This summer’s festival schedule started with the frisson of a behind-the-scenes flap: Most of the credit for the success of last year’s inaugural Intonation Music Festival went to its curators at Pitchfork Media, not to organizer Mike Reed and the events-planning and publicity company Skyline Chicago, who got the whole thing off the ground. So when Skyline announced they’d be parting ways with Pitchfork (and Reed) and picking a different curator for each subsequent festival, it surprised just about everyone–including Pitchfork’s staff. Skyline hired Vice magazine to curate the Intonation fest in June, and the first Pitchfork Music Festival follows this weekend, also in Union Park.
official prefestival concert at the Metro with Wolf Parade side project Sunset Rubdown, Voxtrot (see the Treatment), the Joggers, and comedians Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry (see Comedy Critic’s Choice in Section 2), and Aziz Ansari. On Saturday and Sunday nights, festivalgoers can get into shows at the Empty Bottle, the Metro, Schubas, the Hideout, or Martyrs’ for free, either by presenting their two-day pass or surrendering that day’s ticket stub. –Miles Raymer
Biz 3 Stage
Also tonight at Sonotheque; see the Treatment for details.
A key member of angular art-rock quartet Battles, Tyondai Braxton also records under his own name, spilling over boundaries with the irrepressible spirit of his father Anthony: he weaves electronic mosaics, singer-songwriter incantations, grandiose prog rock, and Technicolor noise into an appealing tangle. I don’t always get it right away, but it makes me want to keep trying. PM
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This Montreal producer’s latest, Breakupdown (Chocolate Industries), slithers into the cracks between hip-hop, electronica, dancehall, and a half-dozen other beat-driven forms. Guest MCs like Beans and Omnikrom make charismatic cameos, but Poirier’s brilliant, bass-heavy tracks don’t need their help–he can find the funk in numbingly dense patterns of splintery rhythms and noisy, fog-draped samples. PM
Spank Rock’s full-length debut, Yoyoyoyoyo (Big Dada), puts the “ass” in “bass”–a steamy, stanky mix of techno, Baltimore house, and old-school hip-hop with seriously X-rated lyrics, it’ll make your subwoofers dance like Yosemite Sam’s shooting at them. If you’ve somehow missed the party album of the summer, hey, there’s still half a summer left–to get up to speed, start with the new video for “Rick Rubin” on YouTube. And be sure to practice the official Spank Rock party maneuver, the ACT (“Air Cock Thrust”), before today’s set: for pointers visit aircockthrust.com, where you can also upload video of your own ACT. JN
