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Tuesday, July 19, 2005
FESTIVAL
Dungen
Ta Det Lugnt
Subliminal Sounds : 2004
[Buy It]
POX
Xiu Xiu
La Foret
5RC : 2005
[Buy It]
CHICAGO SEEMED TIRED LAST NIGHT
The Hold Steady
Separation Sunday
Frenchkiss: 2005
[Buy It]
I just returned from the Pitchfork-sponsored Intonation Festival in Chicago last night, and as much as I'd like to write up an extensive recap, I'm a bit too lamed out - what began as a head cold that only slightly hampered my rockitude all weekend has, upon returning to Chapel Hill and shedding excess adrenaline, blossomed into something resembling a full-bore flu, and my head's thick as a brick. Short version: I can't imagine how it could have come off any better. Some label dudes I talked to told me that it was the best-run festival they'd ever attended, and it's true - while Union Park was sold out and it was hot as hell (conditions not usually conducive to order and peace), the environment was comfortable, the bands stuck to the schedule like clockwork (it helped that there were two stages, so one band could set up while another was playing and making the lag time between one set and the next a matter of minutes), there was no violence I'm aware of, the tickets were cheap (the gate for either day was what you might pay to see the Decemberists or Broken Social Scene by themselves), there was plenty of food, water and beer, and everyone seemed to be have had a blast. These three songs are to commemorate some of the high points of the festival: Swedish psych rockers Dungen, although their set was slightly marred by guitar problems (some incompatible voltage issue caused the lead guitar to drop out during the last song), turned in a wonderfully melodic, soulful set; Xiu Xiu raised an unholy racket with an autoharp and the gamelan you can hear on "Pox"; and the Hold Steady, well-suited to the festival environment, had even Craig Finn naysayers grudgingly admitting they rocked total face. I got to meet a lot of the Pitchfork staff, catch up with old friends in Chicago, and spent the day after the festival taking in the incredible Toulouse-Lautrec / Montmartre exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. There'll definitely be another Intonation Festival and I'm already looking forward to it. But now I've got to try to screw my head on straight and plunge back into the ... ick ... real world. If you attended the festival, please leave comments with your impressions here as to prolong the afterglow for a little longer.
posted by Brian
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