Pitchfork Festival Recap

A brief recap of the ups and downs of this weekends festivities through my slightly more intoxicated eyes...I'm sure Sam will have plenty to add later

The Very Best (Sunday Night)

I'll come right out with this one and say that this was my favorite performance of the weekend. Stacked up against the Flaming Lips for the final spot on Sunday night, the team of Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit had a tough draw, but Pitchfork seemed to know what they were doing with this one. At the start of the show there were probably only several hundred people at the already small stage; standing at the very back we were only 20 feet from the stage. But Radioclit did a great job of getting the crowd hyped and by the time Esau came out people were in a relative frenzy. The crowds had been relatively sedate all weekend, but this turned into a full on dance party pretty quickly and after just a few songs the section completely filled out with what are sure to be The Very Best converts. Esau Mwamwaya has got to be one of the most infectious and enthusiastic performers out there today. He was so genuinely happy to be performing and grateful for everyone that showed up, it was hard not share in his excitement; a much needed fresh face in a sometimes stifling world of overly entitled white Brooklyn men. Near the end of the performance London Brooklyn MC (thanks rob) and CotP favorite, Theophilus London, another fresh face on the scene, showed up to do a few verses over "The Warm Heart of Africa". For an encore, they broke out "Will You Be There" as a mini MJ tribute, which quite predictably sent the crowd over the edge and is one of the standout moments from the festival. I can't wait to see what is in store for Esau and The Very Best, but after this weekend I have no doubt that it will be all good.

mp3:The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (Ft. Ezra Koenig)

Yeasayer (Saturday)

There have been a ton of bands from Brooklyn in the past couple of years that have released records I absolutely loved at the time, but have since fallen into obscurity. One of the few to stick around was the long-player, All Hour Cymbals from Yeasayer. They've got an undeniable energy that continues to reveal itself after countless plays. I saw the guys play under somewhat odd circumstances once already, so I was excited to see them in a larger setting where they could really rock out. They display an unbelievable ease on stage for a relatively new band. You can just tell they are having fun up there (the lead singer was wearing a short-sleeved jumpsuit, awesome!) and it translates into a very confident and exciting performance. All there old stand-bys killed and a few new tracks hinted a strong progression since All Hour Cymbals. They even went so far as to boast one as "the summer jam of 2010". Its not hard to imagine that coming true.

mp3:Yeasayer - Wait For the Summer

DJ /rupture (Sunday) and LindstrØm (Saturday)

How does that old addage go? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Sadly I fell into the later category with Dj/rupture and LindstrØm this weekend. I just happened to catch the end of Lindstroms set trying to show up early for the next performer, but couldn't have been happier. I had imagined his sound to be much more ambient and mellow than the dancefloor ready jams that I stumbled into. It was just the shot of energy I needed after a relatively low-key morning filled with bands like the Bowerdbirds and the Antlers. The whole weekend was surprisingly lacking in the DJ-electronic category so I vowed not to miss my next opportunity after having such a blast at Lindstrom. Well, shame on me because come Sunday I decided to skip out on DJ/Rupture, but was again lucky enough to catch the final minutes trying to get early to the Japandroids. I wasn't really familiar with his sound prior to the show, but he was spinning some unbelievably cool brand of dub-step that I lack any ability to describe, other than to say it was awesome (sorry dub-step is far from my expertise). Lesson learned though and in the future I will make sure to hit up as many DJ's at these things as possible, because lets be honest, shows where you can shake your ass outdoors in a huge crowd of people are always more fun than the ones you can only nod along to.

mp3:DJ /rupture - Reef

Other Random Parting Thoughts

You would be hard pressed to find a more satisfying experience than feeling a little fuzzy and watching M83 at sunset in perfect weather after a long weekend of tunes. The Flaming Lips are hugely disappointing live. To be fair I only caught the tail end, but check out J Neas' recap over at Aquarium Drunkard, who shares my sentiments almost exactly. Don't worry J, you weren't the only one feeling a bit let down. The National are quite the opposite. They were a perfect closer to a long day of music Saturday. I always forget what an incredible album Boxer is and can report it sounds just as good live. Frightened Rabbit are a band to keep an eye on. After watching their performance I have finally gone back to give Midnight Organ Fight a chance and have instantly fallen in love with it. On the other end of the spectrum, I want to hate Matt and Kim's twee brand of post-punk, but I simply can not. They are the most genuinely happy pair of performers I have ever seen. They infect you with energy and happiness, it is just horrible...horrible!

mp3:M83 - Couleurs
mp3:The National - Apartment Story
mp3:Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper

All in all it was a fantastic weekend. Kudos to the P4K gang for putting together a highly enjoyable festival experience. Far more manageable than any other festival I have been to in recent memory. Highly recommended come next year, I already got one co-worker on board.