My Bird Performs

If you’ve been checking our updates for the past week or so, you’ll know that we’re in the midst of covering the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival. Our preview of Day One is already up, so it’s on to Day Two!

BIZ 3: DAY TWO

1:00 - Jeff Parker/ Nels Cline Quartet
1:55 - Bonde Do Role
2:50 - CSS
3:40 - Cage
4:30 - Tarantula A.D.
5:20 - Ada
6:10 - Glenn Kotche
7:40 - Dominik Eulberg
8:10 - Diplo

The Biz 3 stage returns for its second day with a lineup that features greater cohesion and more international flavor than Saturday's fare. Headliner and Philadelphia party boy Diplo brings his brand of trendsetting DJ sets to Chicago, and he’s brought friends: Brazilians Bonde Do Role and CSS prove that football isn’t the only thing that can excite that patented South American passion. For those with more colonial tastes, Wilco members Glenn Kotche and Nels Cline offer two sets of improvisational drum riffs and jazz guitar duels, respectively.

OBVIOUS CHOICE: Diplo. Unapologetically hip, Diplo goes on at exactly the right time of day. His beats will have to compete against indie journeymen Spoon, but chances are good that the grooves will be too enticing for some to resist.

BIGGEST BARGAIN: Ada. Pitchfork writer Sam Ubl called the work of Cologne, Germany’s Ada “tech-house’s version of the Strokes... simple but slyly detailed [with a] self assured cosmopolitan vibe”. Catch her instead of Devendra if forest spirits just aren’t your bag.

ACT TO WATCH: CSS. Full name Cansei de Ser Sexy (Portugeuse for “tired of being sexy”). These Brazilians combine the grimy trash of Peaches with the smooth synth lines of early Michael Jackson. Trust me, it works.

CSS - Let's Make Love and Listen Death From Above. Is it the broken English? The proposition? Both?

CONSTRUCTOR: DAY TWO

1:30 Danielson
2:35 The National
4:20 Aesop Rock & Mr. Lif
6:10 Devendra Banhart
8:10 Spoon

Consturctor’s second day offerings are a marked improvement over its uneven first day schedule. Danielson’s Narnia-pop kicks things off with a bang and, after a brief step back in the form of nth-generation New York standards The National, keeps things popping with indie hip-hop golden boys Aesop Rock and Mr. Lif. Freak folk star and part-time shaman Devendra Banhart helps Spoon close out the festival.

OBVIOUS CHOICE: Spoon. Spoon is the new black. If you haven’t seen them live, think of it as an obligation. If you have, think of it as a treat.

BIGGEST BARGAIN: Aesop Rock and Mr. Lif. How many of your average Pitchfork attendees would normally go out of their collective way to see these dudes in concert? Hands?

ACT TO WATCH: Danielson. Daniel Smith and his band of merrymakers wins one for prayer club kids everywhere with his eccentric brand of boisterous Christian odes. This is going to be the set to see.

Danielson - Did I Step On Your Trumpet. This song wouldn’t be out of place in a civic theatre musical. That’s not a bad thing.

ALUMINUM: DAY TWO

1:00 Tapes ‘n Tapes
2:00 Jens Lekman
3:30 Liars
5:10 Mission of Burma
7:10 Yo La Tengo
9:10 Os Mutantes

Once again, the battle for main stage supremacy isn’t even close. Aluminum’s Sunday lineup is even more solid than its admittedly strong Saturday lineup. From blog darlings Tape ‘n Tapes to tropicalia legends Os Mutantes, there’s nothing here to disparage. If I had to make on desultory comment, it would be heaved in the Liars’ direction. Nothing personal. I’m just not a fan.

OBVIOUS CHOICE: Os Mutantes. The closers, and the band most likely to elicit squeals of joy from fans of psychedelic rock everywhere. Often imitated, these guys are the real McCoy. Os Mutantes also completely the Brazil lovefest started earlier in the day on the Biz 3 stage.

BIGGEST BARGAIN: Yo La Tengo. With a new album on the way, you can expect to hear some new material. However, though “new material” is usually code for “bathroom run”, advance reviews of Yo La Tengo’s new album, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, is tighter and more exuberant than anything we’ve heard before.

ACT TO WATCH: Jens Lekman. I mean, come on. Who doesn’t love some good old-fashioned Scandanavian pop music? Plus, have you seen the video for “You Are The Light”? Genius.

Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina. Just listen. You’ll like it.

And that’s all she wrote. The Pitchfork Music Festival preview is officially closed, and I’m off to kick off the real thing. Expect a brief recap tonight before bed. If you’re good, I might even take pictures.

Posted by Tyler on Saturday, July 29, 2006 at 12:56 PM | Permalink