Crow’s Nest 72: 080424
Too hot to think of a kinda witty subtitle
Hey there, and welcome to issue #72 of Crow’s Nest. As always, thank you for opening and reading, and I hope you find something within you enjoy. And thank you for your patience between issues; I wasn’t expecting to take all of July off—what a hell of a month to do so!—but having plans or other desires on Sundays that made me feel like not writing one of these kept me away from my laptop for this purpose. That and some motivational issues I’ve been muddling through which I think I’m at the end of the beginning of, finally.
As one of those Sundays was concerned, I had a good time at Pitchfork Music Festival! I don’t think I have a full essay’s worth of a writeup in me—writing for a fourth year on it when things mostly stayed the same isn’t too appealing—but here are some salient points about 2024:
The new VIP ‘elevated viewing decks’ were, thankfully, not too intrusive. Installed behind the soundboards, the 3 story-ish monstrosities were bulky but not really obstructive since the soundboards already blocked enough of the view in earlier years that you went to the side of them anyway. While it remains to be seen if the recent reorganization of Pitchfork under Condé Nast means the festival returns next year and/or the CN execs are satisfied with this level of premiumization, at least it did not come at the expense of enshittifying GA.
Black Pumas were a bad choice for a headliner. I don’t mean this like ‘I didn’t like them’—though their by-the-numbers retro soul revival that looks good on IG did nothing for me, and I left that day once I finished dinner around 9 PM—but the crowd thinned out to something around a 4 PM or 5 PM size during their set. It is not the performers’ or attendees’ job to make the event profitable, but that couldn’t have been good for drink and food sales, at minimum. Assuming the obvious conclusion that PItchfork’s new GQ upper management was behind putting them in that slot, it’s a sign that the open-mindedness of the average Pitchfork attendee has its limits and cannot be taken for granted.
ML Buch @ Pitchfork Music Festival, July 19 I’m not too big on speculation for who should have headlined instead of Black Pumas, though an obvious candidate did emerge in conversation and reflection on Friday: 100 Gecs, who subheadlined. There was way more enthusiasm for them than BP, it would’ve made more sense as an unconventional choice, they would’ve been a good way to signal that Pitchfork is continuing to change as its millennial cohort stops going out as much, and, while I’m not confident about this claim, it would’ve been one of the first times an openly trans artist headlined a major music festival. I’m actually kind of upset and disappointed this didn’t happen now.
The paucity of non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated beverages at Pitchfork this year was appalling. Revolution Brewing, who took over from Goose Island as the main beer vendor, did have hop water in the back, but they weren’t selling it. I do like Celsius as an energy drink, but 200mg of caffeine per can is A Lot and not something to casually sip, especially considering they print on the can not to have more than 2 a day. I’m sure people getting buzzed off the weed they snuck in cut into booze sales (this includes me), and it’s an unforced error not to accommodate people not looking to get drunk at the fest. (Water doesn’t count.)
Unwound @ Pitchfork Music Festival, July 20 Best sets:
Sweeping Promises
Les Savy Fav
Unwound
Nala Sinephro
Sudan Archives
ML Buch
Wildest festival freebie, like ever: custom laser-engraved flasks, c/o High West Whiskey. Runner up: koozies from Revolution Brewing printed with the festival set times on them.
I feel like I’m probably missing some other things of note, but other than greater run-downs of the acts I caught I don’t really know what else to say about Pitchfork here. If you’ve got other questions about this, let me know in the comments and I’ll get back to you:
I’ve mentioned before that anything the Sub Rosa label digs up is worth considering, and this pair of records from 70s Belgian Kosmiche band Kosmose have been heavy in my rotation the past few weeks. This isn’t the sort of super polished hi-fi that might be associated with the genre—don’t quote me on the comparison, I’ve never gotten into folks like Tangerine Dream once they started lowering the drums in the mix and letting the synths shine—but it’s got tons of spaciness to it that’s perfect for zoning out to in the same way that something like The Dead C can be good for but without the noise and abrasiveness. If the hippie ethos of tuning in and dropping out (the beats) has any appeal to you, you know how to enjoy this one.
There’s some wild context I’d like to add to these records. First Time Out, my preferred record of the two, features M.A.L. aka Daniel Malempré on guitar, and the record’s on his Bandcamp page. M.A.L. has another album from that period up on Bandcamp that barely missed the cut on an earlier Crow’s Nest issue. Per Sub Rosa’s notes, Malempré sent that record to Manuel Göttsching (Ash Ra Tempel, E2-E4), and instead of releasing it, Göttsching wholesale ripped it off to create his first solo record, claiming the innovations as his own and causing Malempré to stop making music for a long period of time. Obviously you can’t erase Göttsching out of music history, but assuming this story is true, it very much lowers my estimation of him. Given the talent of Malempré on display here, we lost a lot with him no longer playing and recording as much.
I pressed play on this record expecting not to like it. A producer going by 36 (‘three-six’)? Exactly 18-minute long tracks on a record called Dreamloops with basic New Age-y art? I anticipated a snoozer I’d turn off because its boringness agitated me too much, but it’s truly a lovely, incredible piece of drone ambient whose changes slowly mutate per a logic of “a dreamstate interpretation of half-conscious repetition”. The Bandcamp info namechecks a ton of major works as influence, though I most prominently hear a similarity to The Disintegration Loops in the irregular, often subtle changes, and of course Eno’s dictum that ambient music be as ignorable as it is interesting. The download is currently free, and you can get all 2.5ish hours of this bliss on wax in a couple weeks—and it may well be worth the investment if you enjoy it as much as I do and own a turntable.
