Pitchfork

Now that we've finally caught our breath, cured our collective hangovers, and dragged our sun-whooped asses back to the world of internet publishing, the time has come to share, at last, a multimedia cavalcade of memories from the inaugural Pitchfork Music Festival. 36,000 fans, 41 bands, 90-odd degree temperatures, two sold-out days-- whether you were there for it all or just want to be consumed with jealousy for those who were, it's our pleasure now to present the first installment in a two-part feature recapping the fest in all its glory, with a slew of artist interviews and more than 100 (!) photos. (Part two runs tomorrow.)

Again, enormous thanks to all who came together to make this monumental event possible-- to the fans, to the artists, to the sponsors, to the volunteers. Doubleplus thanks also to Biz 3 publicity, and last but certainly not least, to everyone at At Pluto, without whose unflagging dedication and hard work the Pitchfork Music Festival would still be but idle fancy. Until next year, friends!

Hot Machines [1:00pm; Aluminum Stage] | [Photos by Jen Reel]






8 Bold Souls [1:00pm; Biz 3 Stage] | [Photo by Michelle Harris]


Chin Up Chin Up [1:30pm; Connector Stage]
[Photo 1 by Jen Reel; Photo 2 by Michelle Harris]




Flosstradamus [1:50pm; Biz 3 Stage]
[Photos 1 & 2 by Jen Reel; Photo 3 by Michelle Harris]

Interview: Flosstradamus | [Interview by Dave Maher]

Pitchfork: So what do you guys have prepared for tonight?

Josh (J2K): We're just going to pull out all the stops-- guest appearances by our rapper friends and family. We decided to make an actual set for this festival. We never do that. We always freestyle. The mixes you hear, usually, we're hearing them first as well. But we decided to actually sit down and go through it, so we'll see how that works out.

Curt (Autobot): Yeah, we made a little mix of Pitchfork elite today. A little less crunk.

Pitchfork: Pitchfork's down with the crunk, though.

J: You guys have been to our parties so you know that it's a little gnarly. And 1:50 is not usually the gnarly time slot. We're not that drunk yet.

Pitchfork: Do you guys consider yourselves more mash-up artists, beatmakers, or party DJs?

C: I think you encompassed it all right there. Josh and I can get down in the studio just as much as at our shows. When we play out it's just like we're in a band-- a little bit of improv, a little bit of pre-planned stuff.

J: We do mash-ups live, but we're not producing them. A band will give us an a cappella and like some breakdowns of their shit and we'll piece together a remix. We did a remix with Walter Meego and one with Junior Senior. And we got some other projects in the works-- beats for rappers and whatnot. We're just all-around producers.

Pitchfork: Do you guys have any recorded stuff coming up?

C: We have a mixtape coming out on Cornerstone. It's the Cornerstone Players with Fader magazine.

J: That's in August.

C: Then we also have our mixtape coming out. It keeps getting pushed back. We keep getting more gigs, so less studio time.

Pitchfork: Are you planning on coming back tomorrow?

J: Yeah, we're here all day tomorrow.

Pitchfork: Whom do you want to see?

J: Bonde do Role. I really want to see Diplo. That's my guy right there. He's one of our big influences, obviously-- we get compared to Hollertronix a lot. He's a total innovator in our field.

I wanted to see Spank Rock today. I'm kind of bummed about it. Ghislain [Poirier], too.

Pitchfork: I saw that you guys have the cheerleaders.

J: Yeah, we have a back-up dance squad. They're actually from my high school, Ridge South. We do a lot of juke music, and juke is huge on the south side. And these girls are kind of a juke troupe-slash-dance troupe. So they're going to come on stage and do back up for us. It'll be fun.

Pitchfork: What's up with the hats? Everybody in your crew has some crazy headgear.

C: That's the first time I've ever heard that question before.

J: Yeah, that's a good one. That's just how it is, man. I've always rocked hats since day one, and so has he. I was going to rock the fedora, but I'll let Curt have it today. The flatbrims are really a thing with the kids nowadays.

C: I've been rocking those for a minute, though.

