For six years, Pitchfork has been delighting an eclectic hipster crowd at Chicago’s Union Park. Will this year be any different? Will Odd Future be booed offstage? Are rompers still in fashion? These are the questions and here are the answers (in order of the questions) – yes, don’t know until Sunday, sorta if you’re a size 2. If I know one thing for certain it’s that this festival thrives on chaos, the unexpected, the subtle, the juxtaposed and the uncomfortable.
Pitchfork 2011 Day 1
Little did this crowd know that Battles was their one chance to get down today. Most were content with head-bobbing. If only they could have seen into the underwhelming future of Day 1, there would have been more dancing.
Battles
I headed over to the shady Blue stage for Curren$y and Das Racist. Soft and cuddly Curren$y, who does not want to be known as simply a “Weed Rapper”, sure does rap an awful lot about smoking weed. Like a caricature version of himself, Curren$y made sure to warn the young tykes to “stay away from it even if it looks cool”. Thanks, Curren$y for your “Just Say No” stance and embracing this overwhelmingly white crowd with humor and positivity.
Warning: I haven’t the luxury of being jaded about Das Racist having never seen them before; therefore, this humble writer declares the act a home run. Energetic, ironic, goofy and wise at the same time; Brooklyn hip-hop hipsters Das Racist added a refreshing sense of fun to a festival where some acts tend on the side of taking themselves too seriously. Most everyone in the press tent disagrees with me, most reviews called it “lazy” and “unimpressive”. Agree to disagree?
Curren$$y
Das Racist
Rounding out Friday was headliner Animal Collective, lulling the crowd to sleep with a chaotic noise wall that I suppose some could call music. The one song the crowd could possible dance and sing along with was muddled to an unrecognizable grayish sound soup with flashes of synthesized beats and trippy lights intermixed. It reminded me of Panda Bear’s patience-trying set at P4K 2010 (yawn). Animal Collective music promises to illicit sensual memories such as “a feeling of the month of May or the first time you tasted a hot fudge sundae” according to Pitchfork’s ancillary magazine. Hmmmm, well no such memories popped into my head. I did however have an overwhelming desire to get back on the green line and take a shower. High hopes for Day 2!
Trendspotting: booty cheeks hanging out of high-waisted cutoffs, body paint stripes on cheeks (facial) and thighs, full Native American headdress.
On Pitch: Das Racist, free fro yo, Battles, breezy weather
Flat: Animal Collective, aging hipster cellulite
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