He sits there with his tiny eyes closed. His pale elfen frame hunched over a small spare drum kit. Thom Yorke welcomes you unintentionally to the unveiling of pitchfork.tv before he snaps to attention as the band (Radiohead of course silly) launch into an exclusive performance of “Bangers and Mash” filmed in producer Nigel Godrich’s basement studio. It’s a powerful performance mostly for the sake of Johnny Greenwood’s obvious joy in playing (I always love how he hikes the guitar up on his thigh a little when he needs to play a more intricate part) and Yorke’s nervous energy behind the kit. The fact that he doesn’t need to be playing drums on the track makes it all the more interesting to watch his attack and vocal control. I have fancy computer speakers so I can confirm that the sound is superb if you have the means. The performance is worth the price of admission alone - especially as it is free.

Building on their equity as the indie rock “go to” for news and opinions, the folks at the fork have assembled a pretty clean and easy to use site that culls exclusive content with today’s hottest acts as well as making available a solid run down of videos (I watched Jens, Juan, Grizzly Bear, Madvillian, CSS, Pinback and some special treats like Seefeel from 1995 and Negativeland’s landmark “U2″ video from 1991.) The best part was that they were all available on demand. Seeing a fresh batch of items available each day and keeping some content (in this case a Pixies documentary) up for only one week ensures that visitors will be back even more often then they stalk the parent site. The “channel” also features live performances (Jay Reatard at the moment) as well as regular shows Juan’s Basement and Daytripping. All of those areas are sure to grow and if the batch of submission tapes are an indication the site will soon have personalities running all about. You know - like the MTV that was promised before the Duran Duran videos were pushed aside by dating games and then the reality tsunami. That hints at the most exciting part of this equation. The video could soon be very relevant again! Bands like Grizzly Bear and the like have been making amazing videos of late but there have been far too few outlets for them other than tiny youtube sharing. This makes for a viable stage for a visual expression of these acts and another chance to connect with an international audience. Now for the techy details: The screen is a decent size and the picture is as clear as your monitor allows. I toggled back and forth from high and low bandwith without a great deal of difference on most things. Only when the image had a close-up could I really notice. The sound didn’t suffer greatly either. I was able to view without any hiccups early in the day and mid-afternoon but when I was on close to noon EST I had clipping issues with the stream stopping and starting.

The end result is the unveiling of an exciting new frontier - internet TV that kids actually WANT to watch. The content can only get better although I do worry about bandwith issues as more and more people put a strain on the servers. We will also have to wait and see how this turns into a financially viable venture as there is no advertising at the moment but that can’t stay that way forever. For the time being it is certainly an exciting development and worth stopping in to watch Man Man and their percussion recordings while sporting mullets and striped wife-beaters. Enjoy (when you want to - thats the beauty. And hey, who doesn’t always want to enjoy a mullet?)

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