Pitchfork, Day 3
Two years ago, I avoided making a full recap post for Pitchfork's Friday lineup because I didn't have very many nice things to say. I'm currently weighing letting the same rule apply to today (Cut Copy were great, as were Baths). Above all, I realized that whatever I meant to watch at 2:00, it was not actually How to Dress Well (I still cannot sort out what the heck was supposed to be going on there, but it had the biggest, most enthusiastic crowd of the first three acts I saw... which is silly because despite the fact that everyone on stage was a competent-if-not-good musician, it was terrible. It was vapid R&B sung by a falsetto-y white guy, it was a string section so pretentious they actually had a conductor, it was heart-breakingly un-ironic dedications of sappy songs to one's mother, it was... it was... what was it? What???)
I think I just broke the "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" rule, so I might as well give this a go.
1:00 Darkstar, at the Blue Stage. The usual droning sort of techno. The guy wore sunglasses throughout most of the set and avoided eye contact with us, and liked to mime shooting himself in the temple with his index finger. But the music was decent enough for the 1:00 act. Also, I was there early enough that I was only a couple of people back from the stage (hence the observations on what the guy actually looked like.)
1:55 I accidentally watched How to Dress Well. Probably because I was almost right up against the stage and didn't feel like moving because I had a vague desire to actually be able to see things today. There has got to be something I'm missing with this group, because people were way too enthusiastic about it for it to have been as insipid as it sounded. Also: the lead singer was not dressed well. (Though his band was, so maybe it's like the one good barber in town having a terrible haircut. Though one would presume the guy has a mirror and doesnt let his band dress him.) I definitely should've gone to see Yuck.
2:50 Twin Sister. This was billed as some sort of "hypnotic pop." It was hypnotic, and was certainly interesting--the lead singer was about 5'3 and had almost knee-length blue hair, and sounded a little bit like Emily Haines, only younger and less tough. Not bad, though. And a welcome reprieve from How to Dress Well (I might decide to consider them my enemy.)
3:45 (Still at the Blue Stage) I had Shabazz Palaces on my schedule mostly so I wouldn't have to see OFWKTA. Unfortunately, the stage was running late and I got to hear the copious amounts of cursing wafting over from their set anyway. Most of what I could hear was swears, and the only complete lyric I remember was "something something shut up b*tch". Lovely music. (Though word on the street is that they secretly brought cupcakes to Between Friends (in the last paragraph there), which I'm sure they did to throw their callous exteriors into sharp relief.) But Shabazz Palaces weren't bad. I don't remember most of their set, though, because by this point I was getting kind of hungry and wandered over to get some food.
4:15 Which, for whatever reason, motivated me to go over and see Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti (possibly because everyone kept mentioning them). The little Pitchfork write-up said "pop surrealist" so I wasn't really expecting grungy, growly stuff. It was actually pretty terrible, and whoever was doing their sound was the only person I heard screw things up on the Green Stage all weekend. (I don't think the feedback was intentional, at least.)
4:45 So then it was back to the Blue Stage for Baths, who were actually catchy. Kind of like Animal Collective chilled out a little bit and without the screeching and a little more glitchy sampling. I was still worn out enough that I sat down for most of the set, but it was good. I'll have to get a hold of some of the mp3s.
5:15 It's really nice that they staggered the times this year, so you could get away with wandering back and forth between stages and, if you were ambitious, you could see almost everything. So I caught a bit of Superchunk. But it was boring, so this became my dinner set.
5:45 I grabbed a pretzel and sat down by the Blue Stage for Kylesa, just because I knew there would be places to sit on the grass, since most people were listening to Superchunk. They were billed as a "hardcore with a touch of psychedelia" sort of group, and I can see that. But this is where things get a little embarrassing for me. Because I actually kind of dozed off. And by kind of, I mean actually leaned forward and didn't really notice most of the set. Oops. (I guess if I slept through the one "hardcore" act of the day I must've been very tired.
