PICKATHON 2023: Performances To Keep On Your Radar [Part 1]

We have personally been singing screaming the praises of Pickathon for over a decade now and, although there have been many changes over the years, the essence of what it provides and represents has never wavered. One thing that has become more and more prevalent, however, is the whispering about whether or not the Pickathon of that particular year could be the last. This time around, those whispers have gotten loud enough to turn into a full-on conversation.

Pickathon will take place from August 3rd – 6th at its usual spot in Happy Valley, Oregon. 2023 marks 17 years since the Pendarvis family began hosting the festival on their idyllic 80-acre organic farm but, over time, the environment that surrounds their little oasis has given way to urban development. One particular snafu that required untangling last year was the parking situation, as the previous parking area has been paved over for sidewalks and trendy neighborhoods. Fortunately, if the Pickathon team has proven anything it’s that they are resourceful and able to make adjustments on the fly. Still, obstacles like this become increasingly more difficult to avoid when you’re throwing a large-scale multi-day music festival in the middle of what has now become surrounded by residential housing. So is this really it? Time will tell, but there are two things that I do know for sure. The first is that there is absolutely NOTHING else that could ever hope to replicate what Pickathon is. That’s not hyperbole, either; it’s truly that special and that unique. The other thing that I can promise is that, if you’ve been on the fence about attending but never quite pulled the trigger, it’s not worth rolling the dice on that opportunity being available in the future. Even if they’re forced to move on and the crew is able to bounce back and relocate, there’s an indescribable magic to the Pendarvis farm. If you never make it out, the one positive to that is also the biggest downside: you’ll never really know what you’re missing out on.

I’m not sure when it began, but I love that Pickathon refers to itself as an “experiential music festival.” Perhaps this is a reference to everything that’s offered beyond the live music, like the Trackers Earth camp for kids, the interactive art installations, the curated private dinner option, DJs/dance parties, or simply the manner in which everything is integrated into the very landscape where you camp and live. Perhaps… but the experience of attending Pickathon is even more than that for so many diehard fans. It’s something they wait and plan for every year. It’s a reset and intended to be. Founder, Zale Schoenborn and his team have put their hearts into crafting an environment that’s better than your everyday life by design. It’s a festival for people who don’t like festivals, where trash isn’t strewn everywhere, it isn’t overcrowded, you don’t feel like you’re being fleeced by corporations, fresh clean water flows freely, diverse music is constantly being discovered, children are dancing, sustainability efforts become second nature, and, most miraculously of all, (almost) nobody is a dick, because they’re genuinely content and happy. For a brief moment, Pickathon reinforces what we all know (and Sun Ra knew) our world has the potential to achieve if all of our collective egos could suddenly die at once — if not simply all of the power-hungry sociopaths hellbent on world domination and monetizing basic human necessities (seriously, who has the energy?). Once a year, you can spend a weekend in an alternate world where the purpose and value of your life are directly related to how you enjoy and experience it with those around you.

With most festival lineups I’m usually trying to gauge whether or not it’s worth braving whatever nightmare scenario they require to see them. With Pickathon, the lineup is actually secondary — you know, for all of the new-age hippie reasons about positive energy and shit that I just vomited out above. But let’s say you’re not a devoted cult member like we are (…yet), so the lineup naturally DOES matter and it isn’t really hitting for you? Great news! This article is written specifically with YOU in mind. Perhaps this topic could best be addressed by myself a year ago. The following excerpt is taken from our article previewing the 2022 festival.

A quick glance at the Pickathon schedule might suggest an underwhelming year largely overrun with “no name” acts, especially compared to lineups from the past which could boast the inclusion of such artists as Billy Strings, Courtney Barnett, Khruangbin, The War On Drugs, Angel Olsen, Kikagaku Moyo, Big Thief, Kamasi Washington, Black Pumas, Parquet Courts, Open Mike Eagle, Sturgill Simpson, Leon Bridges, Thundercat, Margo Price, Lucy Dacus, The Marias, Milo (R.A.P. Ferreira) and the list goes on. One critical aspect to consider, however, is that the large majority of those musicians I just listed possessed nowhere near the level of popularity or name recognition back when they performed on Pickathon lineups that were just as easily dismissed as unimpressive at the time. In retrospect, they’ve been hitting home runs for a solid decade.

