C3X World Tour: Leg Three, Week Nine: Pitchfork Music Festival
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Welcome to Union Park in Chicago, IL! This is Pitchfork Music Festival! As some people might be aware, the real Pitchfork Music Festival actually does start today, featuring some amazing artists I’m sure. As the lineup was announced well after preparations for the date began, none of the actual performers from this year will have content available today. At least not as part of C3X. But allow us to travel back in time to various years of the festival where some other stand-out artists performed!
The Walkmen
We start with The Walkmen, who have performed at the Festival 3 times! (2006, 2009, 2012)
Author Yaniv says:
The Walkmen are one of the best and most underrated indie bands of the 2000’s. Mostly known for their song “The Rat” – they were dubbed a “one hit wonder” for a while – they are actually a great band. They broke up in 2012, but ended up scoring another huge hit after their breakup – when the hugely popular sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” chose their song “Heaven” as the ending track of the last episode of the hugely popular show. So whether you liked the ending or not (I hated it), that song is pretty damn good. It’s a sweet, happy and nostalgic song, with a soaring chorus – “Remember remember, all we fight for!”. Great song by a great band!
Mac Demarco
Next up we have Mac Demarco, another 3-time veteran of the Festival. (2013, 2015, 2018)
Author Yaniv says:
Mac DeMarco at it’s finest in one of his biggest classics. An epic, memorable guitar riff, great fun on all instruments, and Mac apologizing to his mother about being a naughty boy – this particular song was written after Mac’s mother found online a video of him sticking up drumsticks up his, well, backside. Here’s Mac himself explaining this song:
“That’s about the family. A lot of songs are about the family on the album. I did a karaoke set in Montreal last spring, and I ended up getting really, really drunk. All my clothes came off, beer got poured over me, percussive instrument tools found their way into my butt and my friend took a video of the thing. I thought it’d be funny, but it goes on YouTube and my aunt sees it, and my whole family. And they were not too pleased. My mom was like, “Mac—what’s going on?” My aunt freaked out and thought I was smoking bath salts. I didn’t present some song to say, look, I’m sorry… it was all clear before. They understand that I’m just a bit of a goof. But I thought it’d be a fun thing to write a song about, so I did.” So, hmm, yeah, thankfully we got a great song from this!
Pavement
Moving on to an absolutely legendary indie rock band who even headlined Pitchfork Festival back in 2010, Pavement!
Author Yaniv says:
The opening tune from their masterpiece “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain”. “Silence Kid” includes some awesome guitar riffs, entertaining drums, great melody, provocative lyrics, a tempo change and a time signature change – all in a short, neat package of about 3 minutes. It’s a legendary opening and one of their most coveted songs.
Author Yaniv says:
From the same album, this is a beautiful, darker and slower tune with an epic guitar climax. The song itself – whether it’s about war or tennis – is beautiful, nuanced and (excuse the pun) – breathtaking. Singer Stephen Malkmus is very emotional – as he sings “dad, they broke me…”, and the song eventually evolves into a rousing climax of guitar arpeggios and brilliant buildup. In my opinion, one of their best songs.
Author Yaniv says:
It’s a sweet, beautiful and nostalgic love song – whose hook just happens to be “I could spit on a stranger”. Full of contradictions – not unusual for Pavement – it’s a song with amazing melody, a huge range of emotions and sweet instrumentation that you’d love to play. Malkmus himself has named it as “one of the 15 songs of my life”, and he said: “This song has a Beatles feel to me. It’s a pretty song in the standard tuning, which, as Rolling Stone readers know, means tuning your guitar to EADGBE, in the way that the Lord told us to do it. And it has that Nigel Godrich production — he can make the average guitar sound so good. But in Pavement fashion, the singer has to say, “I could spit on a stranger,” which is a slightly bizarre hook. Kind of dark and fucked-up.
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We now move on to the glorious year of 2017 (for the Pitchfork Music Festival anyway), where two particular bands performed. The first of which is…
Ride
Complete with their own gameplay trailer! Check it out:
Author DemonUnicorns says:
Joining Loveless and Souvlaki to complete your staple Shoegaze library, it’s Ride’s Nowhere! Nowhere establishes itself as a more raw sounding form of Shoegaze, complete with all the guitar effects you’ve come to expect from the genre. It also offers wide-ranging dynamics, fast and complex drum patters, harmonious vocal melodies, well-formed bass lines, and some of the most mystical guitar sounds you’ve ever heard. Under work for over a year, this is the most time I’ve ever spent on a handful of charts, so please lose yourself in this third Shoegaze installment!
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And moving on to our final act!
Jeff Rosenstock
Author Kamotch says:
A song from Jeff’s excellent mixtape “I Look Like Shit”. The whole song deals with the embarrassment of running into friends and acquaintances later in life and realizing you’re not as successful as you might have wanted to be at your age. Totally relatable content for me. But he dwells on a particular instance of seeing and old friend who turned to walk the other way rather than engage in conversation with him. Perhaps they saw him working at a restaurant and deemed him unworthy of their time. Or, on the contrary, they themselves are the one embarrassed with their own life and thus didn’t want to expose themselves to ridicule. I guess he (and by extension, we) will never know.
