Pitchfork | Day Two

After sweating through the ridiculous heat, and missing the 10:30pm train back to the burbs and having to wait for the 12:40am, it seemed like it was going to take quite an effort to do this all over again. Just as hot, and just as sweaty, day two of Pitchfork didn't disappoint (for the most part).

We entered the park and darted right for the Aluminum stage for the kickoff of day 2 with Tapes n' Tapes. Introduced by Quell Tickle, aka Aziz Ansari, we were instructed to "go home, blog about this band, put up pictures...or I will come to your house, and kill your dog. And if you don't have a dog, I'll kill the weakest member of your family." And we will do as such. Tapes n' Tapes put on a great set of their Wolf Parade meets Modest Mouse rock, but it was pretty much just like the album, and not much more.
Jens Lekman
I wasn't familiar at all of Danielson, so we stayed put for Jens Lekman. Easily the biggest surprise to me. I'm wasn't too into his latest compilation disc Oh You're So Silent Jens, but with the full band (all laides, no less) the songs have a great punch, are much more enjoyable, and actually pretty good to groove to. Funny and talented, Jens was one of my favorites for day two.

A lull for me after Jens, as I had never even heard of The National, although I heard they put on a great set. I was very curious about CSS, and decided to head to the tent to see what they were all about. The tent was packed, built it up for me because I thought it would be good. It wasn't. While CSS's members had alot of energy and funky outfits, their music wasn't much of anything, and I left after a few songs.

After grabbing some food, I was actually someone bored, as there wasn't anyone I really wanted to see for a while. I decided to check out Liars, despite that I wasn't all too taken by their latest Drum's Not Dead. However, I'm very glad a did.
Liars
Liars put on a great set, with frontman Angus Andrew all over the stage, yelling all kinds of lyrics, shredding on guitar, and stripping down to some kind of robe, which did not keep him covered all to well. I only wish I was at a better angle where I could see the rest of the band, as the drum and bass were fantastic, keeping a tribal feel for most of the set.

It was back to the tent for Tarantula AD, a post-rock outfit from NYC, and had contributions from Devendra Banhart for their latest album. Devendra showed up just before they started, but left shortly thereafter, most likely because his set was not too long after that. Tarantula AD wasn't anything special, and the set was a lackluster effort from drums, double bass-guitar, cello, and keyboards.

Yo La Tengo

Caught the end of Mission of Burma's set, which was impressive for old dudes, and camped out there for Yo La Tengo, as much as I wanted to see Devendra Banhart. I wasn't too disappointed though, because I don't care much for his band, I like his acoustic stuff much better. Yo La Tengo put on interesting set. I was looking forward to some of my favorites like "Stockhold Syndrome," "Autumn Sweater," and more of their mellower, catchy stuff. Instead, but not surprisingly, a majority of thier set was from their latest effort due this fall,I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, all of which were fantastic. It also included a cover of a song I cannot recall, and two 10 minute jams where Ira shredded his guitar like no other. A little bit of a let down, yes, but no disappointment at all. YLT put on a great set, and I would love to see them for a 2, maybe 3 hour set.

Again, decisions, decisions. I really like Spoon. We also could have stayed where we were and would have been front row for Os Mutantes. We decided to do neither. It was back to the Biz3 tent for what David had been raving about all day - Diplo. The cat put on a ferocious DJ set to a PACKED tent. It was one of the hottest and sweatiest things I have ever partaken in, but I loved every minute of it. Sampling everything you could think of from Peter Gunz to Daft Punk to The Bangles, Diplo had the whole crowd in a dance frenzy. When we finished, I had sweated all the way through my shirt, but couldn't have been happier. PItchfork couldn't have ended any other way but in the worst sweat of your life.

Diplo

That's all from Pitchfork for me. Posts coming up soon from the Hold Steady and Violent Femmes in Buffalo.