#pitchfork music festival

[0hkade]

Carly Rae Jepsen // Pitchfork Music Fest 2024

[smellofwings]

Bratmobile at Pitchfork Music Festival

For Firebird Magazine

[sinceileftyoublog]

Black Belt Eagle Scout Interview: Expanding My Vulnerability

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Katherine Paul began the Black Belt Eagle Scout set at Pitchfork with whispered singing. As “My Blood Runs Through This Land” progressed, the song a standout from their third album The Land, The Water, The Sky (Saddle Creek), Paul’s singing transformed into a wail, albeit muted by her own guitar distortion and Camas Logue’s mighty drums. Fittingly, Paul’s voice never seemed like it was at the center. It was there, telling her stories, but always equal in sonic and emotional importance to her surroundings. Sometimes, the neighboring elements were symbolic, like the guitar solo of “My Blood Runs Through This Land”, “emulating [her] ancestors running,” as she told me at Pitchfork. (Paul is Coast Salish/Swinomish, raised in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in LaConner, Washington.) Other times, they were perhaps coincidental, as when she sang about being “engulfed by beauty” on “Don’t Give Up”, right as her singing was overwhelmed by the swirling of Logue’s drums, Nay Wilkins’ bass, and Claire Puckett’s guitars. No matter what, the set was a masterclass in tension and ultimate expressiveness, the songs exponentially louder than their studio versions. With every repetition of “Need you, want you” on Mother of My Children’s “Soft Stud”, the guitars bellowed with mammoth force, the crowd whooping in approval. It was breathtaking.

The Land, The Water, The Sky is inspired by Paul moving back to the Swinomish Reservation on which she was raised, as well as her metaphoric personal journeys. The record contains love songs of varying recipients: her surroundings (“Nobody”), her immediate family (“Spaces”), her local queer community (“Sčičudz (a narrow place)”). This time around, she worked with some notable collaborators on the record, like multi-instrumentalist Takiaya Reed of excellent Melbourne doom duo Divide and Dissolve, who co-produced the album, and Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum, who sings on “Salmon Stinta”. Though Paul played many of the instruments on the record and certainly led its expanded instrumental palate, its instrumentation and production was not a one-person affair like her previous two albums. Many artists find working by themselves intimidating; in contrast, for Paul, opening herself up to other musicians in this way was a key part of her growth in confidence. Ditto for playing live. “I have a really amazing band,” Paul said. “We’ve grown so much...for most of the year, we’ve been on the road non-stop, so we’ve learned how to work through certain sounds and passages together.”

Paul and I sat outside the festival press tent (as JPEGMAFIA boomed in the distance) to discuss The Land, The Water, The Sky, playing live, her writing process, and Divide and Dissolve. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: You have three albums already and a somewhat limited set time. How do you decide what songs to play at a festival?

Katherine Paul: I really wanted to play a lot of the new album, but also bring in some of what I felt are the heavy hitters from my previous album. [Songs] that make the set flow. I tried to put some of the new singles in the set, and some that are the favorites in the previous albums. Since you’re playing to a lot of new people, too, something that keeps the energy up.

SILY: I definitely felt that with what you chose to play. I had never seen you live and wanted to come in green, so I didn’t watch any videos, and your set was definitely louder than I expected, in a great way. There was a lot of play with dynamics and catharsis and release. Are you feeling those emotions on stage?

KP: Yeah, I mean I feel like we kick it up a notch, and I like to rock out. For this show, I played on an amp I don’t normally play out of, and I loved it. I kind of want to get one. I love playing loud guitars. [laughs]

SILY: When you play live, do you find yourself in a similar headspace to when you wrote the songs? Are you trying to channel on stage what inspired you to write them in the first place?

KP: I think about what they mean to me, which is maybe a similar thing. I think about why I play certain parts. When I play “My Blood Runs Through This Land”, the guitar solo is supposed to emulate my ancestors running. It’s raw and beautiful. I think about that and put my feeling and playing into those thoughts. I like to make a connection to what the song means to me when I play it.

