All photos by Ariele Palmer
Pitchfork Music Festival 2024: Saturday Photo Gallery
Tag: lifeguard
Radio DePaul takes on Pitchfork Music Festival 2024
Pitchfork Music Festival returned to Chicago’s Union Park in West Loop this past weekend for its 18th year, bringing thousands of music fans together for a weekend of exciting performances. One of Chicago’s most prominent and well respected festivals, Pitchfork Music Festival features a lineup that often spotlights artists that are heavily promoted or praised in Pitchfork’s reviews and articles. The featured artists differ greatly by genre and often may be experimental, independent, and bringing fresh ideas and style to the musical landscape. This year’s headliners included Texas-based neo-soul band Black Pumas, electronic music mastermind Jamie xx, and 90s alt-rock superstar Alanis Morissette.
Saturday’s lineup in particular highlighted some of Chicago’s best and brightest rising musical stars. Alt-rock three piece Lifeguard played the first set of the day, greeting a sizable, energetic crowd with their signature brand of post-punk meets power pop. Likely the youngest musicians to grace the Pitchfork stages this weekend, the trio pulled off a polished, neat set of tunes, often flowing from one right into the other. Despite being sequestered to a folding chair due to a foot injury, Kai Slater and bandmates Asher Case and Isaac Lowenstein led the crowd in a raucous set, leading to the fest’s first mosh pit of the day. Slater even opted to use one of his crutches as a slide on his guitar during the set.
Another notable Chicago native on Saturday’s lineup was Kara Jackson, whose debut album Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? was included in Pitchfork’s “Best Albums of 2023.” Jackson was accompanied by a collection of Chicago music’s heavyweights: Sen Morimoto, KAINA, Macie Stewart, and Kurt Shelby. Her performance entranced the Pitchfork audience, displaying one of the unique qualities about Pitchfork as a festival– a festival crowd entirely silent and still while watching an artist. Kara Jackson’s vocal talent truly seems to be a once-in-a-generation type of voice, with such rich tones and emotional weight. Jackson’s set was a highlight of the festival weekend, as well as a testament to the incredible talent that is thriving within the Chicago music scene.
With just three festival stages, Pitchfork Music Festival maintains a lowkey, relaxed environment, allowing for a more casual festival-goer experience. The space between stages gives attendees more space to spread out, sit down, or take a break away from the crowd, which can be difficult at more densely populated festivals like Lollapalooza. Festival sets have little overlap, reducing the stress of running from stage to stage to catch your favorite artists. The festival also features several brand activations, such as Nespresso and Kotex with free products, and vendors within the Renegade Craft Fair and record fair sponsored by CHIRP Radio. Fans could also catch live interviews of their favorite artists at the Visit Austin stage.
Additionally, the festival’s sound quality and mixing was above and beyond compared to other festivals, where sets can become muddy and vocals can be lost. Despite some sound bleed between stages, the Pitchfork sound crew accomplished quite a feat by delivering top-tier mixing for extremely different genres and dense, layered, and complicated musical compositions.
Some of the festival’s best-attended sets this weekend included queer hyperpop duo 100 gecs, punk/ska showman Jeff Rosenstock, pop princess Carly Rae Jepsen, and feminist punk quartet Mannequin Pussy. British producer & songwriter Jai Paul performed for the first time in Chicago on Friday. Riot grrrl pioneers Bratmobile reunited for their first show in the city in twenty years, along with fellow Olympia, Washington band Unwound, on Saturday. Headliner Jamie xx also had his debut Chicago performance as a solo artist at the festival.
With picturesque sunny skies all weekend, Union Park made a great location for the festival, recovering quickly from the tornado that had unexpectedly passed through West Loop earlier in the week. Chicago and its music community look forward to celebrating the immense musical talent that Pitchfork Music Festival brings to the city again in 2025.
The 90’s Rock Revival is Alive and Well: Dazy & Lifeguard at Cobra Lounge
CHICAGO | If you stepped into Chicago’s Cobra Lounge in the West Town neighborhood on December 4, 2023, you might have wondered if you had mistakenly time traveled to 1995.
Cobra Lounge, perhaps one of the city’s lesser known venues, is a 300 capacity club that specializes in heavy music. The stage is high, the ceiling is low, the lights are dim and the walls and floor are completely stone, brick, and concrete; adding to the grungy analog ambiance of the bands taking the stage.
The show started off with Illusion of Choice, a 4-piece outfit out of Chicago’s DIY scene, who play on bills with bands like Turquoise and Sleepwalk.
Their vocalist offered the audience to come to the stage and grab a piece of chocolate from a box he had received at work, reinforcing the intimacy of the Monday night gig. The band played a set dripping in 90s nostalgia, particularly drawing influences from Weezer’s debut and sophomore releases. The stage banter was punchy and sarcastic, with the vocalist noting, “If everyone in the world stopped using their phones, your life would still suck because you’re a loser.” The anti-mainstream tone of these notes coincided with the bands’ musical influences and their rejection of the mainstream in the 1990s.
Lifeguard, one of Chicago’s most promising up and coming bands, took the stage second. The trio, made up of Isaac Lowenstein on drums, Kai Slater on guitar and vocals and Asher Case on bass and vocals, is still entirely high school aged. Their youth didn’t fool anyone for long though — the group started off their set with a bang, Lowenstein propelling the band forward into a loud track in an odd time signature. Slater played a unique 12-string guitar, powering the band’s loud, fuzzy sound. Slater and Case delivered seamless dual vocals and even synchronized jumps, reminding the crowd that the band had their set down to a science. They rarely even stopped to speak between songs; even when Slater switched guitar, Case and Lowenstein filled the silence with a virtuosic drum and bass solo featuring a creative harmonic riff.
The band’s most recent release is a cover of The Jam’s “In The City,” an homage to their 70s and 80s punk influences, while also incorporating aspects of 90s grunge, 2000s garage rock and experimental and art rock influences like Brian Eno, exemplified in the moments of droning bass and repetitive riffs as the drums kept their ever changing rhythm. Lifeguard’s ability to combine their influences into something new and engaging continues to keep the band on an upward trajectory — not to mention their dedication to their craft.
The show’s headliner, Dazy, hails from Richmond, Virginia, though he mentioned he might enjoy playing Chicago more than his hometown. The solo project of James Goodson, the music of Dazy is like the soundtrack to your favorite coming of age movie, or the music your dad threw on in the car — it’s an unashamed 90s radio rock revival. Accompanied by band members on bass and drums, Goodson put on an energetic performance, playing a Fender Jazzmaster guitar à la Kurt Cobain. Dazy’s music has the catchiness and simplicity of one hit wonders like Chumbawamba and Wheatus, but with more heart and staying power.
One of Dazy’s newest singles, “Pressure Cooker” which was a collaboration with Militarie Gun, is reminiscent of the Breeders’ “Cannonball,” beginning with a noisy and fuzzy bass riff. Additionally, Goodson’s vocal melodies were easy to sing along with, a mark of a good radio hit. Dazy’s set finished with “Out of Body,” off of his 2022 album of the same name, which included a section of gang vocal “na na nas,” a hallmark of 90s hits, like blink-182 and Will Smith.
Dazy, Lifeguard and Illusion of Choice each proved that the 90s rock revival is in full swing, just as each band is beginning to make their mark on the rock music scene.