{"id":1611,"date":"2008-07-27T12:31:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-27T18:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/27\/it-was-a-wet-and-rainy-day-at-pitchfork-2\/"},"modified":"2011-05-09T15:28:32","modified_gmt":"2011-05-09T21:28:32","slug":"it-was-a-wet-and-rainy-day-at-pitchfork-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/it-was-a-wet-and-rainy-day-at-pitchfork-2\/","title":{"rendered":"It was a wet and rainy day at Pitchfork"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published at Kickin’ the new Kuh-nowledge<\/a>. You can comment here or there<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday at Pitchfork would prove to be a sad day for people without umbrellas and galoshes.\u00a0 That there…\u00a0 that’s what they call foreshadowing in the business.\u00a0 ;) <\/p>\n

Gus and I ate a fine breakfast at the Longwell House.\u00a0 Neil makes some great food and Saturday morning was no exception.\u00a0 Mixed fruits, scrambled egg, bagel and coffee.\u00a0 A nice couple ate breakfast with us.\u00a0 Well, at least the husband was a kindred spirit.\u00a0 He’s an older architect that is way into sci-fi and whatnot.\u00a0 We don’t share the same politics though.\u00a0 Whatevs.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Gus and I headed out on this fine drippy, humid summer morning.\u00a0 We made it to Union Park without any hassles.\u00a0 We arrived in time to catch Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar<\/p>\n

Without further silliness…\u00a0 the bands of Pitchfork Saturday…<\/p>\n

Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar:<\/strong> We set our chairs down to watch this brass band.\u00a0 What we heard for the first 10 minutes was band practice or sound check.\u00a0 At some point Gus and I joked that it would be awesome if their whole performance was just an extended sound check.\u00a0 While there, i caught a glimpse of one of Liz’s old roommates from Orlando.\u00a0 I didn’t bother getting up to say hello.\u00a0 I probably should have though.\u00a0 I guess I’m lazy.\u00a0 Finally, the band starts playing what sounds like Oompapa, Marching Band, Brass Craziness.\u00a0 So gus quips…\u00a0 “This is the music I hear in my head when I have sex!”\u00a0 ’nuff said.<\/p>\n

Titus Andronicus:<\/strong> Didn’t get to hear the whole set because of rain, but what I heard wasn’t bad.\u00a0 Not exactly something I would go break down the doors at the local record shop for, but I liked it OK.\u00a0 Sloppy in parts, but in a good way.\u00a0 The lead singer had a very thick beard for such a small man.\u00a0 A couple of songs in it began to rain.\u00a0 We thought we were slick with our fold-up transformer camp chairs.\u00a0 Mother Nature taught us a lesson instead.\u00a0 If it looks rainy, get an umbrella, fool!\u00a0 In other news, an older chap had a fold-up chair as well, but his had the added feature of including a rain canopy of sorts.\u00a0 How cool is that?!?<\/p>\n

Caribou<\/strong>:\u00a0 This guy came to Champaign-Urbana earlier this year, but I didn’t get to see him then, but I was intrigued by the music then… and watching it performed live was definitely a treat.\u00a0 Two drummers that layered each other well.\u00a0 Lots of interesting sounds all around.\u00a0 Very mellow.\u00a0 Something I need to find at my local independent music retailer.<\/p>\n

Fleet Foxes<\/strong>:\u00a0 I didn’t get to watch this band, but I heard it from a distance as I bought food and drank beer.\u00a0 What’s a music festival without beer?\u00a0 Seriously though.\u00a0 The music sounded nice.\u00a0 I think it’s something Liz would like more than me.\u00a0 I can also see my buddy Jesse Dean digging these guys if the lyrics are good.<\/p>\n

Fuck Buttons<\/strong>:\u00a0 I really liked these guys.\u00a0 Kinda drony elecronic stuff, but not annoyingly so.\u00a0 There is no crescendo with this type of music… it just continues on building wavelets that feel like they will break over the cliff, but never quite do.\u00a0 It’s the kind of music you can sleep to without much effort.\u00a0 In fact, Gus did just that.\u00a0 That’s not to say it’s boring though.<\/p>\n

Dizzee Rascal<\/strong>:\u00a0 What can I say, this guy was a lot of fun.\u00a0 I had only really heard the one song from him before.\u00a0 I think overall he has a good rapid fire delivery.\u00a0 He doesn’t mumble… and the beats and samples were very good.\u00a0 He also doesn’t take himself too seriously which made his performance very fun to watch.\u00a0 Can anyone say running man?\u00a0 ;) <\/p>\n