With their track record, it’s become fairly easy to trust the booking decisions, but even I must admit that this year’s lineup left me less confident than usual. There were very few names we recognized and it hit us that others might find themselves in the same boat. To help remedy that and make things easier, we decided to do a deep dive into the list of performers, and, now that the official schedule has finally been released, it seemed like a good idea to suggest some specific performances we feel might be worth looking into. This post started off with the intention of being a simple list of 5 performers/set times that we feel are worth catching over Pickathon weekend, but the more we explored, the more we discovered. So now this is only the FIRST post of us offering our suggestions with at least one or 2 additional installment(s) to follow throughout the month. We can’t stop finding stuff and wanting to tell you about it.

You obviously can’t catch everything — these are musicians, not Pokemon — but one great thing about Pickathon is that most acts perform at least twice over the weekend. The sets listed have been selected by taking into consideration the ideal environment for a particular act, avoiding scheduling conflicts with other suggested acts, and providing some overall variety. Above all, we recommend digging into the lineup and schedule yourself to determine what aligns with your own specific priorities, but we hope we can provide some sort of jumping-off point for anyone that’s as lost as we were.

Sgt Papers

Thursday @ 9pm Cherry Hill Stage

Pickathon has an early entry option on Thursday. It costs extra, but for those that can afford to swing it and choose to, it does have its benefits. If you’re camping onsite, you’ll have a better selection of spots to choose from. Waking up already onsite also means you’ll be ready to go first thing Friday morning, rather than spending the first part of your day loading all your stuff in and getting it together. The other major benefit is that bands will be playing and you basically get another full day of the festival. This year, bands seem to start even earlier on Thursday with the first act hitting a stage at noon. That would be cool, except for the fact that early entry gates are also at noon. That presents some obvious problems, but depending on how that all shakes out, I can address that topic in a post-festival review.

Once we have our camp set up and we get a minute to relax, I like to get right into wandering around and going to hit some stages. There are some interesting acts I’d like to see earlier in the day, but since I’m not sure we’ll make it to those, I’m conservatively setting my sights on a 9 pm Sgt Papers set on the Cherry Hill stage. I figure that if we can’t pull our acts together by that time, then something has already gone incredibly sideways.

Formed by a pair of brothers from the Sonoran Desert of Mexico, Sgt Papers essentially lay their formula out in the title of their 2017 debut, Sgt Papers Lonely Psych Punk Band. These guys are all about driving rhythms and walls of garage rock fuzz, pushing out a lot of sound for only 2 people. Since the days when Thee Oh Sees and/or a Ty Segall project could be pretty much guaranteed to perform each year, this type of frenetic energy has become embedded into the Pickathon DNA.

The Galaxy Barn has become well known for hosting a lot of the heavier acts — Sgt Papers will appear there for a 3pm set on Sunday — but I like this choice of the Cherry Hill stage for a few reasons. You never know how the weekend will unfold or if something will hit your radar late, so if I’m able to cross a band off my list early, I won’t stress it later if I can’t catch their other show. Plus, the Galaxy Barn can become really packed at times, making it difficult to squeeze into. I’m also really trying to get turnt-up on night one so that I can settle in and shake off the whole day of travel and setup leading up to it. Equally important is that, after its introduction last year, I was able to witness the versatility that Cherry Hill possesses from the unbridled holy ghost dance party during Sons Of Kemet‘s final show to the reckless abandonment of Soul Glo‘s hardcore set. Sgt Papers should do well there and with the slightly more limited crowd and the excitement of things just getting off the ground, those Thursday night shows really do feel special.

