Yo La Tengo. With nearly 30 years under their belt, Yo La Tengo is still by many indie press standards the greatest band in the world. The band’s gone through a number of phases since the 1980s, most recently a psychedelic-folk phase in the style of 60s great Arthur Lee. After a deliriously snarky album of covers as their alter egos, the Condo Fucks, Yo La Tengo has a new album, Popular Songs, coming out in September. The Hoboken legends can’t possibly reinvent the wheel once more…can they?
Saturday
Wavves. Will Nathan Williams attack the people who built him up and brought him down? Will he respect his hosts, or get vitriolic, as many fans may expect? Most of all, will Wavves prove to be a bigger musical force than a 22-year-old with an excellent GarageBand-produced album to his name?
Fucked Up: A hardcore band whose epic sound is particularly suited for the outdoor festival setting. With an undeniably entertaining live show, Fucked Up is possibly the only band that can entertain everyone in attendance while still finding a way to cross a line.
FUCKED UP Magic word MONTREAL 2009 (HD) from Punk Empire DIY Channel on Vimeo.
Beirut. Possibly the most blatantly fun-loving act of the fest, singer Zach Condon always puts on a great show, and Beirut’s bountiful backing members make it hard to predict anything that will happen, except that it will be entertaining.
Sunday
M83: A shoegazing band with an exceptional sense of eclecticism and electronica for the genre, M83’s Anthony Gonzalez is versatile enough to adjust to any setting, and he’s fresh off one of the his better albums, Saturdays = Youth. All that makes M83 a dark horse for festival highlight.
Vivian Girls: A band that’s built a rather astounding amount of hype over a 21-minute debut, the band being touted as the successors to the riot grrrls needs to back it up with a solid set at Pitchfork, both with a heavily anticipated follow-up coming this fall, and to help dispel Pitchfork’s notorious reputation of being male-centric tastemakers.
Article comments
1 - hector
What a weird lede...Pitchfork has replaced Vice...
Not sure whenever they replaced them, or if Vice ever pretended to the # source for music, but they are on to bigger and better things.....VBS.tv