Pitchfork

LadyFest Chicago would have been hard-pressed to assemble a more eclectic lineup for this, the penultimate show of its week-or-so long festival of gigs, panels, film screenings, workshops, and the like, which wrapped up this past weekend.

Each act that took the stage at AV-aerie (before a crowd that was sometimes frustratingly listless) took a decided detour from the one before it. Glass Candy-- set to play ATP vs. Pitchfork next spring-- topped the bill, marrying witching hour synth sorcery with the stage acrobatics of vocalist Ida No, possibly the most fit and flexible person I've seen outside of a circus.

Glass Candy's fine-tuned tunes were a far cry from Bunny Rabbit's goofy, gritty, raunchy raps about sex, killing dolphins, and sex. Joined by DJ/hype-lady Black Cracker, CocoRosie pal Bunny did what she could to give the evening's proceedings a jolt, but the pair probably suffered the most from this generally blank-faced crowd. Interaction is key with hip-hop, after all, and despite their efforts these two weren't getting nearly enough of it.

Also a duo, but on another stylistic tip altogether, High Places preceded Bunny Rabbit with perhaps the night's most eye-opening set, full of delirious rhythms and jumprope song vocals, part Animal Collective, part gamelan, part "Iko Iko", and all fun. (Full disclosure: High Places includes the sister of a former Pitchfork staffer.)

Partyline, featuring Allison Wolfe of Bratmobile fame, charged through a rapid-fire set of spunky punk tunes (augmented by Wolfe's frequent cheerleader kicks), and chatted excitedly through every spare second in between. And that had precisely nothing to do with the sprawling, slowburn country of Lady Lucille, the evening's first performer. Something for everyone, indeed.

Glass Candy are on the road now with Architecture in Helsinki.

GLASS CANDY








BUNNY RABBIT


HIGH PLACES


PARTYLINE


LADY LUCILLE


GLASS CANDY






BUNNY RABBIT






HIGH PLACES




PARTYLINE




Glass Candy:

10-23 Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon *
10-24 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar *
10-25 Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck *
10-26 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre *
10-29 Seattle, WA - The Showbox *
10-30 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom *
11-01 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
11-02 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *
11-03 Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre *
11-05 Pomona, CA - The Glass House *
11-06 West Hollywood, CA - The Troubadour *
11-07 West Hollywood, CA - The Troubadour *
11-09 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre *
11-10 Santa Fe, NM - The Moon
11-12 Norman, OK - Opolis *
11-13 Denton, TX - Hailey's *
11-14 Austin, TX - Emo's *
11-15 New Orleans, LA - Republic *
11-17 Houston, TX - The Backroom
11-22 Scottsdale, AZ - TBA
11-23 Los Angeles, CA - Weekend Warriors
11-24 San Francisco, CA - Frisco Disco
11-29 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey #
11-30 Portland, OR - Rotture #
12-07 Vancouver, British Columbia - Santa Clause Lane
05-09-11 Rye, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (ATP vs. Pitchfork)

* with Architecture in Helsinki, Panther
# with DJ Mike Simonetti