5 Acts To Catch At Pitchfork

You won’t find OutKast, Kanye West, or Jack White at the 2014 Pitchfork Music Festival. Not that anyone hunkered down in Chicago’s Union Park on July 18 through 20 will care. Those aforementioned acts are playing just about every other major music binge this summer, and from now through September, there’ll be plenty of chances to hear “Hey Ya” and “All of the Lights.” Pitchfork specializes in slightly more out-there fare, and while headliners Beck, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Kendrick Lamar are hardly unknowns, they’re indicative of the thoughtfulness and taste that went into this year’s bookings. Work your way down the lineup poster, and you’ll find loads of killer acts — everyone from 74-year-old electronic pioneer Giorgio Moroder to Upstate New York thrashers Perfect Pussy. P-fork ’14 is that rare filler-free fest that’s worth catching from lunch to curfew on all three days, and what follows are our picks for the five acts you absolutely cannot afford to miss.