Wolf Parade – Live @ Pitchfork

Until this year’s Pitchfork Festival, Wolf Parade was a part of an esteemed group of bands that I count among my favorites and yet have never seen live. For that reason, plus the fact that I’ve been loving Expo ’86 and am pretty much a Spencer Krug fanboy, Wolf Parade were very high on my list of anticipated acts for the weekend. I’m glad to report that Dan, Spencer, and crew put on an exceptional live show.

The Canadian band played 11 songs alternating between Krug-fronted and Boeckner-fronted tracks and focused on their new material. The songs from Expo ’86 sounded fantastic live, particularly Krug’s tracks. The propulsive “Cloud Shadow on the Mountain” served as a fine show opener and the pulsating, dance beat of “What Did My Lover Say” was hugely magnified live making the song leap out of the speakers. They didn’t play my favorite Boeckner song “Yulia”, but his performances of soaring rock anthems like “Little Golden Age” and “Ghost Pressure” more than made up for it.

I think the undisputed highlights of the set came from Apologies to the Queen Mary, an album which after five years hasn’t lost an ounce of potency. Krug’s “Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts” was played early on in the set and later came massive one-two punch of “This Heart’s on Fire” and “I’ll Believe In Anything”, which in my book are two of the most powerful and anthemic songs to come of out of the last 10 years. When that familiar keyboard riff of “I’ll Believe In Anything” started it felt to me like everyone on the park grounds were having their minds blown simultaneously.

Wolf Parade started their set with the opening tracks from their most recent two albums and quite fittingly the final songs played were the two closers. “Cave-O-Sapien” did a fantastic job of showing of the band’s instrumental heroics with it’s never-ending guitar and keyboard interludes and Krug’s intense vocal delivery. “Kissing The Beehive” is the only track where Boeckner and Krug share lead vocals and is also arguably the most bombastic and extravagant of songs which made it a magnificent climax.

MP3 Cave-O-Sapien

Follow the jump for more Wolf Parade pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Raekwon – Live @ Pitchfork

When I saw Wu-Tang Clan perform a couple years ago, Raekwon was one of the only clanmembers that got into the performance and engaged the audience (Ghostface on the other hand spent most of his time at the back of the stage on his cell phone), so I was a little disappointed when he was nearly 20 minutes late arriving on stage. Apparentally their was some  major sound problems with the DJ booth and his kid was sick so I’ll cut him some slack.

Once he took the stage he managed to put on a pretty good show mixing Wu-Tang Classics like “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Protect Ya Neck” with some of his solo work (or as he calls them “reality raps”). One of the most interesting parts of his set was when Raekwon brought out a four very talented breakdancing children during the latter part of his set. Seeing the youngsters spin on their heads for what seemed like minutes on end during songs like “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothing To Fuck With” put a big smile on my face.

MP3 Ice Cream (feat. Ghostface Killah, Method Man & Cappadonna) 

Follow the jump for more Raekwon pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Titus Andronicus – Live @ Pitchfork

I’ve seen my fair share of great performances at Pitchfork Festival but nothing prepared me for the glorious insanity of Titus Andronicus‘ mid-afternoon set. This is a band that thrives on stage and that day they demolished everything in their path. Patrick Stickles has instantly shot up to become one of my favorite frontmen. Whether it was diving head-first into the crowd to scream out the anthemic choruses while the crowd fist-pumped in unison or delivering sharp quips (on the heat: “I’m sweating like a pregnant nun meeting the pope”), he did it all with a sincerity and enthusiasm that even made overplayed statements like “Let’s make this the greatest day of our lives” actually meaningful.

The band took a stage adorned with U.S.A flags (in keeping with their Civil War-themed songs) and didn’t waste any time getting started, immediately thrusting into the sweeping “A More Perfect Union, the opening track on The Monitor. The intensity and reckless abandon that these guys and gal play with is mindblowing and the crowd gave it back to them twice over. You could tell just by watching the crowd reactions whenever they played the first note of a song that this band is on the rise; if they keep doing performances like these they’ll be winning fans left and right.

“No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future” was a huge highlight with Patrick igniting the crowd with the refrain “you will always be a loser” and turning it into a triumphant “fuck the man” type anthem. The band never lost momentum going straight into their self-titled theme song, “Titus Andronicus” and the aforementioned crowd-diving where at one point Patrick let an enthused fan sing part of the song. Even though the band has the attitude of a scrappy punk outfit, their sound is full and bombastic with strings, horns, keyboards, and layered-guitar and it was all reproduced on stage by the band and guests that joined them.