Vampire Weekend<\/strong>:\u00a0 Here’s a band that I want to like, but I just can’t wrap my ears around their appeal.\u00a0 People keep telling me that they use these world music rhythms and sounds…\u00a0 but that’s not what I hear.\u00a0 I hear some minimal homage to world music and a lot of bad lyrics with goofy delivery.\u00a0 Don’t get me wrong, I have been a fan of goofy delivery and bad lyrics don’t often bother me… but for some reason Vampire Weekend’s version just doesn’t work for me.\u00a0 Hearing them live didn’t change my mind at all.<\/p>\n

Elf Power<\/strong>:\u00a0 Boring<\/p>\n

!!!:<\/strong> These guys are great performers.\u00a0 The entire band was having a blast up there and you could really tell.\u00a0 I felt that energy despite the fact that I was pretty far back from the stage.\u00a0 Overall, !!!’s music is hit and miss.\u00a0 However, the live performance overcame some of that.\u00a0 These guys know how to bring the party.\u00a0 I would definitely go see them again in a smaller venue.<\/p>\n

Extra Golden<\/strong>:\u00a0 This is for all intents and purposes and Kenyan rock band.\u00a0 Kenyan vocal style and rhythms mixed with rock flavoring.\u00a0 The end result is excellent.\u00a0 If Vampire Weekend could imbue their music with this kind of energy maybe I would dig them.\u00a0 I’ll be keeping an eye out for this disc.\u00a0 I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.<\/p>\n

Atlas Sound<\/strong>:\u00a0 Last year at Pitchfork the band Deerhunter played.\u00a0 Liz loved them.\u00a0 Atlas Sound is just the frontman from Deerhunter.\u00a0 I thought Deerhunter was OK, but this Atlas Sound stuff is excellent.\u00a0 Personally, it’s a must-buy if and when it is available.\u00a0 Cool soundscapes.\u00a0 Mellow with enjoyably surprising things mixed in.<\/p>\n

No Age<\/strong>:\u00a0 Fast, loud and kick ass.\u00a0 Is there anything else to say?\u00a0 No, I didn’t think so.\u00a0 This isn’t the kind of stuff I run out and buy, but man is it refreshing on a hot, muggy, rainy summer day.<\/p>\n

Animal Collective<\/strong>:\u00a0 I’ve never really heard any of their stuff before.\u00a0 These guys give good lightshow, good music and good performance.\u00a0 Gus was pretty excited to see these guys and I can see why.\u00a0 Great stuff which hits me right at the heart of my odd bleeps and bloops meter.<\/p>\n

I missed out on Jarvis Cocker.\u00a0 I wish I had taken a moment to check him out.\u00a0 I also missed out on A Hawk and a Hacksaw which I think Liz would have really enjoyed.\u00a0 Oh well.\u00a0 Maybe these folks will be touring into Champaign-Urbana soon (NOT!).<\/p>\n

After the show, Gus and I headed over to The Bottom Lounge (?).\u00a0 Gus’ friend Chris invited us there for a Pitchfork staff after party.\u00a0 I should note here that Gus knew a number of people at the festival.\u00a0 Chris is also a freelance writer and we hung out with him for a lot of the festival.\u00a0 Great guy.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we headed over there.\u00a0 Chatted with Chris and some other Pitchfork writers.\u00a0 Ate some food.\u00a0 Drank some beer.\u00a0 Rode the L home late.<\/p>\n

And it was around this time that I had a senior moment.\u00a0 We’re waiting for the Green line train to Oak Park.\u00a0 A train comes into the station and we board.\u00a0 About six stops later I realize that we’re on the Pink line.\u00a0 Gah!\u00a0 Poor Gus.\u00a0 I could tell he was ready to crash right then and there.\u00a0 We eventually made it home safe…\u00a0 though tired and wet from the rain.<\/p>\n

All in all, day two of Pitchfork was great.\u00a0 Lots of good music.\u00a0 I felt that good kind of tired where you know you will sleep well.\u00a0 I should also note here that the beds at Longwell Hall were very comfy.\u00a0 They have a nice way of inducing sleep within mere moments of laying your head down on the pillow.<\/p>\n

–sam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published at Kickin’ the new Kuh-nowledge. You can comment here or there. Saturday at Pitchfork would prove to be a sad day for people without umbrellas and galoshes.\u00a0 That there…\u00a0 that’s what they call foreshadowing in the business.\u00a0 Gus and I ate a fine breakfast at the Longwell House.\u00a0 Neil makes some great food…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-movies-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1905,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions\/1905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}