RUNNING DOWNHILL PRESENTS
PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL PREVIEW: SUNDAY
The Flaming Lips - Balloons! Yay! Wait, shouldn’t these geezers be playing Friday night?
Sometimes I listen to The Soft Bulletin, and I remember the halcyon days of yore. I still fucking love that record.
M83 - Songs about teenage girls as performed by a super short, creepy French dude. If there was ever an argument about the negative effect of John Hughes films on foreign youth culture, this is it.
This is the musical version of the French guy in “Son of Rambow.” Especially in that it makes me wistful for all those happy summer days before school started again that never really existed.
Listening to M83 reminds me of the time I dreamed that I was dating Molly Ringwald, so yes.
Grizzly Bear - Another in a long line of bands that I’m convinced Pitchfork invented (see: The Decemberists, The Arcade Fire, etc.). What’s the connection you ask? They all suck, of course!
Everybody’s naming their bands after nature these days and I’m pretty sure I’ve hated every one of them.
“Two Weeks”: enjoyed it, kind of Jeff Lynne-ish. “Knife” was boring. Conclusion: I don’t think “Grizzly” is the right type of bear for this band to name themselves after.
The Thermals - I’ve got some friends who really like this band. I haven’t heard anything they’ve done recently, but they always struck me as that sliver of pop-punk stuff that managed to be decent.
Never heard of ‘em.
They have a punchy sort of guitar sound to which I’m very partial, and their drummer relies heavily on the ride cymbal and open hi-hats, which I also love quite a bit. Vocals just on the right side of whiny. Fans maybe/maybe not just on the right side of whiny, but I’ve never met anyone that I knew to be a Thermals fan, which probably says a lot about my social life.
Women – Hard to pin down Canadians, somewhere between This Heat (nonsense, noise) and 60s-pop (hooks). Hopefully they’ve improved since I saw them a few months back (almost sleep inducing).
Never heard of ‘em.
Sounds like a 60s girl group 45 played at 33 1/3. These guys need to play about ten times faster.
Blitzen Trapper - God, is there a bigger joke of a record label in 2009 than Sub Pop? Seriously I’m gagging at the sight and sound of their MySpace. How can people sleep at night knowing people are listening to this?
Never heard of ‘em.
These guys learned all the wrong lessons from The Band and…from Eels? I’m confused, now. Treading dangerously close to Blues Traveler harmonica sound, too. TIP: harmonica should either be completely hobo-ish and not processed at all, or it should be loud and outrageous as fuck, not somewhere in between in the John Popper-no-man’s-land of inoffensive boredom.
Vivian Girls - Their live show is utter crap. They sure are cute though, right boys?
Not as cute as Marnie Stern.
Never heard of ‘em.
The Walkmen – 2002 called, it wants you to come back to where you belong (on The O.C., naturally).
Never heard of ‘em.
I listened to one track on their 2004 album at the Virgin Megastore and fell asleep in public for the first time since I was a baby.
Pharaohe Monch - My intention here was to link to a YouTube clip of Pharaohe at his finest, with Organized Konfusion on “Bring It On”, but for some reason the only version up is some wack remix shit. It’s cool though, the “Stress” video will serve the purpose (PM on the 2nd verse) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbFVp6ifTOw
Heard of him. Sweet!
This guy is…goodness me. Up there with the best…maybe he IS the best blend of early 70s R&B strings with hip-hop that I’ve heard (I’m not the most well-versed). It saddens me that this guy probably sells about one LP for every 10,000 that Usher sells. Could do with a little less of the Steve Wonder vocal runs, though; seriously, contemp R&B: cut it out with that shit. Exactly two people have ever been able to pull off those runs without sounding like a dying puma.
Japandroids – Better than Japanther! And that’s a promise.
“Japan” is the new “Ska.” As in “Skandroids” and “Skapanther” and “Skapone” and “Mephiskapheles.”
Better, even, than S.W.E.E.T.J.A.P. ???
Michael Columbia - Synth weirdness from Chicago. Gotta recommend via hometown discount, and because hey, this stuff is pretty good!
Pretty good, indeed. Sounds like they’re having fun, which is half the battle.
Killer Whales – Goofy, reggae/afro-type rock with falsetto vox from some Chicagoans. It’s strange enough to be inoffensive (in that white guys being afro way). I’d never heard of them before, and now I have. What does this have to do with Pitchfork Festival? Nothing.
Apparently there is one pod of killer whales in Puget Sound that has learned to help whaling vessels corral a humpback into a bay, after which the whaling crew tosses back the parts of the humpback they don’t use. What does this have to with Pitchfork Festival? It’s a metaphor.
DJ/rupture - Every time I type “DJ /rupture” into an AIM box with my friend Alex, his computer crashes. Seriously. Once I typed “+Eisenhower” (or maybe “Eisenhower+”) and that also crashed his computer. The world works in mysterious ways.
Seriously hilarious Bjork/Diddy animated .gif on these guys’ (this guy’s?) myspace. The more atmospheric stuff is much better than the stuff with heavy beats and vocoded singing. God, I hate vocoders and all that shit. See Pharaohe Monch entry re: vocal runs.
Mew – Looks like the booking agents from Lollapalooza and Pitchfork got their papers mixed up again.
I don’t know what that means, Marsh, but I do know that these guys sound like a Lincoln Navigator commercial.
The Mae Shi – Annoying, wacky noise rockers. Their 2008 album HLLLYH totally ripped, even though it was the millionth concept album about Jesus/The Bible ever recorded. Seems like they’d be good live.
Little too much whine for me, but the enthusiasm is great.
Dianogah - Sounds like out of date Chicago post-punk. So like, Cap’n Jazz, but now. Odd, isn’t it? Proceed with caution.
Can’t pronounce, don’t see it – that’s what I always say.
Frightened Rabbit – Scotland used to have good bands, I swear.
Their myspace page says “snow makes for better tans.” What the fuck does that even mean? Are these guys really into surface albedo and glare, or are they just…what the fuck, guys? I’m from Minnesota, and I can tell you that snow does NOT make for better tans. Selkirk may get some light snow, guys, but let’s get real, here. Also, your music is boring and too sincere.
I’m crying from laughing and I’m not ashamed that I actually like of the above said music.
Well, you’d sort of have to because of where you reside, no?