Oh it was a great Pitchfork. At what other festival do you get a chance to see punk legends Wire do their thing one day, and the next catch rap’s hottest collaborators El-P and Killer Mike perform together as Run The Jewels? Or have the chance to see artists on the rise and witness the reasons why they are, like Devonté Hynes of Blood Orange who has the voice of a soul singer and guitar mastery to match, or Merchandise, who made one of my favorite albums of last year. There were also plenty of bands who will be making appearances at Pygmalion, including Metz, Foxygen, The Breeders and Yo La Tengo. Below are photos and reviews of some of our favorite sets from Pitchfork 2013.
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Best new find: KEN Mode
I made the tough decision to skip White Lung’s set on Saturday and catch heavier Canadians, KEN Mode, purely based on what I had heard about them. I’m glad I did. These guys have been around the underground metal scene and lucky for me, a newcomer to their music, it seems their performance has been perfected over their ten-year existence. KEN (Kill Everything Now) Mode play sludge metal that hints at hardcore, with a low and heavy sound persisting throughout each song. The three-piece even opted out of having guitar in some of their songs, instead using two basses. The stage presence was also very natural, with singer and guitarist Jesse Matthewson practically using his stomping foot as another instrument and all band members head banging throughout. That persisted throughout the set, until the last song when KEN Mode became the backing band as Stavros Giannopoulos of Chicago’s The Atlas Moth took over vocal duties to end the show.
Best rock show: Pissed Jeans
I’ve been waiting very patiently for my chance to see Pennsylvania punks Pissed Jeans, and even though there is always an element of weirdness when this kind of band plays an outdoor festival, I was not disappointed at all. Frontman Matt Korvette supplemented the sunny outdoor set with jokes about how much the band was getting paid for playing Pitchfork. You can imagine the kind of stage banter and antics you’d get from someone who writes such punchy lyrics. It includes sticking his tongue out at videographers, ripping off two Tito’s Vodka shirts (“If you’re going to drink irresponsibly, make it a Tito’s!”), taking out his phone to snap a photo of a photographer he caught doing the same thing to him, and lest I forget to mention, making the most menacing drunken, devilish sneer appear on his reddened face as he performed. Songs from the band’s latest album, Honeys, came through nicely in the live setting, but frothing mosh pit reached its maximum heat during “False Jesii Part 2.” It was perhaps the most energetic performance of the weekend, and definitely my favorite punk show.
Best electronic show: Andy Stott
Seeing Andy Stott was like finding one of those portkeys from Harry Potter – a device that transports you to a completely different place. In the case of this show, the portkey took everyone there into whatever industrial landscape Andy Stott creates around you each time you listen to his music. His Pitchfork performance was all-encompasing, showing his true mastery as a producer. Hearing Andy Stott live is a reminder of how much music can truly warp your emotions, frighten you and even make you dance at the same time.
Best weather: Yo La Tengo
There aren’t many bands that have been making innovative music as long as Yo La Tengo has, and there certainly aren’t very many that have the range of material that they do. Yo La Tengo have written quiet folk songs; they jam on epic krautrock masterpieces; and they have an abundance of quality shoegaze tracks as well. In their live performance, they harness the diversity of their catalogue. Their set, which was accompanied the most pleasant mix of cooling rain and sunshine, started off mellow with a track off 2013’s Fade, “Stupid Things” and built momentum through “Autumn Sweater” and “Ohm” until Ira Kaplan wasn’t strumming his guitar anymore but rather waving it over his head and around his body, making seemingly deliberate noises with it. It was a showcase of all the music this band was capable of producing over the course of their nearly 30-year existence, and are still capable of rocking the shit out of live.
Best way to end Pitchfork: R. Kelly
R. Kelly put on my favorite headlining set at pitchfork this year, narrowly edging out Bjork, whose show was cut short due to weather. Looking back at Sunday’s headliner last year, Vampire Weekend, Kells’s set was much more in the spirit of partying, compared to the sleep-inducing boring indie rock that Vampire Weekend somehow continue to make. The last show of Pitchfork included but was not limited to: a massive sing-along to “Ignition Remix,” plenty of dancing with and hugging strangers, 36 songs and the release of hundreds of fake dove-balloons into the sky during “I Believe I Can Fly.”
Best aftershow: Parquet Courts/Protomartyr
Okay, so I only went to two aftershows (not bad for a three day festival, right?) and this one was my favorite (the other one being an unfortunate performance by White Lung in which Mish Way had pretty much lost her voice). Protomartyr are a band from Detroit, the recently bankrupt butthole of Michigan (sorry, Detroitians), and they work toward proving the theory that shittiness indeed yields the best punk rock music. I’ve been rocking their album All Passion, No Technique in the past weeks and I was impressed with what they do live. Good execution and that don’t-give-a-fuck attitude that rings true with every jaded, hateful music lover out there.
Parquet Courts played a solid set – although I wish they made it a little less similar than what they did at the festival. They really only have one album they play most songs off of, and have been playing a few new ones as well, but overall I guess they just don’t have that much to work with yet. A good crowd, however, made up for that. Bouncing around during “Borrowed Time” and taking in jamming tangents the band went on during “Stoned and Starving” made this show unserious and over all a really fun time.