Orchestra Gold

Friday @ 11 am The Windmill  / Saturday @ 4 pm The Grove

If you visit the website for Oakland-based outfit, Orchestra Gold it simply reads “African Psychedelic Rock,” which is also the name of their 2017 LP. What they actually produce is more difficult to pinpoint. Their press materials describe them as “a collaboration between Mariam Diakite of Mali and Erich Huffaker of Oakland. Blending the traditions of Mali and American Rock/Funk with a retro feel,” but what does that mean exactly? From what we’ve sampled there are big brass elements, fuzzed-out guitars, infectious bass grooves, Afro-beat rhythms, and lyrics sung in Mali‘s native language of Bambara. It’s part Fela, part 13th Floor Elevators. Orchestra Gold is one of a handful of acts this year who truly seem to be forging their own path and creating their own style. Their music lives in a space that feels both fresh and authentic to its various disparate origins. The tempo can fluctuate, sometimes within the same track, but these are hip-shaking tunes at their core, intended to seep into your bones.

Each of their sets will take place on a new stage/”neighborhood” that was introduced for the first time last year and either could be ideal depending on what you’re looking for. If everything is running smoothly, we’ll likely try and hit their 11 am Windmill Stage set on Friday. Easily one of the most relaxed areas on the farm, the relatively secluded little clearing is a great spot to sip your coffee under moderate shade and enjoy the band right before the sun fully heats up to scorching temps for the rest of the day. Their 4 pm Saturday set at the Grove should feed more into their rowdy elements and evolve into a full-on dance party. They have the range to support either vibe and regardless of when you catch them, I’d expect some mixture of both.

MJ LENDERMAN

Friday @ 3pm The Woods Stage

I know that I have heard MJ Lenderman mentioned more than once in the past, but I am a simple man that needs something shiny to grab my attention. With a name that unassuming, it could have just as easily belonged to a personal injury lawyer. Word on the street is that the songwriter is also the guitarist for the Asheville 5-piece, Wednesday, who are also playing the festival. I know at least one person whose taste I really respect that is a fan of the group, but I’ve never looked into them, either. If there’s already a band named Tuesday and another named Thursday, and I don’t listen to them, it shouldn’t be a surprise how they’d get lost in the middle. That said, a clever band name does not necessarily a great project make, as evidenced by the fact that almost every Pickathon act that I’m looking forward to seeing this year goes by a relatively unexciting moniker. Obviously, that’s why it’s so important to really delve into the lineup, but if that wasn’t such a task then you probably wouldn’t need to be reading this post and I wouldn’t have missed out on seeing half the now-big-name acts that I listed in the introduction.

This year, Pickathon has created a Spotify playlist featuring all of the artists performing and I’m really glad they added Lenderman as the lead-off track. “You Are Every Girl To Me” starts off sounding a bit like Sonic Youth, before shifting into Dinosaur Jr… or wait… is this more Yo La Tengo? The truth is that it’s just a really solid indie rock song in the most classic sense. There’s a big uplifting guitar reminiscent of more contemporary artists like The War On Drugs or Kurt Vile and a flawless, yet understated melody. It’s incredibly familiar but more so in its feeling than its details. The conclusion here is that this kid has the ability to write a song.

When I went to look further into him, I found the photo above where he’s wearing a Wipers shirt. That’s another point for you, sir. Then I read that his 2021 album was written using a method championed by the late David Berman, something that reminded me that I actually have heard of Lenderman before. As I listened to more of his work, I discovered a respectable amount of range to what he’s doing, while hearing hints of Bonnie Prince Billy, Neil Young, perhaps some Wilco and even honky tonk music. He definitely has all the right influences, but what impresses me isn’t that he sounds like other artists I might love, but that he doesn’t. One of the trickiest things to do is touch on a sound or hit the feel of the best parts of the things that help make you who you are, while explicitly remaining who you are. From what I’ve seen, Lenderman has his own voice and is using it to sing some great lyrics. Dropping the names of predecessors is simply a lazy tool to help provide an idea of a general sound, but it definitely won’t give you the whole picture; at least, not in this case. MJ is putting out some respectable songwriting that is regularly poignant without taking himself too seriously and it’s exciting to witness an artist who has already found his voice in the process of actively exercising and evolving it. Plus, anyone who writes a song about Michael Jordan playing hungover in game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals is forever solid in my book.

MJ Lenderman has a 3 pm timeslot on Friday at everyone’s favorite location, The Woods Stage. If you’ve ever seen a photo of Pickathon and there’s a stage in the middle of the woods constructed with a dome made of branches, this is that spot. For what he does, this is the perfect time and location for him to perform over the weekend. With that said, if you can’t catch this one and you don’t have anything else going on at 5 pm on Sunday, his Cherry Hill set should be great, too.

