In case you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you may have missed the news that the sold-out Pitchfork Festival begins tonight at 6:30pm at Union Park in Chicago. I said a few days ago that I'd offer some analysis, but in light of the fact that I'm quite short on time, coupled with the fact that if you have tickets... there is a pretty good chance you already know who you want to see. Most of the acts, perhaps with the exception of Sonic Youth, GZA, Yoko Ono, and De La Soul, are right on the cusp of establishing a stronghold in the world of indie music, and some may end up with some mainstream notoriety in the months/years to come. Regardless, there is a lot of talent in this year's lineup, and includes Chicago acts Califone, The Sea and Cake, The Ponys, Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound, and Fred Lonberg-Holm.

Gapers Block has a nice breakdown of each group performing this weekend in their Transmission section.

EMusic is running a sampler of songs from some of the bands as well.

Those who don't have tickets can probably find them on craigslist, or probably even hang out near Union Park to find your hookup. If worse comes to worse, you can just chill outside of the festival grounds and take a listen as well.

Here is the lineup for the weekend. Be sure to bring your sunscreen!

Friday, July 13 (in conjunction with ATP/Don't Look Back):

5:00 Union Park opens

Connector Stage
6:30 Slint perform Spiderland

Aluminum Stage
7:45 GZA performs Liquid Swords
9:00 Sonic Youth perform Daydream Nation

Saturday, July 14:

NOON Union Park opens

Connector Stage
1:00 The Twilight Sad
2:00 Voxtrot
4:00 Battles
6:00 Mastodon
8:00 Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues

Aluminum Stage
1:30 Califone
3:00 Grizzly Bear
5:00 Iron and Wine
7:00 Clipse
9:00 Yoko Ono (with special guests)

Balance Stage
1:00 Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound
2:00 William Parker Quartet
3:10 Beach House
4:10 Fujiya & Miyagi
5:15 Professor Murder
6:15 Oxford Collapse
7:15 Dan Deacon
8:30 Girl Talk

Sunday, July 15:

NOON Union Park opens

Connector Stage
1:00 Deerhunter
2:00 Menomena
4:00 The Sea and Cake
6:00 Stephen Malkmus
8:00 The New Pornographers

Aluminum Stage
1:30 The Ponys
3:00 Junior Boys
5:00 Jamie Lidell
7:00 Of Montreal
9:00 De La Soul

Balance Stage
1:00 Fred Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra
2:00 Brightblack Morning Light
3:10 Nomo
4:10 Craig Taborn's Junk Magic
5:15 The Cool Kids
6:15 Cadence Weapon
7:15 The Field
8:30 Klaxons