Ireland, Suburban Kids

So I leave for Ireland with the family for two weeks this evening. Almost my entire mom’s side of the family is going, so it should be quite interesting. I may or may not find the time or convenience to blog from there. If not, I’ll be back for August.

Turns out that the wonderful Suburban Kids With Biblical Names are playing three shows in Ireland while I’m there. They played an incredible show at Bowdoin this past spring, and that was the first time they’d ever been to America, so I don’t know when my next chance to see these Swedes could be. I’m going to try my hardest to make it to the show in Galway on the 26th.

Sears Tower, Future Pyramid

So, the lineup wasn’t as wildly enticing as other years at Pitchfork or other festivals this summer, but there was some beautiful weather, fantastic people-watching, and some great acts. I’m leaving for Ireland with the family tomorrow, so I really don’t have time to give a full description of the weekend in Chicago, nor do I think my audience cares that much. However, I will give a quick, pictorially guided roundup of the more noteworthy sights and sounds of the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival.

You can check out the lineup on the festival’s website, but Saturday was significantly less impressive music-wise than Sunday. Also note that photos from inside the festival were taken with my point and shoot camera, so they will not be nearly as cool as the shots from my new camera. Nevertheless…

The Squad:

Saturday:

Professor Murder

He was the first person we saw who was having a great time performing, the music was fun and danceable, and well, he’d probably still be a highlight even if that all wasn’t true because his band is called Professor Murder. Yellowbeard fans have permission to enjoy that name a little extra. Know who else likes Professor Murder? Evan Wheeler’s fatter and taller self. The front man was foaming at the mouth he was so into his performance. He also would jabber on about ridiculous things through heavy reverb in between songs. You really couldn’t understand most of it, but one of his tirades included something about beanie babies. After one song finished, he said, “All of you that were just singing along owe me a coke. I just jinxed you.”

Dan Deacon

Unfortunately, this is about all I saw during his performance, because he decided to perform on the ground in front of the stage rather than on stage. This was also right before Girl Talk, so the crowd was growing and active. They actually had to stop his show early because of dangerous crowding, one of the many reasons the side stage was a terrible setup. However, the music was synthy and catchy, it was like a more accessible Mathematicians show. At the start, he had the entire crowd yell one word (was it “yes”?) 8 or 9 times, I forget, then yell “Sears Tower, Future Pyramid,” using one full long breath for each syllable. I think he would tour very successfully with the Mathematicians, and its a show I’d go to, we just all wish he would get on the damn stage so more than 10 people could see him, and so the sound guys could turn up his mic enough for us to hear him without feeding back like crazy. Eccentric performers not understanding audio equipment frustrate me.

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono was terrible. I don’t even want to get into it. She was bleating. Yes, like a lamb. Bleating.

Worst headliner ever.

Sunday:

Deerhunter

These guys’ sound is much better fitted for album listening, and I would say the same about Saturday’s Grizzly Bear show as well. Their front man was freakishly skinny and wearing a gold dress, but honestly he wasn’t very bad to listen to.

Menomena

I really liked these guys. There’s something very badass about having a huge sax around your neck and relying on it only intermittently. Their arrangements were really interesting and they got the large crowd into it considering their afternoon time slot. Their drummer was awesome.

Jamie Lidell

I don’t have a picture of his performance, but it was one of the best of the weekend by far. Jamie Lidell mixes laptop electronic mixing with his own blend of funk and soul. He was an extremely soulful singer and his outfit could be described as hobo-superstar. He was wearing what may have been a burger king crown with long, shiny, golden streamers coming out of it, huge nerd glasses, and a leopard print robe on top of white pajamas. But he had soul. I couldn’t recommend seeing him live more.

Of Montreal

These were the guys I came to see, and they did not disappoint. Their outfits were ridiculous and kept changing. There were theatrical aspects of their show I really couldn’t describe effectively. Just check out the flickr set and try to make out what happened. They played a lot of their most recent album, as well as one or two unrecorded newer songs. From older albums, they played “Crissie kissed the corpse,” and closed with the song I’d been playing a lot lately on my ipod, “The party’s crashing us.” I might link to a short video here if I get around to uploading it.

