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A special dispatch after my weekend at Pitchfork Music Fest 2024.

Aug 01, 2024

Welcome back to Melissa Recommends Music! I’m coming off the heels of a lovely week in Chicago that culminated in three days at Pitchfork Music Fest. It was my first time at the festival and probably my best festival experience yet — compared to the other ones I’ve been to (Outsidelands in SF, FYF Fest in LA, and Primavera Fest in Barcelona) Pitchfork was easily accessible, highly walkable, and just very chill. There were plenty of bathrooms (the port-a-potties were actually not gross), the water stations were efficient and plentiful, and the prices for food and drinks were decent. Plus, there was a craft fair, a Nespresso stand giving out free iced coffee, and a cozy area tucked to the side where you could catch artist interviews (I got to see interviews with Amen Dunes, Water From Your Eyes, and MUNA). AND the city sound curfew meant that the festival was over by 10pm, so I actually got home at a reasonable time. Forgive me if that sounds like a sales pitch but they really sold me!

Most importantly, the curation of artists featured at the festival was amazing. I had so much fun that I actually got inspired to write (collective gasp). Today’s newsletter/playlist is dedicated to my favorite acts, broken down by songs I got to see live in order of appearance.

Click the image to get to the Spotify playlist

Track Listing

“easy breezy” - Yaeji
“mememe” - 100 gecs
“Crush - Unfinished” - Jai Paul
“Bath County” - Wednesday
“Good Living Is Coming for You” - Sweeping Promises
“Supreme Nothing” - Bratmobile (Tiger Trap cover)
“Hexenzsene” - Unwound
“Baddy On The Floor” - Jamie xx, Honey Dijon
“Wede Harer Guzo” - Hailu Mergia
“The Last Time” - Jessica Pratt

1. “easy breezy” - Yaeji

I arrived at around 3pm on the first day of the festival with my homies in tow and went straight to the Amen Dunes interview. As we know I’m a huge fan (evidenced by his B2B features on LR10 and LR11), but unfortunately he was scheduled to play at exactly the same time as Yaeji… imagine my distress. But, since I saw him play at Brooklyn Steel back in May, I figured I’d prioritize Yaeji, whom I’d never seen before, and make up for it by catching his interview. Good stuff, and Yaeji did not disappoint. She was endearing and adorable but also swaggy AF, bopping in and out of coordinated dances with her two sexy backup dancers and bantering with the crowd. She was sunny and relaxed, played the hits, and finished it off with an unreleased song. “raingurl” went hard of course, but “easy breezy” ended up being my favorite song she played.

2. “mememe” - 100 gecs

100 gecs immediately followed Yaeji on the next stage over, and while I expected to skip out early to catch some of Sudan Archives, they managed to keep me there for their whole set. I forgot how many 100 gecs songs I knew… and they’re just a lot of fun to see live. Dylan Brady especially impressed me with his vocals — he’s clearly a great singer under all the autotune, but I never fully realized until hearing him play. At some point Laura Les went barefoot and the camera guys operating the live screen of their set could not get enough of it.

“mememe” was a sleeper hit for me. I listened to 10,000 gecs when it came out last year, but this song — the album closer — didn’t make it into my “latest” rotation at the time. “Hollywood Baby” is maybe my favorite 100 gecs song and the one I was most looking forward to hearing, but it was fun to rediscover “mememe.”

3. “Crush - Unfinished” - Jai Paul

I was SO excited to see Jai Paul and he really delivered. His live band was amazing, especially the drummer, and his vocals were perfect. He was clearly eating it all up and some ladies gave me and my friend Ceci free drinks — Ceci told me later that they were hitting on us… it went over my head lol. I had the most fun dancing to “Crush - Unfinished.”

4. “Bath County” - Wednesday

Fast forward to Saturday, and after seeing feeble little horse and some of Water From Your Eyes, I got to see Wednesday for the first time. They were unsurprisingly great, noisy and absolutely shredding, with Karly doing her signature bloodcurdling screams. There was a lot from their set that I liked, including MJ Lenderman’s beautiful voice on a cover of Drive-By Truckers’ “Women Without Whisky,” but “Bath County” hit the hardest for me. “Every daughter of God / has a little bad luck some times” … hell yeah.

