In the great tradition of Sleeveface (which I have participated in myself), I had to share something I inadvertently noticed concerning bald musicians on album covers while Anni Rossi stopped by our office today to talk shop and, well, album art. Which do you like the best? The above? Or…. this?

Or this?

Lot of love in this club, yes?

Sorry for the dumb bullshit today. Have some lovely MP3s.

MP3 :::
Seefeel – Starethough
Spiritualized – I Think I’m in Love

The King of Amazing Drug and God Songs (and also the King of Pitchfork Music Festival, as you may have read earlier) has some serious Nina Totenberg hang time scheduled. In what I thought at first was spam was actually a rather exciting alert notifying me that Spiritualized’s performance this Friday at DC’s 930 Club will be broadcast live online, courtesy of NPR. When I think of NPR, I certainly don’t think of J Spaceman’s Martian redemption grooves, but I definitely applaud NPR trying to broaden their pallets, givin’ a nod to what us weird kids like.

I don’t think you can hear it on your local soft-spoken news affiliate, but it will be webcast in its entirety at 10 p.m. Eastern / 9 p.m. Central at NPR.org. Go forth!

After two months of flawless weather in Chicago, the climate waited until the most excellent of weekends to unleash her fury, with downpours on Saturday and oppressive, Biblical heat on Sunday. Despite that, Pitchfork Music Festival, by and large, ruled. Though we were all very privileged to see some excellent performances (sans Vampire Weekend… the Decibel Tolls is the only blog with an official “VW sucks it” philosophy), this whole festival belongs to one man, in my opinion.

And that’s Mr. Jason Spaceman…

Remember when I said Boris would be the loudest band at PMF? Wrong! Spiritualized was loud enough to decimate the festival’s PA system in the middle of “Take Me to the Other Side.” Mr. Pierce was so distraught over the whole predicament that, well, he took it upon himself to knock over their mic stands with his guitar and send his vintage (I think it was a) Telecaster through his amp head. It’s good to see psych dudes go delightfully apeshit every now and again. He wasn’t too upset about the whole thing, as he came back on stage to wave bye to the crowd and take a humble bow.

I was hoping that Spiritualized would roll through with an extra ensemble or two, and they delivered. The crowd roared when the Spritiualized gospel singers took the stage for some very intense, wall of sound plus gospel renditions of “Come Together,” “Soul on Fire,” and more. Pierce even brought out the big guns and dusted off “Shine a Light” from 1991’s Laser Guided Melodies (my favorite Spiritualized album)! This is the closest I’ll ever get to taking drugs inside a church.

Animal Collective brought a whole slew of new material during Saturday night’s performance. Actually, they premiered one song in the middle of a 20-minute rendition of “Fireworks” come to think of it. AC also brought out one of their newest fan favorites, known as “House” and “Simple Things,” depending on what you read. Avey Tare sported an awesome bucket hat. Unfortunately, none of my photos turned out that well, so I won’t post them. I had amazing photos of their performance last May at The Dame in Lexington, but unfortunately, my camera went AWOL shortly after. Moral of the story, unload your shit early and often.

Caribou was the other sick performance that stood out from the weekend. The rain hit right when Caribou started at 2:15, but the music was too sunshine-saturated to make you take notice. As I discussed in the Pitchfork preview, Caribou is an exercise in percussive fortitude. Dan Snaith performs with a full band, and bangs the shit out of the drums for each song’s climax.

The highlight for me was hearing an old favorite, “Skunks” off of 2003’s Up in Flames. Just like the recorded version, Snaith and Company laid the booty bass on thick. Though the Left Banke never received their due credit in the ’60s, their body of work is alive and well in Caribou. One interesting side note – Caribou seems to get 86 love in Chicago. At their Metro show back in November, they were opening for Battles (though they were great, Caribou was better). Otherwise, for their headlining shows, they’re generally plunged back into smaller clubs like the Empty Bottle. Their Saturday afternoon super-stoked psych-pop explosion blew the crowd away. You heard it from everyone in attendance, so methinks their Pitchfork appearance will reverse that current, and Snaith will receive his due props in the Windy City (though I do enjoy seeing Caribou in smaller rooms, he deserves a wide audience). Though the music was still sweeping and gorgeous as well, it’s the two drummer assault that takes emphasis live.