Author Kamotch says:
This song is directly inspired by an outdoor festival Jeff attended in Brooklyn, New York. Sponsored by Douglas Elliman Realty, the festival was apparently riddled with ads for Century 21. These people, he claims, are trying to push out all of the “actual people” from his city. The featured ads tried to capitalize on youth culture by featuring models in “punk” clothing. Meanwhile, up on the stage, Run the Jewels were performing songs about police brutality and the prison system. It sounds like a fucked up experience, but hey it inspired this song, so at least something good came out of it. “They wouldn’t be your friend if you weren’t worth something.” is an excellent dig at corporations attempts to appeal to the masses.
Note: contains one use of the word “Fuck”.
Author Kamotch says:
The opening song on career-highlight 2015’s “We Cool?”. Like many of his songs, this one touches on kind of a downer subject. He’s forced to gradually comes to terms with getting older, at first mourning the fact that his friends are accomplishing more in life than him while he’s trying to counter the inevitability of aging by getting drunk at house shows. But he slowly realizes that, despite his dreams still unfulfilled, he’s able to find solace in the little things in life along the way. “We had the time, so we watched the ocean for a while. And it felt alright. Was it kind of nice to see me smile?” After all, stale regrets are a waste of time.
Author Kamotch says:
This song actually didn’t stick for me when I first heard it. Now it’s one of my favorites of his! This song tells a fun story about the aftermath of a crazy night-before. Considering he often dedicates this song to his wife Christine, I’m going to assume the person he’s making out with in the van is her, despite his wondering if he’ll “ever see [her] again”. The events of the night start to consume his mind until that’s all he can think about. He overanalyzes the consequences, worrying if she’ll ever want to see him again after their drunken encounter. “I hope I’m not reading to this too much, it’s a kiss.” In the end, it’s implied he overcomes his anxiety about the situation. Another feel-good Jeff Rosenstock song!
Author Kamotch says:
This song acts as an apology to an unnamed person whom Jeff was unable to comfort after the passing of a mutual friend. He lists different scenarios of how their relationship could have changed had this particular friend not passed. Instead, what ended up happening is Jeff, in his inability to cope with loss, turned to alcohol. Meanwhile the recipient of the apology was going through many stages of grief, ultimately sobbing in the arms of another presumed mutual friend Meghan at a party. Jeff laments being unable to leave the kitchen due to his ingestion of “too much poison.” It’s a really great song!
Author Kamotch says:
I first discovered this song from a Youtube video. Jeff played an acoustic version many months ahead of the release of his album POST-. I loved the Youtube version so much that when I finally was able to hear the studio version, I was actually a little disappointed. And yet it still ended up being my favorite song on the album, which was unfortunate. But I’m not here to diss the album or anything. Most of the songs ended up growing on me, which is why I plan to release more from POST- in the future, but for now this is what you get! Fun fact: Melbourne is where Australian band The Smith Street Band hail from. Jeff has produced their latest two albums including “More Scared of You Than You Are of Me”. The title track from that album, “Forrest”, is also available for download here via C3U.
Note: contains one use of the word “Fuck”.
Author Kamotch says:
The shortest song of the bunch, it’s also the simplest one overall. One of the few songs with an overall positive tone, it’s ultimately about doing what you want and being yourself. After having been a touring musician for about half his life, he’s learned to “[trade] his shame for self-respect”. He would like nothing more in that moment than to listen to The Cribs (great choice) and make out with his wife, so fuck the haters who object.
Author Kamotch says:
One of two songs released on his Summer EP, this was the first official solo release to feature a live drummer. It’s also just an underrated gem in Jeff’s catalogue. Not much to say about the song’s meaning. It’s unsubtly about the initial teenage romance he and his now-wife had years ago. “Christine doesn’t seem to mind that all of my songs are about dying and suicide.” Christine and Jeff are still going strong. She even tours with the band and is in charge of manning the merch table. Power couple for sure.
Note: contains one use of the word “Fuck”.
Author Kamotch says:
The second-to-last track on his spectacular “We Cool?” album, this song is one of my absolute favorites. Not only is it a treat to listen to, but the message behind it is really great. He lists various little annoying or bad things that happen to him as time goes on, sprinkling in some self deprecating humor to help cope. All of these things start to remind him of his place in the world and how he hasn’t become the person he wanted to be. Eventually these reminders “pile up like bricks in a poorly-made tote bag that’s doing it’s best not to burst at the seams.” Until finally it does, and he’s forced to deal with it. Instead of crying about the metaphorical coffee mugs and magnets that have fallen out of the tote bag onto the street, just leave them there for someone who might need it. Turn the bad situation around. Tell yourself it’s going to get better. “Stop. Think. Good times are ahead of you.”
