I listen to bands that don't even exist yet (Part 1)

I read these words on a t-shirt at the Pitchfork Music Festival last weekend in Chicago. The festival is a popular one for indie rockers, and I thought the words did a nice job of summing up a music scene that I began exploring after our move from Colorado (where bluegrass reigns supreme among my company of friends) . This exploration, of course, was part of another failed attempt on my part to be cool and hip in a city that is way cooler and hipper than a girl raised in south Georgia could ever be. The festival left me somewhat disappointed....not the musicians necessarily, but the venue itself. There were three stages: two were in a baseball field next to each other so one band could set up while another played; the third was about 200 yards from the other two with its speakers facing the direction of the other stages. With this layout, its easy to conclude that there was sound interference between the bands. This made it difficult to determine whether the sounds I was hearing was a result of the mixing of music from the different stages or if the band just sucked live. Adjustments by the sound crew fixed the problem in some cases but sometimes not before the band was almost done with their set. Bummer. As Part 1 of this two part series, I'll post bands that we saw on Saturday.

First, is Final Fantasy. This band consists of one Owen Pallett. He apparently played some with Arcade Fire and helped orchestrate some of the songs on Funeral and Neon Bible. Here's a playlist sampling. Andrew Bird fans will probably enjoy.



Next, there is Matt and Kim. This was one of the more upbeat shows we saw.



Yeasayer. "Tightrope" is from the compilation album "Dark Was the Night", which I wrote about in a previous blog. These guys were great. Songs start at 1:30....love the 'stache.



Although we didn't see them, Beirut played. I've heard a few of their albums and really like them.



Finally, there was the National. I love their new album, Boxer, but the show was absolutely horrible. They played good songs, but the sound was very, very bad. You couldn't even hear them when they first got started. Seemed to get better near the end, but we had to leave to catch our train. The National were highly involved in the production of "Dark Was the Night". Here's their song off of that album. Song starts at 2:45