MERIDIAN BROTHERS

Friday @ 10 pm The Paddock  /  Saturday @ 5 pm Woods Saturday

As a project, Bogotá, Colombia‘s Meridian Brothers has a fairly long and interesting history. The gist is that it is a “contemporary neo-tropicalista group founded in 1998 from the interests of Eblis Álvarez (composer and multi-instrumentalist) as a musical laboratory for a small audiences and distributed at the time in cassette format.” It then evolved into a live act in 2007. Now they tour internationally and pump out records.

Some of what I’ve read suggests a very thought-out approach to composition with different albums being produced from very specific stylistic concepts set beforehand. That said, the music itself reflects something more vibrant and alive and much less sterile. It’s odd how the word “experimentation” can conjure up very different, almost polarizing concepts in the mind. You may envision labcoats, bunsen burners, and meticulous precision, but experimentation also includes whatever the fuck Dr Moreau was up to. Filling a bunch of roadkill with helium, Pop-Rocks, and Mentos, before sealing their openings, duct-taping them around the frame of an old Schwinn Stingray and hurling it down a rock quarry into a kiddie pool full of McDonalds Sprite “just to see what happens” is just as valid an interpretation of what it means to “experiment” — let’s not forget that Dr Frankenstein had as many beakers, pipettes, and test tube racks as anyone. The experimentation done by the Meridian Brothers is much less morally ambiguous and derelict, but just as visceral and engaging.

To experiment is to test the boundaries of what’s possible and defy parameters. By expanding the sonic templates of such traditional Colombian music as vallenato, cumbia Bullerengue, ‘palenquero’ sextet format, ‘Gaita’ format, and so on, Meridian Brothers are creating something entirely unique in the process. It’s my understanding that in the pursuit of adventuring into uncharted audio frontiers, their sound is in perpetual change, to some extent. Because of this, I can only speak to the nature of the initial songs that I’ve heard during my very limited time sifting through a handful of tracks in their catalog. In the material that I’ve heard, I’ve noticed that there are definitely some labcoat vibes in the mix, but they reside more in the realm of mid-century space exploration and kitchens of the future. Warbling theremin-like sounds recall the proto-electronica of Raymond Scott‘s Manhattan Research Inc. era work scoring commercials in the 50s and 60s, but yet it’s woven into tropicalia. Imagine Danny Elfman meets Buena Vista Social Club. You’re trapped in a Shag painting of a Pee Wee’s Playhouse fever dream where someone has spiked your martini with Martian DNA. With a history of developing and reimagining styles like “Cumbia with electric guitar, vallenato, Latin funk/rock, salsa, traditional accordion music, and music for electric organ” there is any number of directions they could take their live set, but whatever they do, I expect it to be pretty wonderful.

On Friday, the Colombian ensemble will be performing a 10 pm set at the Paddock, which is the closest thing Pickathon now has to a main stage. They’ll definitely crush it in the Woods the following night, but what’s great about this slot is that there’s literally no one performing on any of the other stages at this time. This means that they’re going to bring in everyone, including those who might have never wandered over, otherwise. While that might sound terrible to some, there’s plenty of room and one of the best things about Pickathon is seeing people discover something completely foreign to them and fully engaging with it with every fiber of their being. By some strange alchemy, the environment inherently breeds these scenarios en mass. With the sun down on that stage, Meridian Brothers is exactly the kind of group designed for this role and will be more than up for it.