The band saved the best for last with their final two songs which together took up nearly half of the set. The near-15 minute epic “Battle of Hampton Roads” which closes The Monitor on a triumphant high was the band’s penultimate song and their raucous performance of the track provided all the emotional weight and instrumental chaos it deserved. The band ended with the uplifiting “Four Score and Seven”, a song which takes it’s time to build before exploding into a furious climax where Patrick exclaims “I wasn’t born to die like a dog, I was born to die just like a MAAAAN!”. It was a fitting end to one of the most captivating performances I’ve had the pleasure of the viewing. In the end, Titus Andronicus tore the place the hell up and for me, cemented themselves as one of the great rock bands of this generation.

MP3 A More Perfect Union

Follow the jump for more Titus Andronicus pictures (including some epic crowd surfing). Click here to see the full set.

Album Art Lover: Cats

“A dog is very easy to break, but cats make you work for their affection. They don’t sell out the way dogs do.”

I was thinking about how indie band’s obsession with cats (at least 5 indie albums from this year alone have the domestic felines on the cover) and then I thought about the above quote spoken by Robert De Niro in Meet The Parents. Are cats the indie to dogs’ mainstream? They certainly are the less popular, less accessible and arguably quirkier of the two pets. Food for thought.

Anyway, all this kitty albums craze (and being that today is the release date of Best Coast’s cat-loving Crazy For You) now is a perfect opportunity for a new edition in my ongoing album art love feature. Here is a mix of 10 albums featuring cats on the cover.  And just in case you’re wondering it has to be an actual cat image and not just the word (sorry Cat Power, Cat Stevens). View the album art and download an MP3 from each below and let me know if there’s any cat covers that I missed!

MP3 Best Coast – When I’m With You

MP3 We Are Scientists – It’s A Hit

MP3 Smog – Cold Blooded Old Times

MP3 Klaxons – Flashover

MP3 Chapterhouse – Pearl

MP3 MGMT – Flash Delerium

MP3 Panda Bear – Comfy In Nautica

MP3 Two Door Cinema Club – Something Good Can Work

MP3 Grandaddy – Elevate Myself

MP3 Wavves – Post Acid

Delorean – Live @ Pitchfork

Delorean’s Subiza is an album that’s been continually climbing up on my play count this summer, their infectious club beats and giddy vocals are ideal for sunny climates, so after a pretty lifeless performance by Real Estate (who may be alright on record, but were a snorefest live) they were just the stimulus the crowd needed.

The Spanish electro-dance band opened with mostly instrumental “Seasun” but followed it up with an exhilirating one-two punch of “Stay Close” and “Real Love”. Their synth-drenched jams really got the crowd moving , not an easy thing considering this was the hottest part of a ridiculously hot day. The band didn’t seem to mind the temps though and their celebratory dance-party anthems made the weather that much more tolerable.

MP3 Stay Close

Follow the jump for more Delorean pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Free Energy – Live @ Pitchfork

Free Energy have been a favorite of mine since I first heard “Dream City” in May of last year. I’ve missed a few opportunities to see them since then, but so I was very excited to see them opening up Day 2 of Pitchfork Festival, especially considering the first band on Saturday has typically been one of the very best of the entire weekend (see Cymbals Eat Guitars, Titus Andronicus, The Twilight Sad). I went into the show with high expectations which the band managed to exceed. They put on an incredibly enthusiastic and fun set and you could tell from their huge smiles that they were having a great time on stage.

 The band couldn’t have opened their set more perfectly starting off with perhaps the three hardest-hitting songs on their debut album, Stuck on Nothin’. The bouncy riff and sunny melody of “All I Know” kicked things off leading straight into the T. Rex rock riffs meets 60’s soul of “Dream City” and then the explosive guitar heroics and hugely catchy chorus of the band’s theme song “Free Energy” (also the best track to yell out “more cowbell” during).

The band didn’t let up for the rest of their set with highlights like their most recent single “Bang Pop” (which they just released on awesomely retro music video for by the way). Free Energy closed with the 70’s glam rock track  “Hope Child” another monster song with harmonies and guitar solos galore. The band definitely set the bar high for the rest of the festival and and set the bar high for the rest of the festival and had more charm and charisma on stage than most veteran bands I’ve seen.