5. “Good Living Is Coming for You” - Sweeping Promises

Sweeping Promises was one the of the acts I was most excited to see and BOY did they deliver. I thought I’d skip out halfway through to catch some of De La Soul’s set, but I had to stay the whole time. They had me dancing hard for the entire 45-minute set and I’m pretty sure I looked like an insane person. Imagine somebody thrashing their body around while standing in the same spot for 45 minutes… or one of those blow-up guys outside of car dealerships. That was me.

How an Inflatable Car Dealership Man Works | FFN Blog — Picture this but 2x faster and that was basically me at Sweeping Promises

Sweeping Promises’ lo-fi recordings cannot possibly convey the pure power behind Lira Mondal’s vocals and Caufield Schnug’s guitar chops. The drummer was also insane (couldn’t find his name online unfortunately) and I actually screamed involuntarily at one point during “Pain Without a Touch” because he did a crazy run. The band also dedicated “Cross Me Out” to Palestine and took a moment to advocate for cultural/music criticism too, which only made me like them more.

Part of what made this set so fun was that I didn’t know all of Sweeping Promises’ discography, so I got to discover new songs too. “Good Living Is Coming for You” was one of those new discoveries — there’s a certain 2000s alt sound that they captured in the chorus, I think primarily because of the guitar. It reminds me “Maps” or even Walk the Moon’s “Shiver Shiver” somehow lol.

6. “Supreme Nothing” - Bratmobile (Tiger Trap cover)

Bratmobile was right after Sweeping Promises on the same stage so I got a good spot up front for this epic riot grrrl moment. Lead singer Allison Wolfe was bubbly and indulged in some quick storytelling between sets, which included not one but two Liz Phair name drops… very cool. Loved hearing “Love Thing” and “Cool Shmool” and “Gimme Brains” live, but I was thrilled when they covered Tiger Trap’s “Supreme Nothing.” Makes sense, as the two bands go way back and OG Tiger Trapper Rose Melberg was on guitar for this show. As I’ve said before, I love a good cover, and this one made my little heart melt.

7. “Hexenzsene” - Unwound

Yes, I skipped Carly Rae Jepsen’s set to catch Unwound (but not before I got to see her play “Run Away With Me”) and it was so worth it. I had to catch a break and was fully seated on the grass for this but it was still awesome. These dudes are legendary for a reason. I love grunge, I love punk, I love NOISE! “Corpse Pose” almost made it onto today’s playlist but “Hexenzsene” was the one that truly did it for me.

8. “Baddy On The Floor” - Jamie xx, Honey Dijon

You know someone’s doing their job right when they have you running across the grass to get to their stage. After opening with “Ghetto Shout Out!!“(amazing), Jamie xx played “Baddy On The Floor” and I have rarely felt so pressed to get somewhere. It’s a good thing I gathered my energy sitting at Unwound because I was busting a freaking move for the next thirty minutes.

While I didn’t end up staying for his whole set, I was surprised by how many genres Jamie xx moved through. He must’ve gone through house, footwork, light dubstep, and techno in the relatively short amount of time I was there. Regardless of the genre, he had everybody moving.

9. “Wede Harer Guzo” - Hailu Mergia

What a full circle moment to get to see “Wede Harer Guzo” live after featuring it in HRPK1! And now I get to feature it on the newsletter again. An historic day it is. Seeing Hailu Mergia and his two-piece band was also pretty historic, given he’s 78. With just a drummer and a bassist on support, he switched between his organ and an accordion throughout the set, occasionally lending some vocals to the melody. They were jazzy and lowkey, and when they finished the set with “Wede Harer Guzo” — deciding what seemed like last-minute to play it — the crowd immediately started singing along: “La la la la la la, la la la la la la…”

Spongebob Clarinet Singing by ... — Me in the crowd singing

10. “The Last Time” - Jessica Pratt

I had to make the tough decision between Hailu Mergia and Jessica Pratt, so it pains me to say that I only caught the last 15 minutes of her set — but it was everything you could imagine and more. She had a full band for most of what I saw, but on this song it was mostly just her and a nylon-string guitar and wow… it was a moment of stillness in the crowd of hundreds that she pulled. She looked chic and mysterious in a baseball cap and black pinstripe suit and sang like an angel on earth.