ATP: Matt Groening wasn't quite as good as Ten Years of ATP last December, but in terms of genuinely interesting bands and out-of-the-blue discoveries it was thoroughly superb. Here's a quick round-up:
10/10
Boredoms presenting "Boadrum" (both days): Fucking incredible. The drummers from Pit Er Pat, Hella, Ponytail and Oneida joined the regular members of Boredoms to deliver 75 minutes of sheer percussive bliss. And then there was the guitar tree, Yamataka Eye's insane howling, Zach Hill being carried across the whole venue with his drumkit, soloing like a motherfucker along the way...without a doubt the best thing I've seen this year.
9/10
CocoRosie: Always dismissed them on record, but they were a true revelation last night. Angelic sopranos and luscious melodies married with hip-hop elements and incredible beatboxing...the perfect way to end this most ecletic of festivals.
Toumani Diabate: He was fantastic performing with Bjork in 2008, and he was just as impressive playing his own material at ATP. Intricate, engaging and great to dance to, he's an immense talent.
8/10
Joanna Newsom: "It's a particular honour to be playing ATP: Matt Groening, as people have told me I sound like Lisa Simpson for years." :D Set was curtailed due to a late start (meaning we missed out on "Baby Birch") but "Good Intentions Paving Co." with the beefed up harmonies more than made up for it.
Spiritualized: Didn't catch much of their set due to queuing for JoNo, but "Come Together" with a 33-piece ensemble was as perfect a song performance as I've ever seen.
Ponytail: Not a vintage set due to sound problems, but the atmosphere at the front was electric. Love these guys so much!
Amadou & Mariam: Funky as hell. Their middle-aged bassist tried to chat up my 19-year old chalet mate at the Crazy Horse that same night.
Shonen Knife: SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI BAR, GOING TO A SUSHI BAR!!!
Built To Spill: They looked jetlagged and/or bored throughout, but for once their mix was spot on. Closing double-whammy of Big Dipper and Conventional Wisdom was great.
Iggy and the Stooges: Leathered insurance-ad man can certainly still put on a show. Wasn't quite loud enough, but the mosh-pit was brilliant.
7/10
Deerhunter: Louder than last time they played ATP, and much more engaging. Bradford Cox seems like a cool dude.
The Residents: Legendary avant-garde weirdos were actually better than I thought they'd be. Very theatrical, kinda silly but the musical parts were actually pretty cool. Matt Groening was sitting in the photo pit, and apparently the grin didn't leave his face for the entire set.
Liars: Seemed a bit tame by their standards, but the Sisterworld stuff sounded ace, especially "Scissors".
6/10
Konono No.1: The least impressive of the African bands. Some cool moments, but they did go on a bit.
Danielson: His voice grates like hell, but they're good fun and I loved "Did You Step On My Trumpet?"
She & Him: Gets an extra point than it deserves because Zooey Deschanel sure is prettysome, but their painfully anemic folk rock was for the most part shrugworthy. Best two songs were from M.Ward's regular set- "Magic Trick" and "Roll Over Beethoven".
Daniel Johnston: Didn't feel the massive Pavillion stage was the right place for a solo set. He had his moments though, and it's touching to see him perform.
Thee Oh Sees: Only caught a couple of songs, but seemed pretty fun.
The Raincoats: Shambolic, but strangely endearing.
5/10
Broadcast: Musically ok, but they seemed pretty unpleasant as people.
The Fresh And Onlys: Bog-standard garage rock, played at painfully loud volumes.
The Tiger Lillies: Sub-Devotchka types with a penchant for masturbation jokes.
4/10
James Blackshaw: Boring guitar man does boring guitar stuff. Not my thing at all.
Panda Bear: I liked his London show back in March, but self-indulgent knob-twiddling just doesn't work at 1am. Within twenty minutes, he'd pretty much cleared the room.
3/10
The XX: Didn't give them much of a chance to be fair, but the five minutes I caught were [i]really[/i] shit.
Other highlights:
-Shaking Matt Groening's hand, and discussing the awesomeness of Boredoms
-The final run of songs at the Crazy Horse before it closed at 5am- "All My Friends," "My Girls" and "The Rat." Oh yeah.
-Sharing a train with Daniel Johnston
-Trailer Park Boys on ATP:TV
-Exmoor Real Ale- must have drunk about 20 pints of the stuff over the weekend.
-Watching Bradford Cox having the time of his life at the Konono No.1/J. Spaceman/Boredoms jam session in a 500-capacity pub.
(Photos: Leah Pritchard)
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