Also during Caribou’s set, hometown drank heroes 312 Ale / Goose Island flung about a bazillion beach balls into the crowd.

Though not related to the focus of this blog, my girlfriend (much to her delight) and I got to see our lil’ friend Jarvis, too.

Straight from my view from the cheap seats, here’s the Decibel Tolls’ preview for some choice artists I’m anticipating seeing at this year’s festival. My prophecies for these shows have been gleaned from my experience with a couple of these artists in the past, general intuition, and my magic 8-ball. First, it should be noted that the clouds are currently graying here in Chicago, and it looks like the first day of rain we’ve had in, oh I dunno, two weeks or so will conveniently happen during the festival. Just our luck, right? Should be a delightfully apocalyptic time!

It’s somewhat unfortunate that Caribou was slotted for a 2 p.m. show. As with any psych group worth their salt, Caribou offers very enthralling visual aspects including background images that look like they were taken out of a Julian House book. No matter, Caribou has the chops to engage with or without seizure-inducing lights. They hang tough with two drummers, including Dan Snaith himself. When I saw Caribou with Battles at the Metro in November, it was an exercise in percussive fortitude. Since he’s not promoting a particular album at this point, it’s a safe bet that Caribou will dig deep throughout his catalog, which is generally the preferred position for me. Caribou is absolutely not to be missed. [Saturday : 2 p.m. : Connector Stage]

I had the privilege of being involved with two different Animal Collective shows, and if I was smart, would’ve started this blog back then. When you help run a concert through either a venue or your college radio station, it’s easier to score interviews and sound bites. But enough about my stupidity… The first show was in the last wake after Sung Tongs in the spring of ‘05, right at the time the group was moving away from more acoustic material. Jane (Panda Bear and friend Scott Mou) was getting ready to drop the excellent but zoned out Berserker, and you certainly heard a lot of that. It was very droney, and the crowd seemed somewhat polarized by the lack of Sung Tongs songs played. It was great nonetheless, but would’ve been better to see in a theater instead of a standing room recital hall. Animal Collective understands this to an extent, so I would be surprised if the outdoor Union Park setting didn’t encourage the more pop-oriented side of their repertoire (with a little Here Comes the Indian thrown in for good measure and to draw a line in the sand). The second time was at The Dame in Lexington in May of ‘07. AC toured sans Deakon, and considering the electronic structures on what was to be Strawberry Jam, it didn’t much matter. The performance was unrelenting. They played non-stop, with all three members in queue facing the side of the stage instead of the front, and swaying in unison like a cult. It was a sinister, but dare I say, upbeat and almost danceable performance. Every song morphed into the next, and most songs were unrecognizable until Avey Tare throated out the first lyrical yelp. Every Animal Collective show is different, and that’s part of what makes them one of the most exciting, relevant groups of today. Panda Bear is a super rad dude, by the wayz. [Saturday : 9 p.m. : Aluminum Stage]

Boris has a wealth of source material to choose from, with their prolific output of releases and collaborations. Though some of their best stuff to date has come from their work with Michio Kurihara of Ghost and Sunn O))), Boris, either out of respect or functionality, will probably not perform these songs. And I certainly would be surprised if we heard anything from their Merzbow split Rock Dream. No matter what the show shapes up to be, Boris will be the loudest band, and most immovable object, at Pitchfork. I’m not a bettin’ man, but I would put money on that (unless Spiritualized shows up with, like, 30 goddamn dudes). If “Blackout” from Pink starts rumbling from the PA at 10,000 watts of evil, all bets are off. Shut down the park, call the police. [Sunday : 2 p.m. : Connector Stage]

This might be wishful thinking, but I want, as mentioned, Spiritualized [Sunday : 7 p.m. : Aluminum Stage] to show up with 30 goddamn dudes. Like this:

If you didn’t get tickets yet, well, they’re gone except for tonight’s performances. But, you can catch some streaming live intarweb action at the festival’s website.
Pitchfork Music Festival 2008