The New Pornographers

Of course, they had to put the two bands I really came to see back to back on different stages so I couldn’t possibly get close to both of them. Nevertheless, the New Pornographers put on a great show, spreading their song selection out more than Of Montreal, playing “Mass Romantic,” “The Laws Have Changed,” and several songs from Twin Cinema. They only played a couple of songs from the new album, Challengers, and I can’t complain. I already like the new album better than I did on my first listen, but I’m still not psyched to hear it front to back live. It doesn’t carry the same energy that really defined their sound in the first three albums.

After the New Pornographers’ set, we headed to get some posters. Unfortunately the posters I made a mental note about picking up earlier in the afternoon were gone by the time I returned to claim them, but I got a nice Camera Obscura poster anyway. These poster booths were awesome. I wanted to take everything home. Everything.

And in closing, here’s a picture of the booth Anna and I bought our posters from:

Spoon at Rockefeller Park, 7-11-07

I’d never seen Spoon before, so I couldn’t turn down a free show in New York. I was rushing to the train directly from work, changed everything but my pants (including my shoes and socks) while driving to the station. Halfway down into New York we noticed the forecasted “scattered thunderstorms” were actually a river of rainwater pouring off the side of the train. It was on and off pouring up until we left the haven of a pizzeria to make our way to the stage and we had zero for rain gear.

As an aside, I saw the main actress from the realist and awkward indie flick “Mutual Appreciation,” starring Justin Rice from Bishop Allen, in the pizza place we had dinner and then again out on the sidewalk. I’ve consciously avoided speaking to people I recognize who I don’t know personally out of respect for their privacy (like at the Teeth show in the Mercury Lounge this summer when I saw The Office’s B.J. Novak, I just stared enough to confirm it was him), but I realize afterwards that she probably doesn’t get that every day and might have appreciated a little hello. On the other hand, maybe her hipster heart would be crushed that her film had enough exposure that I had seen it. Oh well.

The rain was light, and there were tarps over the equipment. The stage was far less protected than I was anticipating, and the clouds were threatening. After some time for the equipment to dry off and some sound checking, the show started, but we were warned that if it started raining again the show would stop for good.

The show was kicked off and the crowd was relatively nervous about the impending rain for about three or four songs. The band had no trouble loosening up, though. They put on a great show, playing over half of their new release Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Karina joined us a few songs in, but just in time to hear “I turn my camera on.” I was very impressed by their ability to fill the air and really churn up energy out of their simple arrangements. The singer was confident and solid. Karina, having seen them before, was impressed by their ability to look so uncool. It may have been stupid to bring my camera into a rainy concert without any more protection than my camera case, but I think I got some decent shots off despite never switching shooting angles or really taking it too seriously. Also, I wasn’t that close, so for the closest pictures, my zoom was pretty much all the way out, so I’m pretty happy with their clarity.

Spoon is one of those bands that I’m pretty sure I should really love. They have all the attributes of a band I’d be really into: they are upbeat, simple, catchy rock with really solid, almost too good vocals. But for some reason I’ve never been able to really invest energy or time into listening to them. I feel like unfortunately every time that I try, their songs just run together and the vocals all start sounding the same to me. I think Karina put it well at the show: they have great verses and great bridges, just no choruses. They often lack the verse to chorus upswing that makes songs really stick with me.

Nevertheless they had a really tight performance and hit a really good groove. Although they said very little to the audience other than “Hello New York… where did you guys go when it was raining?,” their overall vibe, as well as their horn section, was casual. Unfortunately the relaxation was interrupted by rain, and they played their “last song” which ended up being their last song (no quotation marks). The rain had even stopped and they didn’t come back out. I can’t remember the last major concert I’ve been to where the main act didn’t encore at all. This show: no opener, 45 minute set, no encore.

One problem we experienced, which is true for outdoor shows in general, was that for some in the audience it was more of a social event than a concert. I would really like to see them again in a small club where the sound just surrounds you. I’ve never liked outdoor acoustics. But not a bad warm up to a weekend of outdoor concerts at Pitchfork.

Bad Archer

1Ups would be so…. much….. fun….

Common Dignity

Savannah Pictures Up, no Spoon yet

New on flickr: Visit to Vassar on John’s birthday, Savannah on spring break, St. Paul MN to see Jess Grover, Ladies’ Sectionals, party at red brick. If there are family members checking out my spring break photos, remember that these are all trained professionals.

