Pitchfork Music Festival Set For Chicago

If you haven’t heard of Pitchfork, you’re clearly not a music nerd—or you are and have been locked in your basement with no Internet for the last several years. For the rest of us, Pitchfork is a household name, a self-appointed musical tastemaker that specializes in snark and scathing reviews. Its word is influential, for better or for worse, and artists like Bon Iver know the full extent of that truth.

Photo by TylerJSwenson

In 2007, Bon Iver was skyrocketed into the indie music scene before his first official album was even released. Bon Iver, AKA Justin Vernon, wrote his debut solo album while spending four snowy winter months isolated in a remote cabin in Wisconsin. He self-released the album, and soon it was reviewed by Pitchfork writer Stephen M. Deusner. The positive review and overall score of 8.1 led to a torrent of downloads of the album, For Emma, Forever Ago. Since then, his fame and influence have grown—and at the 2012 Grammys he was awarded “Best New Artist” and “Best Alternative Album.”

Unsurprisingly, Pitchfork also hosts its own music festival each year. This year’s festival is set to be in Chicago from July 19-21, and Friday night is being headlined by Björk. The full lineup is diverse in both gender and genre, including both well-established artists such as R. Kelly and rising stars like Autre Ne Veut.

Autre Ne Veut has received numerous positive reviews on Pitchfork for its three albums (Anxiety, Body EP, and Autre Ne Veut) and has risen from “fringe” status to emerging star in the indie scene. The group is signed with independent music label Mexican Summer, sister label to Andres Santo Domingo’s Kemado Records.

Three day passes for the Pitchfork Music Festival are already sold out, but individual tickets for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are still available for $50 apiece. Be sure to check out the full Pitchfork lineup for this year; it includes names like MIA, Yo La Tengo, White Lung, and more. Pitchfork’s lineup has managed to stay impressive yet manageable, unlike some of the larger festivals (Coachella, Lollapalooza) that also cost an arm and a leg to get in.