J: I will give him total credit, ‘cause when I see pictures of him back in the rave days, he was rocking a flatbrim. He had his eyebrow pierced, but he was rocking a flatbrim.

C: [Laughs]

Pitchfork: Is there anything you guys want to add?

J: Look out for vyle and Kid Sister.

C: Check us out on MTV in October. Peace.

Man Man [2:00pm; Aluminum Stage]
[Photos 1 & 3 by Jen Reel; Photo 2 by Matthew Solarski; Photo 4 by Michelle Harris]

Interview: Man Man | [Interview by Dave Maher]

Pitchfork: Why are you guys so good?

Honus Honus: I don't think we're good-- I think we're pretty awesome. I think it's because we have dysfunctional lives-- that kind of bleeds into the music. We're just trying to bring it every time. We're just not faking it, you know?

Pitchfork: Your show is always different but there's always crazy showstopping moments. Like today, you ripped open a huge bag of feathers on stage. Are those just spur-of-the-moment decisions?

HH: I wanted to do the feathers because we were playing early. I wanted to leave our mark on the stage, because nothing's gnarlier than feathers once they're covered in beer and water and sweat. Every band I see walking through here has a feather stuck to them.

Pitchfork: You guys working on new stuff yet?

HH: Well, we were stressing out because we have all this new material we wanted to play, but at the same time kids want to hear stuff that they know. We have some slammin' new stuff though.

Pitchfork: Shit, that last one seems like it just came out. Is there another around the corner?

HH: Yeah, we have over half of it written. I'm working on writing the rest of it now, and then we're going to record here in Chicago, actually, in January or February. But even if the record were done, we have no one to put it out. We're not on a label right now.

Pitchfork: Wow, the honeymoon's over with Ace Fu, huh? Any offers yet?

HH: There hasn't been much. I don't think people know that we don't have a label anymore. So all you A&R people, show us the van. [Laughs]

Pitchfork: Cougar was talking about seeing people on tour who'd say, "We'll meet you at the Pitchfork Fest." It seems like you're getting a bigger audience all the time.

HH: I guess we'll find out in the next couple of days when we get an influx of MySpace requests. The hottest thing I've seen on our past couple of tours is a greater number of really hot girls wearing fake mustaches. When we were done playing they threw their mustaches on stage, which was awesome.

Pitchfork: Nice. It's no feathers, but...

HH: Feathers is not going to be an everyday thing. We don't want it to be like our confetti, you know?

Pitchfork: What's the protocol? Who decides, "Oh, let's throw a bunch of spoons at a bowl?"

HH: I just like the way it sounds. It's better than a guitar solo, and it looks a hell of a lot cooler. Today I was like, "Fellas, I got half a pound of turkey feathers from New Mexico." We all thought we were going to be all sticky and sweaty and covered in feathers. Now if only we had tar.

Pitchfork: That would be for the other bands. And then we'd sensationalize it: "Man Man Tars and Feathers Liars."

HH: Oh, we wouldn't tar and feather Liars. Their record is fucking awesome. It's my favorite new record this year.

Pitchfork: You should have a beef with somebody, though. Who do you tar and feather?

HH: Any boring-ass rock band that sounds like every other rock band. The new Pavements. Pavement's amazing, but we don't need any more Pavements.

Pitchfork: So what do we need more of?

HH: I don't feel like I should say. I feel like people should keep making indie rock because we're not making it.

Pitchfork: So you guys can work out on the fringe.

HH: Yeah, although I'm gonna be eating my words; in like three years they're gonna have some band of young hotshot 19-year-olds from L.A. put together by Geffen to sound exactly like us. Our only saving grace is that we'll be listed as their MySpace influence.

Pitchfork: What will that band be called?

HH: She Wants Revenge.

<!--pagebreak-->Band of Horses [2:35pm; Connector Stage] | [Photos by Jen Reel]

Interview: Band of Horses | [Interview by Matthew Solarski]

Pitchfork: How's everything?

Ben Bridwell: I'm having a really good time. We played last night in Seattle, took a red eye and got here at 6 [a.m.]. Today, even though we had some sound issues, it was really fun. The crowd was awesome.

Pitchfork: What are you looking forward to?