FLORIST

Friday @ 8 pm The Paddock  /  Saturday @ 9 pm Woods 

Emily Sprague and her band Florist give off the sort of calm serene energy that many indie bands possessed when I lived back in Olympia. The Brooklyn quartet look as if they’ve given each other haircuts with crafting scissors in the same kitchen they made house meal together. NPR did a feature on them titled “Florist Is Here To Make Friends” and used their promo photo featuring 2 of the band members hugging/snuggling the other two from behind. Emily‘s eyes are closed, her mouth in a tranquil smile absorbing all of the warmth from the arms wrapped around her. Sprague writes songs about early memories, fireflies, and the night sky, delivering them with gentle vocals and folky guitar work. If this sounds like an archetype you’ve encountered before, then you’re likely thinking one of 2 things: “This sounds like the absolutely worst thing possible,” or the exact opposite. As for myself, I do reserve a particular skepticism for projects in this vein, but that’s not due to the style of music as much as the fact that it’s rarely executed very well. Florist is 100% one of those rare exceptions. In fact, they may be a force of nature (a still relatively gentle one, though).

One of the hardest things to write is a simple song. Even more difficult is writing with sincerity. More difficult yet is delivering that music in a way that feels authentic. Florist seems to have mastered all 3 in a way that comes across as effortless. I’d heard a more ambient instrumental from the band at one point and was a bit confused, so I pulled up a video of a Tiny Desk concert they performed in 2016. The music started playing on the title screen before fading in with a closeup of a guitar. Sprague finger-picked warm notes from her electric that sounded like an outtake from Doug Martsch‘s 2002 solo album, Now You Know. When she sang, there was a hint of Frankie Cosmos in the direct, casual delivery and even some quick flashes of One Foot In The Grave-era Beck in the tune. The song was called “Vacation” and spoke of childhood memories, the confusion that comes with losing touch with your identity, and finding what you think is love. These aren’t revolutionary themes and they aren’t presented in traditionally clever or analytical ways, but they connect like arrows that melt in your chest and sink deep. You can feel them. This is poetry and my first thought was that maybe I love this.

You can find me stating it in endless posts across this website, but the main question I always ask myself when reviewing or analyzing anything is whether or not I believe the artist that made it. Do I believe you? Generally, the answer to that directly correlates with whether or not they believe themselves. My aversion to a lot of contemporary twee folk-style music stems from it too often feeling very one-note and derivative, which is a death knell for any art form where the cornerstone is being heartfelt and sincere. I’m of the opinion that not everyone who’s heard a Kimya Dawson song and has an acoustic needs to talk-sing their middle school diary onto a cassette, but I may be in the minority on that. Humans really just want connection and in that pursuit, we often get our wires crossed about how to make that happen. A popular theme in these scenes/genres seems to pertain to the innocent bumbling energy of confusion, but too often it’s delivered without any resolution. With Florist, the “Aw shucks!” cheekiness is eschewed for acceptance and ownership with complex emotions untangled and left at face value. The delivery is meek on the surface, but there’s an incredible power behind it all. Sprague‘s voice may sound like a whisper, but to me, it’s carried on the very breath that sustains her. You can fill a catalog with nothing but songs about how you’re self-conscious or socially awkward, but the art is in whether or not you are offering something to your listeners — perspective, comfort, acknowledgment, validation, etc. — or if you are simply putting something out into the world in the hopes of being able to siphon those things for yourself. In this way, there is a fine yet important line between passive aggression and what Florist does, which is to demonstrate the inherent strength in genuine vulnerability.

The depth of Florist‘s music continues to surprise me the more that I listen to it. I’ve heard moments that remind me of Big Thief‘s Adrianne Lenker, Leonard Coen, Sufjan Stevens, and Phil Elverum. Their recent self-titled LP reflects Sprague‘s passion for collecting modular synths with tasteful electronic accents utilized in beautiful ways. It’s an essential aspect as several ambient instrumental tracks are interspersed throughout. We’re really excited by the potential of seeing those performed live.

Florist have an uncontested set at the Paddock on Friday at 8 pm but there really isn’t a more perfect place to see them perform than at their 9 pm slot at the Woods Stage on Saturday. I mean… just based on the initial sample I heard, the very first note that I wrote down for the band was “The sound of the light shimmering off the leaves.” Plus, when I heard the song “Red Bird Part 2 (Morning)” from the new album where Emily is singing to her dad after her mother’s death… it got me. And now having that context for the line in “Vacation” where she sings, “And at least I know that my mom is breathing when we talk on the phone“… I’m gonna fucking cry, you guys. I’m positive. I just need to decide if I want to do it behind sunglasses or shielded by the night.