After nine hours of live music, brevity is of the essence. So here are some semi-rhetorical questions we’re left with after day two of the Pitchfork Music Fest: Why did the singer of conventional Scottish indie band The Twilight Sad perform sideways? How awesome was the fun, freaked-out fusion of Ken Vandermark’s Powerhouse Sound? How goofy was the singer of entertaining, slightly ‘80s-ish Texas group Voxtrot? How boring is Grizzly Bear? How groovy but repetitive is Battles? Why is England’s Fujiya and Miyagi neither interesting nor Japanese? What practical joker decided to follow-up super-mellow Iron and Wine with loud, mosh pit-inspiring Mastodon? Is there anything even remotely unique about the Oxford Collapse? Why couldn’t GZA’s Friday performance have been as exciting as Clipse’s set? Why was Girl Talk’s Gregg Gillis put on the Balance Stage and not given more space and volume to work with? Did Yoko Ono's seriously weird performance win over any fans, or did she just move people to declare, as at least one fan did, “I hate you!”

here's another question for you: why did you go to this festival?

it sounds to me like you don't have any appreciation for any of the artists that appeared, so why not send someone else or avoid it completely? i'll agree that there were some sound problems. but on saturday battles brought the new prog to the stage, channeling genesis, yes, and mahavisnu into an incredible futuristic freakout. mastodon called up the biggest crowd and led it through a set of the most brilliant guitar and drum orchestration that you'll hear these days.

on sunday, the ponys not only pulled through the house sound going down completely for 2 song, but proved once again that they are a dominating force in chicago music - i really don't understand you comment about them not being able to maintain a personality. have you listened to the three albums? there's definitely a progression throughout them to their current sound, but it maintains from the first to the last album. jaime lidell was one of the most fun sets i've seen in a long time. i too was hoping for some live instruments, but once he started sampling his own voice it didn't matter anymore. dance and enjoy it.