SILY: On the record, you did a lot of the instrumentation yourself. Do you find adapting the songs to the stage, with a full band, just as rewarding as writing and recording them in the first place?

KP: I’m still learning. That’s what I’m realizing. Sometimes, my natural instinct is to play them how they sound on the recording, but lately, I feel like I want to put a jam in there. [laughs]

SILY: You played “Don’t Give Up” right before playing “Indians Never Die”. In interviews around the release of Mother of My Children, you were talking about “Indians Never Die” and the idea of always taking care of the land. When you sing on "Don’t Give Up”, “I was only seventeen, I was only seventy,” is that a similar sentiment?

KP: “Don’t Give Up” has a lot of writing about my mental health and taking care of myself, having that knowledge that we’re still growing as people and trying to figure things out, whether we’re seventeen or seventy. That’s what those specific lyrics mean, but I think that could tie into, by taking care of myself, I’m taking care of the connection to where I’m from.

SILY: I also like the phrase on the song, “engulfed by beauty.” It suggests being almost overwhelmed by nature, and it works with the heavy reverb of the music.

KP: Yeah. Being swallowed by it.

SILY: Have you gotten to see anyone else at the festival?

KP: I got to see snippets here and there: Vagabon’s one and a half songs, Weyes Blood, Big Thief, yaya bey. I wanted to see Julia [Jacklin], but I couldn’t. Her set was so short. There was a lot of running around, getting food, getting situated.

SILY: Do you like the new Divide and Dissolve record?

KP: I haven’t heard it yet. I’m waiting for the right time to listen to it. I know it’s out, and I want to listen to it when I’m at home on a walk. When I heard the previous record, I was just gutted. So I want to listen to this one walking around in the woods or something.

SILY: Apart from the specific stories and changes in your life that inspired The Land, The Water, The Sky, is there anything else unique about it as compared to your first two records? And how is it a continuation of them?

KP: There are still those glittery sounds within the pop genre that pop up. The uniqueness comes with expanding my vulnerability as a songwriter, having different people play on it. It shifted my perspective of what my songwriting can be. Before, I was more afraid to take risks and do different things, but now, I feel better about it--almost encouraged.

SILY: Are you the type of songwriter always writing, or do you have to set periods of time for you to sit down and do it?

KP: I definitely have to set time aside to do it. I have so much going on in my life. [laughs] It’s hard to always be writing.

SILY: Is there anything else upcoming for you?

KP: I’m working on a mini tour documentary with Evan Atwood, who did the photo [on the front cover of] the album. We’ll have some live recorded versions and filmed versions on the songs. This coming winter, I’m just going to write music and figure out what’s next.

[chaunceyandchumleysdad]

It was sad to hear that Pitchfork Music Festival is leaving Chicago. It is not clear what the future of the festival is, so we will have to wait and see. I have so many fond memories of the festival. Nice location, relatively small (three stages) and an eclectic blend of musical artists. It was always my warm up for Riot Fest later in the summer. In particular, I loved 2021 when it was my first post-lockdown festival and they had an extraordinary line up. I was going to post several videos from Pitchfork, but I didn't know where to begin. Instead, I'll post just one spectacular performance. So I am kicking of the weekend in memory of Pitchfork with Sleater-Kinney fittingly performing Entertain.

Here is a list (though not comprehensive) of some of the artists I enjoyed while attending Pitchfork over the years.

Sleater-Kinney, Ty Segall, Parquet Courts, Wilco, St. Vincent, Kim Gordon, Courtney Barnett, Waxahatchee, Tame Impala, Spiritualized, The Julie Ruin, Angel Olsen, The National, The New Pornographers, and Chvrches.

