Concert Review: Pitchfork Music Festival, Sunday

After passing out in our clothes with the lights on Saturday night, the Siblog crew were prepped so early on Sunday that we had the pleasure of spending an extended amount of time in the World Famous Billy Goat Tavern and Grill, which is adjacent to Union Park. Two rounds of white russians and a bacon egg and cheese sandwich might be henceforth known as the classic festival breakfast.

1:00-1:15pm, Times New Viking: A fuzzy pop punky band on Matador that sings about girls and drugs. What isn't to love? Less than you'd think! This is the second time I'd witnessed this Midwesterner trainwreck live. The first time was opening for the Super Furry Animals and I can't say they won me over this time. Much like No Age, Times New Viking sounds so skeletal that it can be frustrating. It's like listening to songs recorded in mono with only one earphone functioning. To make matter worse for TNV, their drummer introduces every single song with shouted witticisms such as "POP SONG #3/DRUG SONG # 1." Please note: the numbers change but the song quality does not. None of their songs are pop songs: if their blurry soft focus garage rock songs ever touch a solid melody they repeat it for 10 seconds and then collapse back into disarray. A Siblog affiliate contacts me to let me know that the back stage is running late and there is still a chance to catch Mahjongg.

1:15- 1:30pm, Mahjongg: K Records krautrock dance band Mahjongg were very impressive. Though their sound is distinctly influenced by German psychedelic music, it is evident that Mahjongg is also influenced by straight dance music. Which, now that I think about it, is what makes LCD Soundsystem so excellent as well. We only got to check them out for a brief period as Dirty Projectors were about to start on the mainstage.

1:30- 2:00pm, Dirty Projectors: The last time Jarvis came to New York City he hand-picked his opening bands. I was lucky enough to see the Dirty Projectors perform and have been enamored with them ever since. As good as their "cover" record Rise Above is, their gentle vocal interplay is an even greater pleasure to behold in person. The Dirty Projectors play music that is undoubtedly "indie" but I can't help but feel it would be selling them short with that description. Their melodies are complex but not in the XTC vein, where you find them to be slightly grating followed by gleefully addicting. For all of their smooth guitar lines and ineffably beautiful melodies, Dirty Projectors set more of a mood then provide hummable hooks. Which makes watching them (buzzed) on a lovely afternoon even better. I should also take this time to salute Angel Deradoorian, the very talented bassist/singer for Dirty Projectors of which whom the Siblog crew has a massive crush on.

2:00-2:30pm, Boris: Having read/heard/absorbed their schtick (Japanese metal, smoke machines, droning) for the last few years, my expectations were not very high. From the minute they took the stage with clear pink drums and a massive gong, it was clear that Boris was not particularly concerned with my expectations. Fair enough! Playing primarily from their Smile record, Boris played heavy, they played fast and they had the midday audience in a frenzy. Boris played fast trashy metal which, while dense, was rarely dissonant, with the exception of a perfectly pitched drone guitar that accented their riffage in all the right ways. A true festival miracle!

2:40- 3:15pm, HEALTH: Another P4k festival surprise. Hyped up LA noise-makers HEALTH "brought it" on Sunday. HEALTH sounds like No Age if they put some more effort into their song writing and didn't bother with the pretense of playing "pop" music. They also sound like murder, probably within a tribal circle of an angry mob. I think from now on I might just describe everyone in relation to No Age. My enjoyment of HEALTH is exceptionally shocking given my distaste for their performance on Pitchfork.tv's Don't Look Down. The band shrieked, the guitars sounded like metal being cut in two by a violent wielder (in a good way) and the drums shook the trees and blanket dwellers. One of my favourite discoveries of the festival. Also their merch rules.

4:00- 4:50pm, Les Savy Fav: It's easy to pretend Les Savy Fav is nothing more than an abnormal looking lead singer with a penchant for silliness. There is something about the rest of LSV's everyman normality that makes the band seem less "schticky." Besides, they get increasingly closer to perfect with every record they release. Purists will argue, ROME WRITTEN UPSIDE DOWN, LSV's debut EP is their quintessential release but I would argue for 2007's Let's Stay Friends. Had LSV decided to record such an album in 2003/04 instead of going on hiatus or (admirably) recording singles, LSF might be a bigger band. But why would they do that? Les Savy Fav already play with the confidence of eternal headliners. Opening with "The Equestrian" and tearing through the first half of Let's Stay Friends as well as highlights from Inches, Tim jumped into a garbage filled basin and only to be lifted into the audience before putting Cher to shame with his costume changes. Beware of appearances: for all their hooks, energy and showmanship it is Seth Jabour's echo laden guitar lines that really hold the Fav together.