BB: I've never seen the Silver Jews. And I had their first-- I think they had a little sleeve CD that came out, or maybe it was like a bootleg. I've been listening to them since I was in high school. I'm really excited about that. And Os Mutantes and Spoon-- pretty much everybody. Now that we're done I'd like to check out as much as possible.

Pitchfork: What's the craziest thing you've seen today?

BB: The craziest thing I've seen today was whatever was coming out of my eyes after we were done. Everything was kind of turning a bit yellow. When we were playing it was fine, but as soon as we were done the heat got to me. Mid-death, I guess we'd call it.

Pitchfork: Who did your tattoos?

BB: [The lion is] by my friend Kevin Willis. He did this painting called "Lions Puking Blood" that ended up being on a Carissa's Wierd album after I had it tattooed on my neck, which is a bit of a bother, because [mimics], "Dude's got his [ex-]band tattooed on his fuckin' neck" or whatever. As a youngin', I got many regrettable tattoos. Just being a bit of a slave to pop culture at the wrong time I guess.

Pitchfork: What's next for the band?

BB: There's an EP coming out. We're going to see how this record plays out. We're going to release another single from it. Sub Pop knows all that-- they know when to release something, when it starts to wane a little bit, how to hit somebody with another punch. We still have so many more shows to play before the end of the year. We've been working on new songs, so hopefully we'll start finishing those up and then hopefully get into the studio as soon as possible.

Pitchfork: Any song titles?

BB: "No One's Going to Love You", "Detlef Schrempf", named after the basketball player. Right now I'm calling it that... they're all working titles though, anyway. It might be called "A Dog's Furry Balls" for all I know. It'll get changed anyway. I'll change them all the day before the album comes out.

Chicago Underground Duo [2:50pm; Biz 3 Stage] | [Photos by Michelle Harris]

Mountain Goats [3:30pm; Aluminum Stage]
[Photos 1 & 3 by Jen Reel; Photos 2 & 4 by Michelle Harris]

Four Square / Sleeping | [Photos by Jen Reel]

Tyondai Braxton [3:45pm; Biz 3 Stage]
[Photo 1 by Ryan Schreiber; Photo 2 by Jen Reel]

Destroyer [4:20pm; Connector Stage] | [Photos by Jen Reel]

Ghislain Poirier [4:30pm; Biz 3 Stage] | [Photos by Michelle Harris]

Tent Peek-Through at Biz 3 Stage | [Photo by Michelle Harris]

<!--pagebreak-->Art Brut [5:10pm; Aluminum Stage]
[Photos 1 & 4 by Ryan Schreiber; Photo 2 by Michelle Harris; Photo 3 by Jen Reel]

Interview: Art Brut | [Interview by Dave Maher]

Pitchfork: It's come to our attention that you love the Mountain Goats.

Eddie Argos: The lyrics are so good. I told [John Darnielle] I'm only listening to him, and he said he's only listening to us. Same thing happened with Jeffrey Lewis. Some of my favorite songwriters, and they happen to like us. It's nice.

Pitchfork: What's the best festival you guys have played?

E: Best lineup is this one. I'm not just being all sucky up.

Jasper Future: Yeah, he's been looking forward to this one.

Pitchfork: Besides Mountain Goats, who else are you looking forward to seeing?

E & J: Jens Lekman.

E: I forgot to say, "Top of the Pops." When I was saying [to the tune of "Good Weekend"], "Bands'! Names! Top of the Pops!" I forgot to say "Jens Lekman."

Pitchfork: How do you feel about the cancellation of "Top of the Pops"?

J: It's like putting down a dying dog. I'm not really that sad about it.

E: They mixed "Top of the Pops 2" stuff in with it. Who wants to see Arctic Monkeys next to Driver 57? They aimed it at children and played music by middle-aged men.

Pitchfork: Tell me about your new Britpop haircut, Eddie.

J: Well, we played at the Empty Bottle [in Chicago] last night. Eddie needed a haircut, so we went up the street and about 25 hairdressers were there in a row. It might be the Chicago hairdressing district.

E: I went to the first one. It was a Polish hairdresser. We think it was Polish-- because it said "POLSKA." They were very meticulous. It was the best haircut I've had.