[akenya]

Against all odds—amidst sickness, amidst heartbreak, amidst financial strain, amidst crises of faith, amidst bouts of my own self doubt—I still made it here. 24 years of studying, practicing, writing, refining my craftsmanship. 19 years of rehearsing, repertoire building, performing, gigging, hustling, touching hearts, moving souls. 9 years of searching for the right collaborators, learning to self produce, channeling my personal pain and power into song form, and finally nearing completion of my first full body of work that I’m performing songs from tonight and Sunday on the kind of platform that I have prayed I would gain access to. I’ve fought long and hard to secure this win, not only because music is the love of my life and sharing it with you all is the joy of my life. But because music IS love, pure and simple. And the world needs more love, and more love, and more love, and more.

Please share in this love with me. Share this moment with me. It’s not just my win, but ours. Thank you for your support, your patience, your kindness, your heartfelt messages, your praise, your encouragement, your energy! Thank you for you, You, YOU! I love you. 1st photo credits: 📸 : Leah Wendzinski 💄: Ariella Granados 💇🏾‍♀️: Mo G Taylor

TIX for Tonight.

TIX for Sunday.

[holyshivroy]

PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL 2023 : Julia Jacklin & Me :)

@juliajacklin / @supremexvirgo

[takeoffmysundress]

mac demarco with girlfriend keria at pitchfork music festival 2013 in chicago, performing "still together"

[nonesuchrecords]

Hurray for the Riff Raff begins a two-week, full-band US tour next week, followed by a week-long duo acoustic tour of the UK. It starts in Nashville on Wednesday, with shows in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Delaware, DC, Kentucky, Iowa, and Missouri, plus Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, La Fête de Marquette in Wisconsin, and Calgary Folk Festival. The UK tour kicks off in London August 11, followed by shows in Oxford, Hebden Bridge, Manchester, and Brighton. Details/tickets here.

[ladyy--lazarus]

I'm glad I saw A$AP Rocky at Pitchfork in 2012

[porcelainsaint]

my photo, pitchfork music festival 2024

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[sloucher]

Live review: Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago

Day one An empty Union Park under the unforgiving scorching sun. A chorus of cicadas, as loud as vuvuzelas in a world cup match. Random guitar notes start to gel together and it’s Black Duck, offering relief to the few that arrived early. Chill improvisational experimental music that offers a groove, but not for long. Like short bursts of lucid dreams, indescribable. Easy start to the day. Then…

[sinceileftyoublog]

Pitchfork Music Festival 2023: 5 Can’t-miss Non-headliner Sets

700 Bliss

BY JORDAN MAINZER

After four long years, yours truly finally returns to Pitchfork Music Festival. While the pandemic cancelled 2020′s iteration, contributor Daniel Palella filled in for 2021, and we entirely missed 2022 (I got married!), four years lacking Chicago’s most laid-back, yet forward thinking festival proved to be too many. While I can’t wait to see The Smile, Big Thief, and Bon Iver, I’d be remiss not to recommend these 5 can’t-miss non-headliner sets.

Trevor Powers of Youth Lagoon; Photo by Tyler T. Williams

FRIDAY

Youth Lagoon, 4:15 PM, Green Stage

Last month, Trevor Powers released Heaven Is a Junkyard (Fat Possum) his first Youth Lagoon music since 2015′s Savage Hills Ballroom. If earlier, beloved Youth Lagoon records were miniature epics that embraced a sort of hazy nostalgia, Heaven Is a Junkyard is more subdued, soulful, and limited in scope. It’s also Powers’ most focused and best record, the deepest he’s dived into a world. In 2021, Powers lost his voice as a result of a horrific reaction to an over-the-counter medication, eventually losing 30 pounds and, temporarily, his ability to speak. As a result of the unfortunate circumstances, he went into a deep depression, but thankfully decided to focus his energy on Idaho, and ultimately, his songwriting and the return of Youth Lagoon. Heaven Is a Junkyard could be difficult to listen to, with images of blood-stained clothes and drug addicts sleeping outside on mattresses. It’s not because of Powers’ embrace of his surroundings. “Heaven is a junkyard / And it’s my home,” he sings on “The Sling”. His clear sense of empathy for the downtrodden shapes his familial perspectives, too, thankful for brotherly love, even if disguised as roughhousing, on “Prizefighter” and “Trapeze Artist”. And Heaven Is a Junkyard is musically adventurous, too, from the looped drums, handclaps, and cello of “Mercury” to the ghostly synth arpeggios of “Helicopter Toy” and disintegrating ambient instrumental interlude “Lux Radio Theatre”, which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Boards of Canada album. Live, expect to hear much of Heaven Is a Junkyard along with cuts from the first two Youth Lagoon albums.

