Just John and I had the pleasure of attending the sixth annual Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park on the weekend of July 14-16. It was hot. Really hot. The crowds came, though, and were treated to great performance after great performance. Every show I saw over the weekend was top-notch. The festival’s treatment of its fans was also top-notch. Thousands of bottles of water were passed out to the crowds to keep them hydrated (no thanks to the goons who just threw water everywhere instead of drinking it). Security were friendly throughout the entire weekend. Two air-conditioned city buses were brought in to help cool down festival-goers. What follows is a list of superlatives of some of the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the festival. Enjoy.

Best light show: The giant glowing crystals at Animal Collective

Biggest asshole: Ariel Pink, throwing another temper-tantrum and walking off stage halfway through his set

Most “f**k”s per minute: Odd Future

Highest number of gray-hairs in the crowd: Guided By Voices

Coolest stage wear: Nika Danilova of Zola Jesus’ very modern dress

Best mosh pit: No Age (which I stayed in for about five minutes too long, causing a short bout of heat sickness)

Best dance moves: Cold Cave’s Dominick Fernow, whose stomp-n-spin move was endlessly entertaining

Biggest dance party: Cut Copy, who got an entire field of thousands of people to dance

Most frequent weed clouds: Curren$y, unsurprisingly

Worst scheduling decision: Two-way tie between scheduling Odd Future and Shabazz Palaces, two of the festival’s five hip-hop acts, on at the same time and putting DJ Shadow on when the sun was still out, making his projector-using “Shadowsphere” completely useless (though, to the festival’s credit, they really couldn’t have put him anywhere else)

Best facial hair: Ian Williams of Battles, whose handlebar-stache perfectly matched his swanky get-up

People who should have passed out from heat stroke but, miraculously, didn’t: Yuck’s Daniel Blumberg, who wore jeans and a long-sleeve, denim button-down and Cold Cave’s Wesley Eisold and Dominick Fernow, both in black jeans, black shirts, and black leather jackets.

The Independent Weekly announced the line-up for its first Hopscotch Music Festival today.  The festival will take place in downtown Raleigh on September 9, 10 and 11 2010. Headlining the festival are Public Enemy, Panda Bear and Broken Social Scene. A plethora of local favorites will be playing as well.

Here’s a list of the bands scheduled to play the festival, with more to be released April 12:

9th Wonder & Friends, Active Child, All Tiny Creatures, American Aquarium, Americans in France, Atlas Sound, Balmorhea, Bear in Heaven, Best Coast, Birds of Avalon, Black Congo NC, DJ George Brazil, Broken Social Scene, Brutal Knights, Richard Buckner, Burning Star Core, Cannabis Corpse, Caitlin Cary’s Small Ponds with Tres Chicas, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Cults, Greg Davis, Double Dagger, Double Negative, The Dynamite Brothers, EAR PWR, ExMonkeys, First Rate People, Followed by Static, Ben Frost, Fucked Up, Future Islands, Golden Boys, The Golden Filter, Goner, Gray Young, Ryan Gustafson, Hammer No More the Fingers, Harlem, Harvey Milk, Horseback, John Howie Jr. & The Rosewood Bluff, I Was Totally Destroying It, Javelin, Jeb Bishop Trio, Juan Huevos, Kill the Noise, The Kingsbury Manx, Kooley High, Kylesa, The Light Pines, Lonnie Walker, The Love Language, Lucero, Luego, Max Indian, Erin McKeown, Megafaun, Midtown Dickens, The Moaners, The Monologue Bombs, Motor Skills, Mountains, Jon Mueller, Marissa Nadler, No Age, Ocean, Old Bricks, Panda Bear, Pattern Is Movement, Pictureplane, Plague, Pontiak, Public Enemy, The Rosebuds, Schooner, Sightings, spcl gst, Spider Bags, Thien, Tigercity, Tortoise, Treasure Fingers, US Christmas, Sharon Van Etten, Veelee, Vincent Black Shadow, War on Drugs, Washed Out, Weedeater, Whatever Brains, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Yip-Yip.

