Patrick Sisson - Writer, Journalist, Cultural Documentarian, Music Lover

45 Search results for "pitchfork"

Music Review Pitchfork October 23, 2009 Link 7.2 When instrumental rock bands get tapped for soundtracks, it can be kind of a gut-check that tests how a wider audience may view their music. Sigur Rós’ folkloric melodrama and emotive language made sense as a backdrop for Vanilla Sky, itself a sort of sci-fi fairytale about […]

Music Review Pitchfork October 12, 2009 Link 6.7 Showcasing his stuttering spin on hip-hop beats, 23-year-old Glaswegian producer Ross Birchard, who records as Hudson Mohawke, demonstrates no shortage of ideas and energy on Butter. Like the album’s neon-scorched cover, which includes hawks with mohawks, he doesn’t do restraint or subtlety. “Joy Fantastic” has to be […]

Music Review Pitchfork October 2009 Link 6.9 A Strange Arrangement, in addition to being the name of Mayer Hawthorne’s falsetto-laced debut, also describes the story behind the making of this one-man soul studio. Performing in L.A. as DJ Haircut, Michigan-born hip-hop fan Drew Cohen thought it would be interesting to record his own sample-friendly music. […]

Music Review Pitchfork June 2009 Link 4.5 “Oh you don’t know the half of it.” Said in an over-the-top manner, this was David Bowie’s inauspicious kick-off to an over-sentimental start to “Life on Mars”. Like the rest of his 1999 performance on “VH1’s Storytellers” series, it poses a question, or more accurately, suggests the audience […]

Music Review Pitchfork September 2009 Link 5.6 Getting called a virtuoso or mad scientist comes with some heavy baggage for a musician, so it says a lot about Tom Jenkinson, who records as Squarepusher, that he’s been repeatedly labeled as both. Getting tagged with these contradictory stereotypes– a classically trained workhorse mastering the canon versus […]

Music Review Pitchfork August 2009 Link 5.0 Modern life can be rubbish. Or so says Esser, an English electro-pop troubadour who sports a flattop that’s vintage mod (or exaggerated Jordan Knight). Despite a nonchalant delivery and mostly sunny melodies, he seems down. On opener “Leaving Town”, he says, “It feels like I’m drowning, so I […]

Article Chicago Magazine July 2009 Link In summer, festival season reaches a fever pitch. To help us navigate the scene, we drafted four insiders—working musicians who see more than their fair share of shows—and asked them to handicap the summer music calendar. Here, their recommendations [ * RECOMMENDS ** PICK OF THE SEASON ] MIKE […]

Music Review Pitchfork June 2009 Link 6.4 Franz Ferdinand singer Alex Kapranos’ vocals are often wry snapshots of hedonistic nights spent with mysterious, mercurial women. It’s an example, perhaps, of a globetrotting pop star singing about what he knows (his food writing doesn’t translate into three-minute singles quite as well). But the band isn’t nearly […]

Music Review Pitchfork May 2009 Link 6.1 “I’ve played every kind of gig there is to play now,” intones Sixto Rodriguez on the track “A Most Disgusting Song”. “I’ve played faggot bars, hooker bars, motorcycle funerals… in opera houses, concert halls, halfway houses.” Not sure where opening up for Animal Collective in Chicago this past […]

Interview Pitchfork May 2009 Link When the Canadian electronic duo Junior Boys began work on the music that would become Begone Dull Care, vocalist and co-producer Jeremy Greenspan analyzed his artistic process. While scrutinizing the methodology behind the intricately crafted and occasionally icy pop music he makes with Matt Didemus, he came upon an unlikely […]