.
Destroyer: Probably the 2nd-most anticipated set for me this weekend. My man Dan just could not keep it together. The band, and the vocals sounded sloppy. Definitely a group to see in a small-room.
Matthew Dear also dropped a fantasticly hot set of punchy, crisp techno at the Biz 3 tent. I'll definitely check him out next time he spins at SmartBar.
Day two, more of the same:
Tapes 'n Tapes: Good songs, but the performance was flat-out sloppy. The band was cleary trying to look like they were rocking though, and the crazy keyboard / tambourine player who constantly bashed the drummer's cymbal felt kinda postured and insincere.
Jens Lekman: (pictured above) Flat-out the highlight of the entire festival. Jens, and his Robert Palmer-esque all-female backing band charmed the socks off the crowd with peppery horn arrangements over finger-snap tunes. Jens has that truly rare talent to make people laugh, sigh, dance, sing-along and just feel joy for 35 minutes. In an era when so few musicians truly entertain, Jens feels like the biggest show in Vegas. If his first couple of releases are any indication, this guy is poised for a Sufjan-like rise to indie stardom once his next LP drops in early 2007.
Danielson: Based on Daniel Smith's live voice, I can only assume it took literally hundreds of takes to nail down the vocals on their latest disc, Ships. The man has one hell of a wretched cackle, and I'm typcially a fan of cacklers. Aesop Rock: Sounded hot. Unfortanately this was the hottest part of teh day and I was content to kick it under a tree and listen from a distance. I regretted not getting up closer for this one.
Spoon & the National: Again, I just hung back for these two sets, but they sounded good. Did they just play the CDs over the PA?
Liars: I just really don't get their appeal, or how 70 minutes worth of noise constitutes a profound concept album. Unless of course the concept is to sound like sh*t.
Yo La Tengo: Pretty good live, I thought. They did their usual combination of bass-line heavy extended jamming, and short cutesy pop numbers. I'd like to see them again sometime with a smaller crowd, and less drunk.
Aside from Jens' set, I think the Phoenix show at the Double Door on friday was the true highlight of the weekend. They play shamelessly hooky pop that I like to call "the closest I'll ever come to liking Matchbox 20." Look for their new disc, It's Never Been Like That to show up in my favorites of 2006. The show was, simply put, badass.
posted by Mike H. at 9:15 PM