SATURDAY

700 BLISS, 2:30 PM, Green Stage

One of our favorite albums of last year was the sophomore LP from 700 BLISS, the venerable duo of poet/musician Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother) and DJ Haram. Nothing To Declare, their first record for Hyperdub, traverses genres (techno, noise, ambient) and moods (serious and political, facetious and sarcastic). Get there early on Saturday for some heady words and beats in the sun!

SUNDAY

JPEGMAFIA, 4:15 PM, Green Stage

In 2019, rapper JPEGMAFIA gave the most energetic set at Pitchfork. This year should be no different: Since then, he released one of our favorite albums of that year mere months later, a very good follow-up two years after that, and this year, a collaborative album with his favorite rapper, Danny Brown. He’s called the new one, SCARING THE HOES (Awal), a “practice album,” made with the SP-404--no Pro Tools--after learning it for a year. It certainly has that loose quality you’d think, alongside the exact amount of chaos you’d expect from the debut full-length join-up from these two. Of course, Peggy finds kinship in the deep cuts and the underground, from the underappreciated Bun B to old soul and funk, Japanese pop, and gospel. The samples and production are inspired. At the same time, Peggy knows he’s your favorite Twitter follow’s favorite rapper, so the title itself, referring to something a Very Online Man would say who thinks his taste is too esoteric for women, is tongue-in-cheek. “How the fuck we supposed to make money of this shit?” Peggy asks on the title track. “You wanna be an MC? What the fuck you think, it’s 1993?” The only thing better than effortless tempo changes, switches on a dime from maximalism to dreamy instrumentation, is self-awareness of his own idiosyncrasies. Bonus points for “God Loves You”, which juxtaposes a guttural, spirited gospel sample with the filthiest lyrics on the album.

Sarah Tudzin of illuminati hotties; Photo by Seannie Bryan

illuminati hotties, 5:15, Blue Stage

It’s been a big past few years for Sarah Tudzin, the frontperson of LA indie rock band illuminati hotties. Their 2021 record Let Me Do One More (Hopeless) was released to acclaim, one of our favorites of that year. She contributed a remix to the deluxe addition of the latest Stars album as well as production to a few songs on boygenius’ the record. Best, she’s apparently finishing up her next record. Perhaps the first taste of it is “Truck”, released yesterday ahead of the band’s Pitchfork performance and tour with boygenius. It’s a slice of gentle, lilting Americana, a song about chasing your dreams versus learning to live with reality. Expect to hear it during the band’s set at Pitchfork, along with some rambunctious, hilarious back catalog jammers.

Kelela, 7:25 PM, Red Stage

The brilliant R&B artist’s second studio album, Raven (Warp), is a culmination of a period of reflection following her debut album six years prior, Take Me Apart. Despite electronic dance music’s Black and queer origins, Kelela’s feeling restrained within the music world as it exists today, within its white, male hegemonic power structure. She’s keeping on anyway, and on Raven, she delivers a brilliantly paced back and forth between club jams and slow burns, beat-heavy tracks and ambient expressions. There are plenty of songs about relationships and the dissolution thereof, but Kelela can control what she can control: her artistic voice. “Through all the labor / A raven is reborn / They tried to break her / There’s nothing here to mourn,” she declares on the pulsating, zooming title track, as the instrumentation gradually and masterfully builds with sprinkles of piano and dramatic strings. And on standout “Contact”, Kelela captures a night out, from the come-up to the club or party itself. It’s a dance song that could have dominated the charts in an alternate 90′s universe. One thing’s for sure: It’ll be a highlight at this year’s festival.

[hatredofmusic]

Lineups from the four years I went to the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago.