At this point, there’s no point trying to argue that Pitchfork, either its website, brand, or internationally renowned music festival, represents a quirky little elitist subculture anymore. Pitchfork has replaced Vice magazine as the definitive rock tome of this decade, and if you have cared about any music that has emerged in the last 10 years—which probably means you were either a college student or employed in the  music industry—Pitchfork was a site that you simply could not ignore.

As an authoritative source of contemporary tastes, Pitchfork.com became institutionalized around the same time the Pitchfork Music Festival made its debut in 2006. One summer after Lollapalooza became a fixture in Chicago, the Pitchfork Music Festival emerged as its rival in the same city, with lower prices, a less corporate vibe, and, in general, better bands. The two festivals are inevitably seen in perpetual contrast, and Lollapalooza is still somewhat higher on the food chain. Animal Collective, a headliner at Pitchfork 2008, is now just another act at Lollapalooza, even after releasing their best album to date.

This kind of self-defeating crossover is nothing new to alternative rock. What is different is that the payoff for making that jump is rapidly becoming less substantial. Perhaps that’s why, in 2009, it’s hard to argue that Lollapalooza’s lineup in any way justifies more attention than Pitchfork Music Festival. Pitchfork ‘09 features still-vital Gen X holdovers like the Flaming Lips, Built to Spill, and Yo La Tengo. Perhaps most excitingly, Pitchfork also features the first major concert by noise rock legends the Jesus Lizard in a decade.

Friday’s lineup features bands that could headline any other day, and perhaps because of their fame among passionate music fans, they’ve let their fans pick the playlist (a good way to avoid “Freebird” chants). The Festival’s closing Sunday headliners, the Flaming Lips, caused a bit of controversy after backtracking on the fan selected playlist, including a scathing assessment by the band’s biographer, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Jim DeRogatis.

Unlike Lolla, which features Lou Reed, Tool, Depeche Mode, and other major label vets, you’re not likely to find many band members at Pitchfork Festival much older than 40. Many of these bands are the so called “Pitchfork bands,” ones who experienced a rush of hype after a particularly positive Pitchfork review. In the case of Wavves, the project of a 22-year-old  named Nathan Williams, the boom and bust cycle of Pitchfork hype has evolved particularly rapidly; less than six months after putting Wavves' debut in Pitchfork’s highly coveted Best New Music category, Pitchfork's Ryan Schreiber was already writing lengthy screeds against Williams' drug-fueled meltdown at Barcelona’s Primavera Fest. This awkward dynamic makes Wavves one of the more intriguing and potentially volatile sets in the festival.

Article Author: Ethan Stanislawski

Ethan Stanislawski is a freelance journalist/critic and new media specialist. He is a regular reviewer and staff writer at Prefix Magazine, and also contributes regularly to Blogcritics Magazine. His interests include theater, film, and pop music …

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