Last weekend, 88Nine evening host Arya and I took a road trip to the Midwest hipster mecca: Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. While there, we chatted with Hotline TNT, feeble little horse and Jessica Pratt. Find clips of the interviews below and videos to go along with them on our social media @radiomilwaukee and @88nine.mke.
American indie rock, pop-punk band Hotline TNT hail from Brooklyn, but frontman Will Anderson started a little closer to home. Originally from Wisconsin, Anderson talked about the Midwest influences on their latest album, Cartwheel, and how it grew to be one of the highest-rated records of 2023.
He also shares his love for Appleton band Tenement, and American Movie’s Mike Shank and Mark Bouchard, while the band shouts out some of their favorite artists right now: DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ, Goo Goo Dolls, They Are Gutting A Body of Water and MJ Lenderman.
A project born from the Pittsburgh DIY scene, feeble little horse come in hot by sharing confessions of their favorite Jonas Brother and their definitive list of most-coverable Jonas Brothers songs. I also asked the band what music they were listening to during the making of their latest release, Girl With Fish, which was named Best New Music by Pitchfork.
Before I left, I gifted them a handmade shirt from Milwaukee artist Rae Friedman customized with lyrics from “Freak,” the opening track from the album. The brotherhood of the band was clear during our chat, and the excitement for their performance could be felt in the air. Before they went on, vocalist Lydia Slocum donned the custom airbrush shirt under her frilly gothic dress, officially ready to rock.
Hypnogogic American musician Jessica Pratt released one of the most critically acclaimed albums of this year, Here in the Pitch. The record is riddled with second-person songwriting and nostalgia, used to illustrate the dark side of the American dream. She explains the importance of ambiguity in her songwriting and her Californian roots, then shares her current interest in equally meditative and challenging artists Cindy Lee and Red House Painters.