I just didn’t have time to weed through all the pictures and put a respectable few from the Spoon concert on flickr, so I’m going to have to wait till after this weekend in Chicago. There were some good ones, though. However, I finally got my entire semester’s worth of pictures off of my Nikon Coolpix point-and-shoot and threw them onto flickr so that I’d have a clean memory card for pitchfork. Unfortunately I can only take the point-and-shoot into the festival itself, they don’t allow cameras with removable lenses.

While I’m still excited to see them for the first time, I just heard the new New Pornographers album Challengers, and I am not impressed. Not exactly “rocking.” Its all, and I mean pretty much every freakin song, slow-medium paced and pretty low energy which is frustrating. That was also just after 1-2 listens, so we’ll see if it grows on me.

Pitchfork anticipation

So I’m in for some serious concert action in the next week. Tomorrow night (as well as tonight) there is a free Spoon concert in NYC. I will be there tomorrow with Liz, brother John, and brother John’s esteemed pal Buffa.

Paul Buffa is 8 feet tall.

Paul Buffa can drink 16 beers.

Despite a free Spoon concert, I’m actually more excited for this upcoming weekend. How can this be? Because I am going to the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. The lineup looks pretty great. I’m pretty unfamiliar with probably a little less than half the acts, there are some names I’ve heard thrown around but haven’t gotten a chance to listen to, so it could go either way for the majority of them. However, the main events for me will be to see Of Montreal as well as The New Pornographers. (I know both those links are crappy live footage youTube videos, but who doesn’t watch and re-watch that crap sometimes?, plus they’re both songs I really like) Together, they completely encapsulate the super poppy but not at all run of the mill style I’ve been enjoying lately. Despite being featured in Outback Steakhouse’s latest add campaign, I’m really psyched to see Of Montreal because they are fabled to have a really tight and fun live show. The New Pornographers, I hear, can be a toss up, often depending on how sober you can keep Dan Bejar and how in tune you can keep Carl Newman’s guitar. Nevertheless, you can expect a full appraisal of my experience here on the blagomurch some time after I return.

The festival itself is extraordinarily cheap. Tickets for 3 days were $50, and my 2-day pass cost $35. That comes out to a dollar and change per band. Amazing. The other thing about this festival that rocks is that on Friday (unfortunately I will miss it) they are having three acts play an entire super-influential album of theirs from start to finish. So Slint will be playing 1991’s Spiderland, Sonic Youth will play 1989’s Daydream Nation, and the GZA will perform 1995’s Liquid Swords. I wish there were more events that did this kind of stuff, and I wish I could attend them. Unfortunately I don’t get into Chicago till later Friday night and will miss these shows. But I do get two days of noon-10pm action.

Accompanying me on my East Coast -> Chicago journey will be the legendary Anna “Duckbear tamer” Conterato. Many thanks to her for offering me a place to sleep, as well as nudging me into actually getting my act together and going. We will rock out.

However, there is someone I haven’t seen in a long time who lives in Chicago, and that is Nutz “Andrew” Fischer. The reputable Anthony Costa and him will be in attendance and there will hopefully be moments when I feel like I’m doing Chicago “Helmreich House Style.” If we don’t do it then we know Wedge will do it next year at UChicago.

In anticipation of seeing Nutz again, I’ve been listening to his podcast, which is damn good. He plays a mix of local Chicago bands, older indie sometimes for educational purposes and sometimes just for the heck of it, and whatever new stuff he can get his hands on that he likes, but in the end it is all the word of the lord, for it is the Rt. Reverend Fischer’s Indie Gospel in the form of a podcast. It can be found on the acclaimed site run by Anthony Costa, vdov. It features contributions from those two gentlemen and a few other people on various subjects, technical, musical or otherwise. Certainly worth checking out.

they actually did it

Bowdoin’s Northern Bites are the World Champions. Who thought they could pull it off?

Check out the finals:

Now, I will be perfectly honest, I wish I was down there to watch them play and celebrate with them. Even Jesse Butterfield, alumnus who joined the team only in the very end of their journey, gets included as team member on Bowdoin’s article. That’s right, I’m calling you out Jesse Butterfield. You are a fraud.

Congratulations to the nBites guys, you earned it.