6:45 (I skipped Deerhunter at 6:15 because I'd already seen them, and because I was sleeping.) Then there was Toro Y Moi, which was pretty much as classifiable as everyone said it would be. I didn't find it terribly exciting, but it wasn't bad. I stayed for the whole set, which I'd only willingly done for two bands up to that point, so that's something.
7:25 Cut Copy! A breath of fresh air! It actually took them until the third song to really get going, but their set was easily the best of the day. People were dancing all the way back through the crowd, they had a good rapport with us... and they sounded great, despite being on the Red Stage... which apparently they figured out the sound on. In time for the very last act on it. But whatever, it was good, so I'm happy.
8:30 And finally it was TV On the Radio. And I'll begin this with a disclaimer: I was tired, and sunburned (despite copious amounts of SPF50 sunscreen and a decent base tan) and really sick of pot smoke. But I'm not entirely sure what band showed up to play TV on the Radio's set. Because it took them five songs to play anything that sounded recognizable to me, and in the end they only played three songs total that sounded anything like the versions I'd heard before. It wasn't a bad set by any means--in fact, it sounded quite good. It just sounded nothing like the TV on the Radio I was expecting to hear. I actually almost left a couple of times, and kept moving farther and farther back in the crowd. I finally ended up just past the edge of the crowd, and watching everyone dance around to the last few songs helped my grouchy mood immensely.
All in all, today was kind of a confusing, hit-or-miss sort of day. But well worth it anyway, just because it was fun and I heard a lot of things I wouldn't otherwise have heard (and one thing I hope to never hear again). Next year, though, I am going to remember the trick to the Blue Stage: wiggle back past the beer/water tents and head down along the far fence. There are always places to sit because most people don't breach the first line of people. Also... overall comments. They gave away free water all day to people near the fronts of the stages, which I thought was awesome (it was 90-some degrees with humidity that made it more like 100 today... I drank just shy of a full gallon of water). The crowd was way nicer than two years ago (and way higher, and way dancier. There may be a relation between these things). I just wish they'd curated Sunday's lineup a little better. Maybe dumped OFWKTA, moved TV on the Radio up a spot or two, and thrown in a more solid closer. (Then again, I left early during the National last time I went, so take my comments on closing acts with a grain of salt, or several. You can trust me on the How to Dress Well thing, though. But if you happen have them figured out, please let me know, because I am so very confused.)
I think I just broke the "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" rule, so I might as well give this a go.
1:00 Darkstar, at the Blue Stage. The usual droning sort of techno. The guy wore sunglasses throughout most of the set and avoided eye contact with us, and liked to mime shooting himself in the temple with his index finger. But the music was decent enough for the 1:00 act. Also, I was there early enough that I was only a couple of people back from the stage (hence the observations on what the guy actually looked like.)
1:55 I accidentally watched How to Dress Well. Probably because I was almost right up against the stage and didn't feel like moving because I had a vague desire to actually be able to see things today. There has got to be something I'm missing with this group, because people were way too enthusiastic about it for it to have been as insipid as it sounded. Also: the lead singer was not dressed well. (Though his band was, so maybe it's like the one good barber in town having a terrible haircut. Though one would presume the guy has a mirror and doesnt let his band dress him.) I definitely should've gone to see Yuck.
2:50 Twin Sister. This was billed as some sort of "hypnotic pop." It was hypnotic, and was certainly interesting--the lead singer was about 5'3 and had almost knee-length blue hair, and sounded a little bit like Emily Haines, only younger and less tough. Not bad, though. And a welcome reprieve from How to Dress Well (I might decide to consider them my enemy.)
3:45 (Still at the Blue Stage) I had Shabazz Palaces on my schedule mostly so I wouldn't have to see OFWKTA. Unfortunately, the stage was running late and I got to hear the copious amounts of cursing wafting over from their set anyway. Most of what I could hear was swears, and the only complete lyric I remember was "something something shut up b*tch". Lovely music. (Though word on the street is that they secretly brought cupcakes to Between Friends (in the last paragraph there), which I'm sure they did to throw their callous exteriors into sharp relief.) But Shabazz Palaces weren't bad. I don't remember most of their set, though, because by this point I was getting kind of hungry and wandered over to get some food.
4:15 Which, for whatever reason, motivated me to go over and see Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti (possibly because everyone kept mentioning them). The little Pitchfork write-up said "pop surrealist" so I wasn't really expecting grungy, growly stuff. It was actually pretty terrible, and whoever was doing their sound was the only person I heard screw things up on the Green Stage all weekend. (I don't think the feedback was intentional, at least.)
4:45 So then it was back to the Blue Stage for Baths, who were actually catchy. Kind of like Animal Collective chilled out a little bit and without the screeching and a little more glitchy sampling. I was still worn out enough that I sat down for most of the set, but it was good. I'll have to get a hold of some of the mp3s.
5:15 It's really nice that they staggered the times this year, so you could get away with wandering back and forth between stages and, if you were ambitious, you could see almost everything. So I caught a bit of Superchunk. But it was boring, so this became my dinner set.
5:45 I grabbed a pretzel and sat down by the Blue Stage for Kylesa, just because I knew there would be places to sit on the grass, since most people were listening to Superchunk. They were billed as a "hardcore with a touch of psychedelia" sort of group, and I can see that. But this is where things get a little embarrassing for me. Because I actually kind of dozed off. And by kind of, I mean actually leaned forward and didn't really notice most of the set. Oops. (I guess if I slept through the one "hardcore" act of the day I must've been very tired.
6:45 (I skipped Deerhunter at 6:15 because I'd already seen them, and because I was sleeping.) Then there was Toro Y Moi, which was pretty much as classifiable as everyone said it would be. I didn't find it terribly exciting, but it wasn't bad. I stayed for the whole set, which I'd only willingly done for two bands up to that point, so that's something.
7:25 Cut Copy! A breath of fresh air! It actually took them until the third song to really get going, but their set was easily the best of the day. People were dancing all the way back through the crowd, they had a good rapport with us... and they sounded great, despite being on the Red Stage... which apparently they figured out the sound on. In time for the very last act on it. But whatever, it was good, so I'm happy.
8:30 And finally it was TV On the Radio. And I'll begin this with a disclaimer: I was tired, and sunburned (despite copious amounts of SPF50 sunscreen and a decent base tan) and really sick of pot smoke. But I'm not entirely sure what band showed up to play TV on the Radio's set. Because it took them five songs to play anything that sounded recognizable to me, and in the end they only played three songs total that sounded anything like the versions I'd heard before. It wasn't a bad set by any means--in fact, it sounded quite good. It just sounded nothing like the TV on the Radio I was expecting to hear. I actually almost left a couple of times, and kept moving farther and farther back in the crowd. I finally ended up just past the edge of the crowd, and watching everyone dance around to the last few songs helped my grouchy mood immensely.
All in all, today was kind of a confusing, hit-or-miss sort of day. But well worth it anyway, just because it was fun and I heard a lot of things I wouldn't otherwise have heard (and one thing I hope to never hear again). Next year, though, I am going to remember the trick to the Blue Stage: wiggle back past the beer/water tents and head down along the far fence. There are always places to sit because most people don't breach the first line of people. Also... overall comments. They gave away free water all day to people near the fronts of the stages, which I thought was awesome (it was 90-some degrees with humidity that made it more like 100 today... I drank just shy of a full gallon of water). The crowd was way nicer than two years ago (and way higher, and way dancier. There may be a relation between these things). I just wish they'd curated Sunday's lineup a little better. Maybe dumped OFWKTA, moved TV on the Radio up a spot or two, and thrown in a more solid closer. (Then again, I left early during the National last time I went, so take my comments on closing acts with a grain of salt, or several. You can trust me on the How to Dress Well thing, though. But if you happen have them figured out, please let me know, because I am so very confused.)