6:00- 645pm, Ghostface Killah & Raekwon: What can be said about my hometown boys taking the stage to a packed to the brim audience, all holding their hands up in a "W"? Due to a European tour commitment they were dashing on the stage coming right from the airport! Why do they do it? Is it the love of the fans? Is it the love of the game? Oh no. It's because (according to Raekwon, henceforth, the "Chef"), "Chicago is one of our biggest markets!" Oh Chef! They busted into "Criminology," setting off 45 minutes of Wu-beats that focused primarily on Only Built For Cuban Linx, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and to a lesser extent, Fishscale. The guys are both extremely charismatic performers and gave the audience anything they wanted-- to the point where one of the emcees would cut a beat if the energy seemed to die down. There was a funny moment where someone yelled for "Kilo" and the audience perked up. The DJ told Ghost he'd didn't have it, to which Ghost just deadpanned, "That's fucked up, man." Ghost spit the first verse of Dilla's downbeat "Whip You With a Strap" without breaking a sweat but it was the Chef that was ultimately the duo's showrunner that Sunday. I just wish there would have been some Supreme Clientele and Pretty Toney represented. And duh, there was an ODB tribute/excuse to play "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" that had the audience bursting with fruit flavour.

7:30- 8:15pm, Bon Iver: Since the P4K schedule had been posted for weeks and my obsession with Bon Iver had already reached it's zenith, I'd already written off Spiritualized as a necessary sacrifice. I was also under the impression that Mr. Spaceman would be playing one of his "Acoustic Mainline" gigs and I wouldn't be missing much. Well he did not and this caused multiple problems. First off, I love the big woozy pill laden rock and roll of the early Spiritualized records, from Pure Phase right on through Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space. To watch the captivated crowd in the crisp setting sun as I retreated to the woodsie second stage to watch Bon Iver was a little sad. But it was mostly worth it. Or it would have been if the second problem didn't exist: Spiritualized sound bled right through to the other stage, making Mr. Vernon's precious harmonies a bit difficult to sort out at moments of extreme loudness. Sound adjustments aside, Bon Iver has perfected playing his debut record live. He knows the places where people will sing, the order to play the songs and which songs to omit. Even with the noise in the background and the distance between myself and the band it was no surprise that "For Emma" was a festival highlight for me. It is the chug that drives "For Emma" that makes it so powerful. It is hesitant but determined. It's the reluctant sound of having to move forward, onward, upward. When the horns mirror the vocal lines they feel like rays of hope shining during our bleakest moment. As the outro soars there is a palpable feeling that something beautifully horrifying has passed and the release feels pretty magical. While Vernon himself tells us that these songs are "not the sound of a new man" (on the wisely omitted "re: Stacks"), "For Emma" feels like a distinct moment of change. No other artist in recent memory has made me fight back tears so often or sound so damn emo.

8:15- 9:00pm, Dinosaur Jr.: Rock. Hard, blistering solo laden indie rock. Dinosaur Jr. probably sounds better now than they ever have. They played lots of tracks from 2007's Beyond, minor alterna-hit "Without a Sound" and of course, their anthem, "Freak Scene." I will admit that I did not pay them the closest attention as I'll be seeing them at ATP NY in September.

9:00- 10:00pm, Spoon: I love the band Spoon. Which is what makes writing this so so hard. I've seen the band several times and admittedly the only time I saw them and enjoyed it I was black-out drunk on tequila. But this was Sunday night festival headlining slot Spoon. Even the notoriously difficult Animal Collective was able to keep the energy high enough for people to be hippie dancing to their squishy muppet pop. To say that Spoon did not "bring it' is an understatement. Furthermore, I'd like to say that this is entirely singer/guitarist Britt Daniel's fault. Aloof, slightly antagonistic (why is he treating his guitar so harshly?) and constantly fiddling with his guitar pedals, Daniel was like the anti-front man. On record Spoon plays slight experimental pop but it's become apparent that Daniel wants to really lean on the experimental side when they perform. He might need to either write new songs to accommodate this or learn the chops to pull his current catalogue together live. Sadly for the rest of the band, most of his attempts to subvert came from an echo box that he triggered on his vocals every fifteen to forty-five seconds. On top of their lack of audience engagement, Spoon opted to play the silliest most un-festival set imaginable. Even Britt looked bored. Opening with a blah version of "Small Stakes," the band segued into "My Mathematical Mind" (!?!). But don't worry, they played "Rhythm and Blues," "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" and "I'll Summon You." Shrugsies! They did play Series of Sneaks opener, "Utilitarian" but that jolt of energy only lasted around 2 minutes. By the time they got around to "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" and "The Underdog" the audience was fed up and filing out and who can blame them. If your band can't entertain 14,000 or so people playing pop songs that the majority of the audience knows all the words to, you need to go back to the drawing board.