Tickets go on sale April 1. For more information, check out this article from the Independent Weekly.

Check out the top 30 albums played during the past week, compiled by Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre:

James Husband

Brazos

Bear in Heaven

1. James Husband - A Parallax I
2. Brazos – Phosphorescent Blues
3. Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
4. Headlights – Wildlife
5. Temper Trap – Conditions
6. LAKE – Let’s Build A Roof
7. Middle East – The Recordings Of The Middle East
8. Happy Hollows – Spells
9. Via Tania -  Moon Sweet Moon
10. Noah and the Whale – The First Days Of Spring
11. No Age – Losing Feeling [EP]
12. Royal Bangs – Let It Beep
13. Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong
14. Depreciation Guild – In Her Gentle Jaws
15. Boat -  Setting The Paces
16. Le Loup – Family
17. Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love
18. Flaming Lips – Embryonic
19. The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
20. Stricken City – Songs About People I Know
21. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis – Kitty Daisy And Lewis
22. Da Vincis -  See You Tonight
23. Gospel Gossip – Dreamland
24. Maps – Turning The Mind
25. Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy
26. King Khan and BBQ Show – Invisible Girl
27. The XX – The Xx
28. Heavy – The House That Dirt Built
29. Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown
30. Letting Up Despite Great Faults – Letting Up Despite Great Faults

Check out the top 30 albums played during the past week, compiled by Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre:

1. Temper Trap – Conditions
2. Headlights – Wildlife
3. Via Tania – Moon Sweet Moon
4. Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love
5. James Husband – A Parallex
6. Noah and the Whale – The First Days Of Spring
7.  Happy Hollows – Spells
8. Royal Bangs – Let It Beep
9. No Age – Losing Feeling [EP]
10. Depreciation Guild – In Her Gentle Jaws
11. Fool’s Gold – Fool’s Gold
12. Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong
13. Brazos – Phosphorescent Blues
14. Flaming Lips – Embryonic
15. Port O’Brien – Threadbare
16. Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
17. Lake – Let’s Build A Roof
18. Bear in Heaven –  Beast Rest Forth Mouth
19. Le Loup – Family
20. Kitty Daisy and Lewis – Kitty Daisy And Lewis
21. Sea Wolf – White Water, White Bloom
22. Sissy Wish – Beauties Never Die
23. The XX – The Xx
24. Gospel Gossip – Dreamland
25. Rubik – Dada Bandits
26. Why? – Eskimo Snow
27. Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy
28. Very Best – Warm Heart Of Africa
29. Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown
30. Soundtrack – Where The Wild Things Are

Check out the top 30 albums played during the past week, compiled by Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre:

The Royal Bang

The Big Pink

Port O'Brien

1. Royal Bangs – Let It Beep
2. Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love

3. Port O’Brien – Threadbare
4. Depreciation Guild – In Her Gentle Jaws
5. Happy Hollows - Spells
6. Le Loup – Family
7. Fool’s Gold - Fool’s Gold
8. No Age – Losing Feeling [EP]
9. Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong
10. Ettes - Do You Want Power
11. Polvo – In Prism
12. Fanfarlo – Reservoir
13. Still Life Still – Girls Come Too
14. Darlings – Yeah, I Know
15. Fresh and Onlys – Grey-Eyed Girls
16. Islands – Vapours
17. Various Artists – Hear Here: The Triangle
18. Raveonettes – In And Out Of Control
19. Very Best – Warm Heart Of Africa
20. Why? – Eskimo Snow
21. XX -  The Xx XL
22. Noah and the Whale – The First Days Of Spring
23. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes
24. Mission of Burma – The Sound The Speed The Light
25. Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Higher Than The Stars [EP]
26. Kitty Daisy and Lewis – Kitty Daisy And Lewis
27. Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
28. Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown
29. Slaraffenland – We’re On Your Side
30. Via Tania - Moon Sweet Moon

Albums added to our library this week:
1. Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
2. Sissy Wish – Beauties Never Die