Garcia Peoples
Garcia Peoples psychedelic sextet is a dynamic document growing out of the northeast. Their modal, muscular jams tend to careen through several different movements in a single song. Layers of loops, dreamy harmonies, droning tones, and cascading guitars, all contribute to their shape-shifting compositions that contain hints of American musics from hard-bop jazz to laurel canyon harmonies and nineties alternative rock. Driven and sharp, as on “Feel So Great,” the destructive opener on their last LP Natural Facts, or sympathetic improvisers as on the title track of their 45-minute A-side One Step Behind, Garcia People’s create panoramas incorporating every other genre into that format -NRBQ’s genre defiant wit, the windmill guitar kerang and manic energy of The Who, gear head rock geniuses The Cars on the crest of new-wave, Pavement’s dada-poetic wit. Garcia Peoples dedication to happy accidents down unknown live avenues will make them a must see at Pickathon.
Mary Lattimore
Los Angeles-based Mary Lattimore uses her Lyon and Healy concert grand harp to conjure up beautifully abstracted forms that evoke a host of memories, landscapes and allusions. Across a breadth of recordings, collaborations and art commissions her music explores a realm of wordless narratives and indefinite travelogues, where – with the help of effects and occasional vocals – extended harp improvisations morph into spectral songforms. In live performance she reveals the impressionist magic of her chosen instrument, blurring classical technique and ambient electronics to beguiling effect. As Pitchfork says about her, “Lattimore scouts the trail, finding long, thoughtful routes through both the harmonic landscape and exploiting her instrument’s broad expressive capacity, from glimmering hums to full-bodied sweeps.”
The Barns are Back!
Pickathon just wouldn’t be Pickathon without our beloved Barns! Both the Galaxy Barn and the Lucky Barn are a part of the fabric of the festival and key parts of Pendarvis Farm as well. Since we know many folks are stuck at home now, we put together a YouTube playlist of highlights from both of these stages! Flip it on and remember the good times at Pickathons past!
Galaxy Barn
A swirling supernova of mayhem made up of equal parts roadhouse, garage rock, and black metal, the Galaxy Barn is home to some of the hottest, heaviest music at Pickathon. Expect stage diving, showers of sweat, vintage amp stacks, and thundering bass and drums. Last year, Matt Wagner of Hellion Gallery curated a vision of the Galaxy Barn as the gates of hell, complete with chortling demon over the stage and bars all around. Who knows what the art in 2020 will be like, but for sure the Galaxy Barn will be your top spot for late night ragers at Pickathon!
Best of
Galaxy Barn
Lucky Barn
Decorated in antique bric-a-brac from Sherry Pendarvis’ travels abroad, and swaddled in a deep listening atmosphere, Pickathon’s Lucky Barn is home to our innovative series of performance-based interviews. We partner with some of the best music journalists in the business to present hour long interviews with artists on the Lucky Barn stage, weaving questions and live performances together in a style somewhat akin to a great radio in-studio session. This is your chance to find out more about the artists at Pickathon, and to have your conceptions about songwriting and music-making challenged. There have been some incredible moments on the Lucky Barn stage, and really anything can happen when you start to dive deep into each artist’s inspiration behind their music.