MP3 Free Energy
MP3 Dream City

Follow the jump for more Free Energy pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Broken Social Scene – Live @ Pitchfork

Since the last time that I saw Broken Social Scene they’ve stripped down the membership to the core essentials and released a solid new album, Forgiveness Rock Record. Although this set wasn’t quite as outstanding as the Lollapalooza performance which I saw previously, it was still great to see Kevin, Brendan and the gang on stage again. The band played a great selection from all their proper albums including “Stars and Sons” and the always magnificent “Cause=Time” from their debut, “7/4 Shoreline” (with vocals from the now-frontwoman Lisa Lobsinger) and “Fire Eyed Boy” from their self-titled second album, and “World Sick”, “All in All”, “Forced to Love” and “Texico Bitches” from their newest. 

While some rightfully claim that Broken Social Scene are a sloppy live band, the loosely-held-together chaos of their show is part of the appeal for me (Kevin mentioned by having the word “Broken” in the band name, it’s guaranteed them that their equipment would never function quite right). You also have to give them props for the amount of local talent they bring to the stage to fill out their massive sound. This included Tortoise / Sea and Cake’s Jon McEntire on percussion and an array of other Chicago-based instrumentalists on violin, cello, sax, trumpets and trombones which made huge songs like “Shoreline” and “Ungrateful Little Father” all the better.

The band ended with the anthemic instrumental “Meet Me In The Basement”  which doesn’t quite meet the epic sprawl of “It’s All Gonna Break” but is about is pretty damn close and provided perhaps the biggest highlight of their set. The climatic moment saw about a dozen people on stage playing their hearts out including a strings, percussionists, horns, keyboards and loads of guitar. Biggest dissapoint: Brendan Canning shaved his beard. Come on man, the beard and the funky tank tops (still there thankfully) is your trademark!

MP3 World Sick

Follow the jump for more Broken Social Scene pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Robyn – Live @ Pitchfork

Going into the weekend, Robyn wouldn’t have been high on my list of anticipated acts, but the Swedish electro-pop artist absolutely blew me (and juding by crowd reaction, everyone else at Union Park) away with her spectacular performance. She took the stage in her cut-out grey mini-skirt and oversized leather shoulder pads and commenced the non-stop dance party with her single “Fembot”. Robyn bombarded the crowd with big synths and even bigger hooks all while putting on a vigorous dance clinic that dwarfed any attempts I’ve seen from most mainstream pop artists. Seriously y’all, girls got some moves.

Robyn’s setlist comprised mostly of songs from her latest album, Body Talk Pt. 1 and seeing that’s the only album I’m familiar with (something I’ll have to rectify immediately) that was absolutely fine with me. The highlight had to be the bombastic “Dancing On My Own” with it’s 80’s-style cascading synths and infectious chorus which was followed immediately by her top 5 UK single “With Every Heartbeat”. She also threw in an awesome cover of Teddybear’s “Cobrastyle”. I may have started the day as a Robyn newcomer but I left a full-fledged enthusist.

MP3 Dancing On My Own

Follow the jump for more Robyn pictures. Click here to see the full set.

El-P – Live @ Pitchfork

El-P brought some much-needed energy to the Pitchfork Festival stage on Friday afternoon. The rapper’s aggresive, rapid-fire rapping style was undercut by dynamic, industrial beats which were made far better by the fact that they were played by a live band (unlike most of the hip hop artists that I’ve seen at festivals). The Def Jux rapper was joined by a enthusiastic hype man by the name of Mighty Quin, who took complete ownership of the stage and did much to elevate the group’s performance. Although I am largely unfamiliar with El-P’s work, I must admit that they were one of the more vital and exciting performances of the day.

MP3 EMG

Follow the jump for more El-P pictures. Click here to see the full set.

The Tallest Man on Earth – Live @ Pitchfork

Solo acoustic performances can sometimes be hit-or-miss on an outdoor festival stage, but Kristian Matsson, or The Tallest Man on Earth as he’s called, overcame the venue’s limitations (as well as jet lag, lack of sleep and crazy heat) and put on a great show. The Swedish folk singer engaged the crowd with his furious guitar strumming, poetic lyrics and crackling vocals on songs like “Burden of Tomorrow”, “Thousand Ways” and a particularly inspiring rendition of “King of Spain”. His set made me realize that I still need to pick up his first album since there was a few of his songs I didn’t recognize and I quite enjoyed. I also noticed that ladies really love this guy, I observed quite a few ogling him from the crowd (must be his Swedish accent).

MP3 King of Spain

Follow the jump for more Tallest Man on Earth pictures. Click here to see the full set.