J: He studied hairdressing for about six months, but when he was doing it he had bright orange hair. So he didn't do that well.

E: I had blue hair at one time. I was the only boy [in the hairdressing class]. I was like 18, 19. It was me and loads of 16-year-old girls. It was a bit hot.

Pitchfork: Anything new in the show today?

J: "Direct Hit" we tried to hammer out live. That was an unfinished song. We have Eddie bang out the lyrics on the spot.

E: I have deadlines. I did one verse last night, so by next week I should have them all.

Pitchfork: Do you usually improvise?

E: That's how we did the first album. It's hard now, though. We play bigger shows, so you can really embarrass yourself.

Pitchfork: Do you have plans for a new record?

J: It has to be finished by the middle of December. We've got the music done, and we're just waiting for Eddie to write the words.

Pitchfork: So Eddie's the slacker.

J: Eddie's an artist. He needs time to think.

E: "I'll write this song with my eyes shut just laying down on the floor."

J: We'll be, "Have you written the words?" And he'll say, "The best way for me to write is on this sofa with my eyes shut."

Spank Rock [5:25pm; Biz 3 Stage]
[Photo 1 by Jen Reel; Photos 2 & 3 by Michelle Harris]

Ted Leo/Pharmacists [6:10pm; Connector Stage]
[Photos 1 & 2 by Jen Reel; Photo 3 by John Lombardo]

Matmos [6:45pm; Biz 3 Stage] | [Photos by Michelle Harris]

<!--pagebreak-->The Walkmen [7:10pm; Aluminum Stage]
[Photo 1 by Jen Reel; Photo 2 by Ryan Schreiber; Photo 3 by Chris Kaskie]

Matthew Dear [7:40pm; Biz 3 Stage] | [Photos by Matthew Solarski]

The Futureheads [8:10pm; Connector Stage]
[Photo 1 by Michelle Harris; Photos 2-4 by Jen Reel]

A-Trak [8:40pm; Biz 3 Stage]  | [Photos by Jen Reel]

Interview: A-Trak | [Interview by Dave Maher]

Pitchfork: So you're back in Chicago.

A-Trak: Yeah, I flew in from Montreal this morning. I slept two hours, and came here in time to catch Flosstradamus and Kid Sister.

Pitchfork: You know them all pretty well, right?

A: Yeah, I'm working on a mixtape with Kid Sister this week. I was cooking up some beats for her yesterday.

Pitchfork: That's awesome. We saw her a couple weeks back at Town Hall Pub.

A: I'd never seen her, so I was so excited. It was great. I liked how Flosstradamus brought out the dancers, too-- the high school juke girls.

Pitchfork: Any surprises in store today?

A: Well, what I try to do now with my live shows is mix elements of turntablist DJing with party DJing. I'm doing some live looping. My show's set up with two laptops and the typical two turntables and mixers set up in the middle. And the actual DJ set can be pretty heavy with my own blends and remixes, just trying to flip a lot of the songs in my own way.

Pitchfork: You just got off tour with Kanye West.

A: Yeah, it was a month of doing shows and going to the airport at 4 a.m. You want to be like, "Get me out of here," but you can't because when you're on stage it's like, "Man, this is why I'm a DJ, to be here and do this." The energy is ridiculous, and it's music that I genuinely love. It feels good to be a part of something you feel so strongly about.

Pitchfork: Are you coming back tomorrow?

A: Of course.

Pitchfork: Who you gonna see?

A: Diplo, and I also wanna see Bonde do Role. I've never actually met them. And you know, see everything.

Pitchfork: You have a record coming out?

A: I'm working on one. It's in the works for spring.

Pitchfork: Guest MCs or instrumental stuff?

A: Half and half. With a lot of the beats I make, I integrate some sort of scratch elements. But it's not music you'd expect to hear from a scratch DJ because the vinyl manipulation goes into the creation of the beat. A lot of times I don't use a sampler at all, I just go straight off my records and layer a bunch of sounds from my tables. So it's kind of experimental, making beats from all these layers of scratches but then having the end [result] be more like an uptempo party record.

