Finding Love at the Pitchfork Festival

When I was younger, finding new bands to love was as easy as turning on the radio. Now though, it's not so easy. I no longer enjoy listening to commercial radio because of, well, all the commercials! The portion of my brain that dictates musical taste also seems to have congealed around the grunge movement, which hasn't really existed since 1995.

This summer I decided to break out of my musical rut by attending the Pitchfork Music Festival. Pitchfork is kinda' like Lollapalooza, except smaller. It took place in Union Park instead of Grant Park, it featured 40 bands instead of 130, and a 1-day pass cost just $35 instead of $80. The bands are mostly less well known, too, which is great if you're on a mission to discover something new.

I bought tickets for Sunday, July 19. $35 (plus the Ticketweb processing fees) gave me the potential to hear 18 different bands. The biggest name was The Flaming Lips, who I've actually seen live before. A few of the others (Blitzen Trapper, The Vivian Girls, and Grizzly Bear) I had heard of. The other 14 were all new to me. I could have just walked into the park blind, so to speak, but instead I did some preliminary research. Which bands did I want to hear? What times would they be playing? How would I find them in the park? All of these questions were answered by visiting the Pitchfork website (www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com). In fact, if you're interested in learning more about the bands that played over the entire weekend, and even in hearing some of their songs, you can still do that via the website, as well. In addition to pictures and brief bios of the bands, the website features a streaming playlist of 48 songs (visit the "media" link to find it).

The first band I really wanted to hear was Blitzen Trapper. Formed in 2000 in the Pacific Northwest, this is a flannel-wearing sextet who have a hard-to-describe sound that is a little folkish, a little bluesish & a little rockish. The folk really comes out on gentle songs like "Furr," and the rock rocks on songs like "Love U;" with the lyrics "I love u like a shoe's got soooouuuuuullllllllll!" screamed out with a spine-tingling banshee wail. Next up was Pharoahe Monch, an MC & singer who's worked with Mos Def and had a song, "Simon Says," featured in the movie "Charlie's Angels." I'm no authority on Hip-Hop, but I thought he was pretty good. The "Monch" part of his name derives from the monchichi doll, so he must have a sense of humor. The woman singing backup had a great voice, and the DJ wasn't "pushing buttons back here," but spinning actual vinyl.

I took a break to visit the various food and beverage booths for refreshment, and then it was time for The Thermals, a trio (2 guys & a gal) from Oregon with a punk-pop sound that the website describes as "neo-grunge." They ably covered Nirvana's "Make You Happy" and Green Day's "Basket Case." After more food, NY band The Walkmen were up with one of the most impressive sets of the day. They have a noisy garage-rock sound similar to The Strokes and sounded great outdoors, especially the vocals. I thought the "The Rat" and "In the New Year" were two of the best performances of the day. M83 was the last new act of the day for me. Named after Messier 83, a spiral galaxy discovered in 1752, their electronic music - created with synthesizers, guitar, and drums - could be described as "spacey" or "ethereal" and was excellent chill out music.

Grizzly Bear did not sound so great outdoors, partly because the crowd was growing larger and more rowdy in anticipation of the Flaming Lips. Their beautifully harmonized vocals got lost in the hubbub, and the only song of theirs that I recognized was "Two Weeks. I think they'd play better in an indoor venue like the Chicago Theatre. I stuck around The Flaming Lips of course, but I've heard them before. Their shows are a lot of fun - much like their trippy music - filled with bouncing beach balls, confetti, and lead singer Wayne Coyne rolling out into the crowd in a giant hamster ball.

One downside to a music festival like Pitchfork is that some of the shows happen simultaneously on different stages. That meant that I missed a few bands that I would really have liked to hear. Three bands that I caught a just couple of minutes of, but that I think are worth checking out are: The Vivian Girls, Frightened Rabbit and Japandroids.

All in all, it was not a bad way to spend a Sunday and I also satisfied (temporarily, at least) my craving for new music.

Up Next in Rock Docs: Bob Dylan, No Direction Home

Wednesday July 8 at 7:00 PM (part 1); Wednesday July 15, 7:00 PM (part 2)

How does it fee-eel? Dylan fans will recognize this line from the benchmark song, "Like a Rolling Stone", which symbolizes the changes documented in Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home. This 208 minute film, which will be shown at the library in 2 parts, focuses on Dylan's early career, covering the period from 1961 to 1966.

Early in 1961, Bob Dylan appeared on the New York folk scene and quickly became its darling with his strong and original protest songs like "Blowin' in the Wind," "Only a Pawn in Their Game," and "Masters of War." Embraced by the queen of political folk music, Joan Baez, Dylan soon became a major figure of the genre. The film documents this early phase of Dylan's career and traces his transition from folk to electrified rock musician, to the extreme displeasure of his folkie fans.

Working with hours of previously filmed interview tapes and performance clips, Scorsese puts together an analysis through interviews of Dylan's initial rise to fame and his infamous transition to rock and roll in 1965 with the electric backing of Chicago's Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Among those interviewed on film are Odetta, Joan Baez, Woodie Guthrie, Muddy Waters, the Clancy Brothers, Pete Seeger, Allen Ginsberg, and Johnny Cash.

In retrospect, it is clear that Dylan was too dynamic a musician, song writer, and poet to be boxed into the narrow folk genre. Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun Times, has the words for it:

"His songs led to change, but they transcended it. His audience was uneasy with transcendence. They kept trying to draw him back down into categories. He sang and sang,and finally...found himself a hero who was booed.... His music stands and it will survive."