Author Kamotch says:
In case you couldn’t tell, this song is about trash. But really it’s about letting depression take over your life. It forces him to make excuses for not doing simple tasks like taking out the trash, doing dishes, etc. He’s worried about the hypothetical rodents and maggots in the trash can and spiders in the drain. And it spirals into being unable to do other tasks such as writing letters, despite not having a direct valid excuse. But it’s justified in that no one died over it, so why worry? It’s an excellent depiction of what depression does to people. This is one of the few songs from the early days of Jeff’s solo career that he still frequently plays. Perhaps he likes reminding himself of his progress since this period of his life.
Author Kamotch says:
So this song was apparently inspired by the death of Jeff’s friend who was murdered in her own home. A lot of early Bomb the Music Industry! and Arrogant Sons of Bitches material was influenced by a particular Summer where a few of his friends died separately in a short period of time. I don’t know for sure if this friend was one of those, but it’s possible. “[…]I scream, ’Why did I get left behind?’ I know it’s an exaggeration to say I would rather die than share this place with people capable of inspiring such fear and hopelessness that I’m frozen in my bed… but that sums it up.” The song is a fan-favorite, often reserved for encore performances while he’s on tour, unfortunately with the piano intro omitted.
Author Kamotch says:
The music video features Jeff gleefully strolling through the streets and waving at passersby. Everyone (including a cameo from his real-life wife Christine) responds by giving him dirty looks and showing outright contempt for him. He eventually finds his way into a bar where a band is performing. He tries to vibe with the band and play some guitar alongside them, but he gets forcibly removed from the stage. His upbeat attitude finally starting to fade, he asks for a drink from the bar which leads to a pretty blatant Simpsons reference. “Come on! Come on! Get out of here!” they all yell as he gets thrown on the ground outside of the bar. The end! It’s a great accompaniment to the song, I recommend checking it out.
And as an added bonus, I’ve also updated my very first custom. It’s now up-to-date with my current authoring standards!
Including the bonus updated song, that’s 26 songs this week! Hope you can find something you enjoy!
This is such an amazing week. Having a masterpiece album like “Nowhere” on it’s own would have already qualified as an A+ release in my book. Than all those Rosenstock tracks which I’m eager to check out. And I was glad to add a few of my own for some variation
” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />Hope you like it!
Incredible work, thank you! I love Ride, but when I saw Pavement my heart stopped for a second. One of my all-time favorite bands and the three songs you chose for them are perfect; I cannot wait to play them!
Incredible work, thank you! I love Ride, but when I saw Pavement my heart stopped for a second. One of my all-time favorite bands and the three songs you chose for them are perfect; I cannot wait to play them!
Thanks! If you somehow didn’t notice, I’ve done “Gold Soundz” and “Unfair” in the past, and “Cut Your Hair” is available via GH conversion, so there’s quite a nice set there!
Hey again! This was actually the first time I had a significant enough release to make the thread, so I was a little nervous about it. But looking over how previous threads have been formatted helped a lot (I based mine heavily on Yaniv’s posts, so thanks again to him).
This is by far the most involved I’ve ever been with a C3X release, not just coming up with the Venue and event, but also releasing the most songs I ever have in a single week. I had always been a fan of the old “Greatest Hits: Rock Band Edition” 12-packs Harmonix would occasionally release back in the day, so this pack was inspired by those. I plan to make more 12-packs of my favorite artists down the line, but they’re going to have to be pretty spread out. Working on 12 songs at once requires a lot of dedication, motivation, and most importantly: time. But that’s why I decided to make my first pack Jeff Rosenstock!
He’s easily my favorite artist (I have a 42″x42″ version of that flag hanging in my room haha). He’s been in a ton of bands, most importantly Bomb the Music Industry! Despite his songs often seeming cynical, he’s a super positive dude. Ever since the formation of BtMI!, he’s been a huge proponent of the DIY ethic. He started his own record label where he releases all of his music, as well as many other great bands’, online for free. He books all of his headlining gigs himself, keeping the price affordable and making sure it’s available to all ages. Aside from touring all the time (hoping he makes it to the midwest soon!), he also composes music for the Cartoon Network show “Craig of the Creek”. He keeps himself busy!
I had hoped to have previews available for all my songs, but I wasn’t able to finalize the songs until nearly the last minute. I’ll see about maybe getting some made sometime soon. I know it’s hard to justify downloading something you’re not already a fan of, but hey it’s all free!
I highly recommend listening to the studio versions of the songs I posted, but if you want a good introduction to Jeff, check out this video of his actual Pitchfork set from 2017! It’s hilarious, and his backup band, “Death Rosenstock”, are all super talented.
Holy cow what a great week
” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” /> Nicely done everyone
Keeping the content Canadian since 2017!
SomeOldGuys: https://db.c3universe.com/songs/all/__user/someoldguys
MrPrezident: https://db.c3universe.com/songs/all/__user/MrPrezident
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