Pitchfork: Sounds a little like the new DJ Shadow record.

A: I just got that.

Pitchfork: You like it?

A: I like some of it. It's very all over the place, really varied. Anything that he does, there are going to be songs I love.

Pitchfork: So what's left?

A: I have a DVD, Sunglasses Is a Must. I spent almost two years putting it together and I'm really happy with it. I have a mixtape with GLC called Drive Slow and I'm A&R-ing his album and doing some beats for him. I also did the "Sunglasses Is a Must" tour with The Rub. We recorded some of those shows, and we're putting out a double CD, Sunglasses Is a Must Live. So more goodies until the album's ready.

Silver Jews [9:10pm; Aluminum Stage]
[All photos by Michelle Harris, except 3 by Jen Reel]

Interview: Silver Jews | [Interview by Kati Llewellyn]

Pitchfork: We haven't seen you around much today. Have you had the chance to catch any music?

David Berman: I really wanted to see Art Brut and Mountain Goats, but I got here too late. We just played Accelerator Festival-- four different Swedish cities in four days. Everyone was grumpy because there was nowhere to get any weed. The band was going crazy. And we couldn't wash our clothes because all the Swedes said that there were no laundromats in their country. I finally went to a youth hostel and said, "I don't want a room, but I want to wash my clothes." So I rented a room just to wash my clothes. It was only like $10. But I think that was the only thing that I didn't like with Sweden: no weed, no wash. We have a song, "No Weed, No Wash".

Pitchfork: It seems like you'd been living so spontaneously until recently. Is it weird now planning festival appearances?

DB: Well, until now there wasn't any spontaneity because I'm the type of person who sits back and watches. So I think that was a problem in my life. When things started to get better with me was when I started just to do things. I started getting things done on my list. It's funny-- it's almost like I got to leave the house once I got a house. I always wanted a space just to put my things in, but I never lived in the same place very long. Once I got a house, I also felt comfortable with leaving. I really enjoy having space. There are things I really get into-- I have a safe! I don't have anything to put into it. I'll have to find some shekels.

Pitchfork: So now you've toured. Is it everything you'd feared?

DB: You know, it was something I wanted to do. I suspect other people should do things they don't think they can do, because I'm currently doing something [that's] changing my life, that I didn't think would happen. So it makes me question core knowledge. Part of the reason I didn't do it was because I'm pretty lazy. I never could have done all it would take to do to start from the ground up. [Now] there were a lot of people who wanted help, and I get to bring [wife and bandmate] Cassie along. I haven't been miserable like I thought I would.

Before Roskilde [festival in Denmark last month] I realized that for the first time I was going to be playing for people who didn't know the Silver Jews. I was like, "Oh, I got it down now!" because we played like 18, 19 shows. All of a sudden I'm singing these songs and I'm listening to them as someone would for the first time. That was really interesting.

Pitchfork: Have you done any poetry-specific, non-lyrical writing lately?

DB: No, I don't think I've written anything in a couple of months. I haven't written anything for a publication, at least. I always write and take notes and stuff, but right now, I'm letting myself be a non-writer-- just perform and see what that's like.

I don't have any more songs. When I make a record, I don't have extra ones that go on B-sides compilations. It's very easy to think, "Well, maybe this is it. Maybe I won't write another song. Maybe this will be the last album, the last song." [But] I really feel at ease about writing the next record. To know that people are going to listen or not listen is important. I've felt like when I see audiences who know every word [to my songs] that somehow they understood better than the other audiences. So when I was singing the words, I had these new feelings and new thoughts about them.

Pitchfork: Are you going to come out tomorrow?

DB: I don't know, I got here at 6:30. I'm sure other people will. Everybody's been so nice. Thank you so much-- we still don't know why you guys bought the Silver Jews as the last band. It just seems so funny. All the bands that played before us sell more records, have better reviews, more critically applauded. I told somebody else, this is the only context in which we could headline. At Bonnaroo we would be in the tiny print. So that's great for us because we get to pretend to be big for a night, and that's how you get big: People see you and think you're big.

[Tomorrow: The second and final installation of our Pitchfork Music Festival coverage.]