In addition to reaffirming the flourishing state of independent music, Pitchfork 2010 displayed a movement finally comfortable in its own skin. The decade in which being labeled a “hipster” was enough to make someone take a shower, wear contacts and profess one’s earnestness has passed.
On the newly added comedy stage, hipster stereotyping jokes yielded eye rolls rather than self-conscious laughs. On stage, Best Coast and St. Vincent sported their trendy summer shades and tank tops proudly, as did the thousands of shameless imitators in the crowd.
Of course, there were some stragglers. One fest-goer donned a shirt reading “Indie is dead.” If that’s true, then who are all these people? Who are these fifty-plus bands? Why do they look so excited? Shouldn’t they be grieving?
Wolf Parade drummer Arlen Thompson dismissed the very term “indie.”
“To me, we’re just a rock band; I don’t even know if the term ‘indie rock’ fits us anymore,” Thompson said.
“I guess ‘indie’ became a thing, but the whole concept of indie bands is so nebulous,” he added. “It’s kind of a just a catchall category.”
Other artists were more flattered to be playing at what “Rolling Stone Magazine” called “the indie rock mecca ,” and it’s no coincidence that they are younger than the Wolf Parade vets. Take, for example, young indie folkster Sharon Van Etten , who said being invited to the festival is like “finally being invited to the party.” Or Bethany Cosentino of L.A. surf-sap sensations Best Coast, who gushed over being able to play in the same park as her childhood obsession, indie pioneers Pavement.
“It’s exciting. I feel insanely lucky to be playing the same day as Pavement because they have been one of my favorite bands since I was in like eighth grade,” Cosentino said.
Paul Sprangers, frontman of feel-good, indie power-pop group Free Energy , responded to the sentiment that this kind of music is on its way out the door with an impassioned wave of the hand.
“People still love to make music, and people still love to listen to music, so what’s the [expletive] problem? If this old fossilized system is decaying, it means it’s not necessary anymore. There’s gonna be some other system that adapts and survives.”
If our T-shirted cynic is accurate in his observation, if the biggest counter-cultural movement of our time is indeed on its deathbed, then — with thousands of people celebrating its livelihood in Union Park last weekend serving as a testimony — it sure seems to already be rising from its own ashes.
Acts we loved
Modest Mouse
Best Coast
Titus Andronicus
Free Energy
Wolf Parade
Big Boi
Acts we love but were disappointing
Girls
Beach House
Pavement
Broken Social Scene
Michael Showalter
Acts that we didn’t love
CAVE
El-P