pitchfork music festival, live update 2

Voxtrot, who are champs for playing given the review their album got on Pitchfork, are punchy and jittery and work the Smiths by way of Duran Duran angle well enough; but at the same time I can totally envision them getting snatched up by a major and turning into Cute Is What We Aim For.

Grizzly Bear is a weird fit for a scene like this. Their songs are build on long, stretched ribbons of sound that can get lost in sunshine Chicago. They’re holding their own, though, letting the tones ring out and sustain like low-lying clouds. When they get to the song that starts “this is what we knooooooww,” a cheer goes up from the assembled. It may not be transporting, but it’s got a strange energy that works in fits and starts.