Pizza Preview: Pitchfork Music Festival!!1
Pitchfork is upon us and they’ve welcomed Pizza FM this year with open arms. Though we will be sending a Pizza veteran to cover much of the shows and artists appearing this year, I have already bought my tickets and here’s my take on who to make sure to not miss out on! Friday:
Though this guy may not be my #1 artist to see for the year (I have not decided who I am most excited about), he is surely not far from the top. Will Toledo has been releasing music as Car Seat Headrest now for the better part of the decade and his latest effort is not to be missed. We’re only about halfway through the year now but I can already guess that “Teens of Denial” will be near the top of a lot of “Best Album” charts of 2016. Perhaps the most exciting part of Car Seat’s music is that he continues to get better with each release. He’s still got the lo-fi vocal self-harmonies that allow him to deliver poignant versus and catchy hooks, but with his latest release he’s shown that he can compose 10+ minute rock epics as well. This combination gives him the vocal recognition of indie juggernauts like Julian Casablancas or James Murphy, song-writing that seems like a more intimate and exposed version of pop-punk lyricism, and composition that seems to reach Whovian limits, it’s hard to imagine that his show will be anything short of spectacular. The other one
I’m most certainly going to stop by is Moses Sumney, who does not have a ton of music out there, yet the available tracks would lead one to believe that this guy has something to offer. The smaller blue stage has scared people away before, but something about his electronic yet humanistic take on soulful music should match the tree shaded, weed-steeped atmosphere of the forgotten corner of the music festival. It just so happens that these two artists follow each other at the very opening of the festival, so get there early and use these two acts to kick start the weekend of one of the better lineups in my short memory. Saturday:
From the first ten seconds of the opening track of Royal Headache’s latest release, I knew this was a show I wanted to see in full. It opens as any poppy, punky garage record should but immediately blends into a well-mixed, full-bodied sound without losing any of its trashy, edgy sound. Then, as Shogun opens his mouth, it sets the band into a league of its own. It’s like The Ramones were produced by Albini and fronted by a dude who had some serious range. This will once again be an early set at the Blue stage, but it will surely be a strong set from start to finish which, like both of their excellent releases, will not get tiring from start to finish.
The thing that strikes me as most interesting about this year’s fest is that it seems as if it was purposefully curated in order to get collaborators on stage together. It’s not that I’ve never seen artists get on stage with each other at Pitchfork before [link to killer mike running through the crowd] but there’s something awfully specific about having the only two footwork artists that I can think of, two excellent and intimidating experimental electronic musicians, two current jazz icons, and two of the epitomes of Chicago rap playing, often times on the same day, at the same music festival. There’s no better example of collaborative efforts than Blood Orange, who not only just recently released an excellent record, but has two of his female vocalists from his brand new album at the same festival. I’m not saying I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t joined by Empress Of… or Carly Rae on stage, but two of his best tracks would not be the same without them. Regardless of who joins him on stage, he is a creative standalone powerhouse who’s been more of a presence in modern indie and pop music than his three full length LPs would suggest. Devonte Hynes will no doubt go down as one of the more important artists of this time period when publications looks back at the sounds 2000/2010s.Honorable Mention – Sufjan Stevens
Honestly, if a man can single handedly provoke a musical interest in one of my closest friend’s that didn’t exist before leading to him not only becoming a strongly successful Pizza FM DJ himself, but also forcing him to purchase a Pitchfork Music Festival single day pass in order to see an artist (and then proceed to tell me that he thinks Sufjan is one of the most talented musicians to ever exist once a week for the following three months), then I would say it would be a mistake to miss a set by this man. Indeed, to miss the Saturday headliner would be a grave mistake in this writer’s humble opinion. Sunday:
Not to get ahead of ourselves here, but this will be the final day of the festival. Our feet will be hurting, we’ll be short on cash, and we’ll wonder if it really was a good idea to watch that animal cruelty video five times for a grand total of $5, but we will prevail. I would argue that this is the day with the greatest conflicts, what with FKA Twigs moving from underdog Blue Stage show stopper in 2014 to festival headliner and a handful of the more cutting edge dance DJs around playing in unfortunate time slots, it will be tough to make up your mind on where to post up and sit for a while whilst you wait for your next favorite artist to perform. Hell, you might just need to tough it out the last day, not buy any food from the stalls, and bounce from stage to stage until you fall over at 10 o’clock and wait for the line at the train station to settle down… Anyway, my first pick for the day is Woods. Not only did they come out with a record this year that was a pleasant surprise for my radio show last semester, but they’re a band that’s been coming out with consistent, borderline great alternative records for over a decade. They’re discography is so balanced that it can be intimidating for new listeners who want to prime themselves for what this year’s festival has to offer. It’s not possible to know exactly where to start with this band, but believe me, if you took all the songs they’ve ever released, shuffled them together randomly and had to pick one at random, it is extremely unlikely that you’ll pick a track that doesn’t just feel right. 
And finally, my final pick is arguably the most well-known and mainstream of the year (not… counting the previously mentioned pop-superstar that intoxicated everyone back in 2012 [link baseball youtube video]). I’m talking, of course, about the guitar wielding R&B outsider that is Miguel. Outside of a single track introduction to his music by my high school girlfriend many years ago, Wildheart, specifically the track “Coffee (Fucking)” was my reintroduction to this artist. He concocts an alternative R&B that is simply impossible to not like. It’s sexy, catchy, and intimate in ways that you’d expect any R&B track to be, but there’s a level of introspectiveness and an air of difference about the guy that sets him apart and truly makes him memorable, but forces him to the near edges of popularity. Having him preform just before the less R&B Twigs and just after the more R&B Jeremih seems like a perfect spot for Miguel and he’s sure to command the stage, and while this writer will be leaving his set early to check out what LUH. has to offer, you’d better believe I’m going to be as close as possible to him and, just like everyone else who has fallen in love with his music (be it from this record or one of his excellent past releases), hoping he winks at me during my favorite song.