I’m not one to put much stock into ‘Song of the Summer’ discourse—it’s clearly some combo of brat, ‘Not Like Us’ and ‘Espresso’—in the same way I don’t care for year-end lists. That being said, upon my first listen to the title track on this EP from Physical Therapy and Michael Magnan—banger. Banger. Jesus, why are we not talking about this one more? It starts off as a sunny, auxiliary percussion-filled slow-burner, adding in a soulful vocal hook and plenty of low end before the keys enter. The beat doesn’t drop but this, outside in the sun when you’re sweaty, can you imagine? The rest of the EP doesn’t slack either.
Producer Brian Leeds is best known for ambient work under his Huerco S. alias, but real heads who follow his output closely and maybe also kinda know who some of the other figures in his universe are know that he’s always kept one foot near the dancefloor—dub techno specifically—and has his finger on the pulse of the best of the contemporary dance music underground as a DJ. His most dance-y moniker Loidis appeared 6 years ago with a tight (for him) EP, and is now back with a full length. Dub techno figures prominently here, as does minimal; Shinichi Atobe, Chain Reaction, and Sasu Ripatti are the most common RIYLs I’m seeing. Towards the beginning and end of the record I hear a fair amount of Detroit techno and electro influence in here too. The whole thing is just wonderful at home and presumably on a powerful sound system. The only questions I’m having right now with this are 1) when’s he coming back to Chicago? and 2) With the Bandcamp page saying he’s based in Philly atm, why isn’t he on the Making Time lineup?
One of the great things about Chicago in the summertime is the abundance of street festivals where, for a small donation, you can hang in a part of the city you may not get to frequently and take in music and other culture. They’re also great for catching local acts who have been on your radar but not too closely, to see what they’re about and if you truly click with them. One of those for me has been Finom, Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham’s art-rock duo who I caught at Square Roots. Including this set, I’ve seen Stewart at least 3 times this year in various groups and configurations, and told myself I’d give their record Not God some more time, but seeing them live made it click for me. Well, at least on the more uptempo numbers like ‘Haircut’, ‘Hungry’ and ‘Cyclops’. If minimalist art rock with refrains like “Yeah I’m sorry but I’m not gonna wanna it’s the time of the day I can get my hair cut” sound like the kind of thing you want stuck in your head for weeks on end, this is one for you. Did I mention Jeff Tweedy co-produced this?
I’ve said it before twice already this year, so instead of saying it a third time I guess I need to stop saying that I don’t consider Atlanta to be a hot spot for post-punk, since clearly there’s enough going on to catch my attention repeatedly. There isn’t a whole lot of info I can easily find on this band Chandelier, but the quartet know what they’re doing at this point. If Omni and Vessel are on the sunnier side of post-punk, texturally, Chandelier are firmly on the no wave side of things, propelled by muscular, melodic bass parts that resemble noise rock. On record they play in a type of zombified state I imagine someone like me would be in if they had to live in Georgia. A promising start for such a band, for sure.
I described Rich Ruth’s last album as psych-jazz when I included it in issue #48 of this newsletter, and I was pretty pumped for his latest album. I haven’t taken the time to re-listen to I Survived, It’s Over recently, but his new one amplifies the jazz side of things to an extreme. Someone has been getting really into Alice Coltrane and other spiritual jazz greats these past few years. No complaints here, and if you dig what’s going on here, he plays Constellation on the 22nd. I’m gonna grab a ticket for that shortly.
Slot Autobahns—that’s the name of a band in Leipzig—somewhere into the great egg punk underground network where different record labels band together to defeat the evil corporate overlords’ high international shipping costs through their distribution networks. Another solid record of peculiar squiggles and punk energy worth a few spins in full—late album highlight ‘Loss Of The Rights’ has the kind of sticky hooks that make these records so enjoyable.
Follow underground music for long enough, and over time you’ll accumulate a number of bands who have a few good songs or albums—and perhaps you see live once or twice—who just sort of fade into the ether. They don’t properly break up, and it’s not like the members all died, but they disappear from view and they only occasionally pop into memory. No doubt at some point, the failure to break through to a fiscally sustainable level means you don’t necessarily admit defeat publicly, but it’s time to take ‘getting a real job’ seriously and muddle through adulthood like the rest of us.
You can fairly easily read between the lines and pick that up from the notes Cassie Ramone, of Vivian Girls and the Babies, included with the release of her latest solo album. (Definitely read those.) It’s a full video album though I’ve only listened to the audio, self-released to YouTube and the artist’s site not unlike another well-regarded album from this year with a similar aesthetic. If you’re a fan of her other work and have been wondering what she’s been up to recently, look and listen no further. It’s really good lo-fi rock.
I’m never one to defend every single thing an artist does—even my favorites have decent amounts of crap I don’t care for out there—and my tolerance for wading through the muck can be high. Even so, artists like Mica Levi can push those limits when you just know they’re capable of greatness yet toss out what sound like half-finished scraps to amuse themselves on their fans pretending to like them. But this cat-and-mouse game is worth it when something like slob air comes out. If you’ve ever wanted to hear something like My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Soon’ looped and extended out into a transcendent exercise in tone and texture—more than the original already is—this one’s for you. 12 minutes of bliss you’ll hit repeat on with far too few streams allowed on Bandcamp before Hyperdub asks you pay up.
Speaking of artists who drop a lot of stuff a devoted listener has to slog through, Texan Craig Clouse’s latest bunch of beats as Shit and Shine is pretty good. They’re fairly non-abrasive here, which makes for a solid batch of tunes overall.
Ok, not getting one of these out for a bit has been weighing on me and I’m pushing 2,500 words total and 7 PM here, and the goal was just to get an issue out, so I’m calling this issue #72 of Crow’s Nest. Thank you for reading, as usual, and I hope you found something within you enjoy. Yeah. The work on other things continues.
