Real to reel

Local observations from a movie, music buff

By Dan Ochwat

All praise the music festival

June, July, August — three months where Chicago is blessed with a freaking weekend-long, boil-in-the-hot-sun-with-pulled-pork-on-your-face, drink-plenty-of-beer-to-dehydrate-yourself and kill-the-grass-dancing-your-ass-off music festival. I don’t think that sentence is grammatically correct, but you get the point: Music festivals rawk!

After the success of Lollapalooza and the Intonation Festival last year, Chicago gets to do it all over again with a third fest added. We get to see a year’s worth of concerts in a couple days. And this isn’t Survivor playing your local carnival. This is the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Devendra Banhart to Ghostface Killah.

If you add up all three festivals, they boast 194 bands over seven days. It’s insanity. And did I mention the lineups?

June 24-25, Intonation Music Festival, Union Park
This fest is $20 for a one-day pass, and $35 for both days. The lineup is curated by Vice Records, so there are a few of their acts playing, including my favorite band of last year, Bloc Party.

Primarily though, this festival is pretty experimental, fusing electronic musicians with rock musicians with underground hip hop faves. It’s going to gather a real diverse audience who, just by standing next to them in a mosh pit, should rub some coolness off onto people who use words like “rawk.”

This will be a special experience seeing soon-to-be breakout Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco and then the distinguished Jon Brion, whose famous as a record producer and for scoring major films like “Magnolia.” He also put out a beautifully poppy album for “I Heart Huckabees.”

I can’t name them all, but here are some acts I’m excited to see: sweet and sleepy singer Jose Gonzalez, emo rock band The Stills, adorable Swedish dance pop singer Annie, and Wu-Tang rapper Ghostface Killah, whose latest album “Fishscales” is an abstract album over soulful samples.

July 27-28, Pitchfork Music Festival, Union Park
Last year the brains of www.pitchforkmedia.com curated the breakthrough Intonation Festival at Union Park. But this year, the two split to create their own festival. No bad blood, just offering us two different kinds of fests. Primarily, the Pitchfork Festival will be much like what we visited last year, with a DJ tent and a lot of the bands that this Website has helped bring to our attention. The rest are playing Lollapalooza.

Unfortunately, as headliners go, they lost me. I don’t know who Os Mutantes are, and I’ve never been a big Silver Jews fan (go ahead and punish me for that, though I will be sticking around to hear “Farmer’s Hotel”). The rest of the lineup, however, is pure brilliance.

Again, tough not to name them all, but surefire performances will come from Spoon, Ted Leo, Mission of Burma and The National. These bands have been packing houses in Chicago for a couple years.

Perhaps slightly under the radar to you, but trust me on this next hit list of bands. Jens Lekman is a charismatic, Swedish troubadour who will make you laugh with his off-the-wall lyrics and imperfect tone. He doesn’t tour much, so it’s a must see. Tapes ’n Tapes are building steam and deservedly so. They just rocked three shows here in the last two months and lived up to their new album, “The Loon.”

Destroyer will play songs off his new album “Rubies,” which is another quirky one that will be exciting to see live. Folk star Devendra Banhart will bring a chunky jam band sound. Man Man will play another quirky set, Band of Horses makes an appearance (see the next page) and the British foursome The Futureheads are an absolute riot live.

This is where Pitchfork is genius, as this last bundle of artists make a bonafide statement. They’re the bands that even if you don’t know them, you’ll remember them afterward.

August 4-6, Lollapalooza, Grant Park
It’s the mother of all festivals this year. Three days for $150. Last year, it was a disappointment. Bands played simultaneously on stages spread out over Grant Park, a bored Weezer headlined and you could hear interference from each stage. This was not something you wanted for the expense.

On top of that, you kind of felt like you were at the Taste of Chicago. However, this year, there’s no bigger festival. The lineup is unbeatable, satisfying a wide mixture of tastes by securing some major names: Kanye West, Common, Sonic Youth, Wilco, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sleater-Kinney, The Shins, Flaming Lips, The New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene.

That said, there is a second tier of bands playing that should be checked out. Gnarls Barkley consists hip hop duo DJ Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo. They have the hit of the summer with their song “Crazy,” and put together an album that’s fun as hell. They could be the most memorable act this summer.

Equally exciting, three pure guitar albums launched recently, and each band is playing. The Raconteurs is the collaboration of a few Detroit notables, mainly Jack White and Brendan Benson. Their recent album, “Broken Boy Soldier,” is one of the best this year. Built to Spill bring their energy, cult following and drawn-out jams from their album “You In Reverse,” among other hits from the past. And Wolfmother bring their ’70s-inspired sound from their self-titled debut album.

Iron & Wine, Calexico and Andrew Bird will slow things down. Austin, Texas-based Sound Team play with some pep and are worth checking out. The Rapture and The Go! Team add some dance to the mix. Finally, Of Montreal’s circus sound is worth a peep. And I could keep on going.

“United 93”
I know, I know, it’s too soon to discuss “United 93,” but this incredibly emotional film had me up all night. The cast of passengers on the plane is a Who’s Who of TV commercial actors. I was trying like hell to pinpoint where I’ve seen these people. I did figure one out during one of her brief gasping scenes — Fay from “Wings.”

Don’t worry though, this isn’t a complete distraction. The film is superbly done, a masterpiece that sends you down an emotional path worth the money. Not many movies carry the impact this one does. And it’s more powerful in its education of how confused the air towers and the military was during this tragedy. It’s not too soon to see the movie.

Upcoming Shows
Warm up for the fests by visiting these upcoming, recommended shows:

On 6/9, the insecure British duo The Boy Least Likely To bring their charming pop songs to Schuba’s. Snow Patrol plays the Vic Theatre 6/10.

Actually a street festival with some good music, Son Volt plays the Taste Of Randolph Street 6/16 with bluesy The Black Keys playing the next night. On 6/18, The Liars play the Logan Square Auditorium.

We Are Scientists play 6/21 at Metro: Go hear the Bloc Party-esque jam “Lousy Reputation.” Apparently offering more than “Defending the Caveman,” The Lakeshore Theatre on Broadway is playing incredible music. Check out squeaky-voice masters Rogue Wave on 6/23. On the same night, Calexico plays at Metro.

Finally, the Taste of Chicago offsets its annoying crowds with fine music from My Morning Jacket (go see for yourself if he sounds like Band of Horses) on 7/4 and classy R&B singer India.Arie on 7/5.

Keep sending me your music or anything else on your mind at danochwat@hotmail.com. I’ve also joined the MySpace army, so give The Real Chicago some love at http://www1.myspace.com/danochwat

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