(updated, minor corrections only though)
OK, after finally getting a good night's sleep, I might as well write my own thoughts about
The Fans Strike Back. Obviously I can only talk about things I actually watched, and I've pretty much covered all of those, even the ones that didn't really make much of an impression. So here we go, in chronological order:
Friday:
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: Aww, he was so cute! Seriously, he was like an oversized teddy-bear. Anyway, the pleasant tunes and the whole self-deprecating attitude made for an entertaining show, and I'll make sure to check out more of the guy's music.
Jeffrey Lewis: Nope, sorry, did nothing for me. Boring, boring, and did I mention he was boring?
HEALTH: Wow, what a punch in the ears (yeap, that's a positive thing). These guys are very innovative with their music, and their live performance was a 45-minutes non-stop full-frontal sonic attack. Great fun too!
M83: Oh, what a disappointment. OK, to be honest I wasn't expecting much after such a mediocre release as
Saturdays = Youth, but still it was a bit of a let-down. Oh well, it's not like I missed out on anything by watching them, there was only
Andrew W.K. playing on the other stage.
Devo: Old? So what? Devo showed us (and the other bands) how it's done, and they were a thrill to watch. Full of energy, their props and their music rehearsed to perfection, they were probably the highlight of this festival. Not my personal highlight, but I'm trying to be objective here. Anyway, theirs was a thoroughly enjoyable show, from the introductory instructional video at the beginning all the way to Booji Boy at the end, and I'm glad I got this chance to see them.
Jesu: Once more, Justin Broadrick did not disappoint. With the help of his guitar, one colleague playing the bass, and a laptop, he administered his trademark sound of dreamy, electro-infused post-rock. A projection of slow-moving, blurry black-and-white footage of a twilight-lit forest added perfectly to the atmosphere. Justin was clearly in a good mood and gave a solid performance, and I'm glad I decided to watch the show even though I was quite curious to see
Antipop Consortium too.Plus his dreamy set served as an excellent warm-up for...
Electric Wizard: Wow. No, I mean WOW. Electric Wizard were one of the highlights of the festival for me, despite the fact that I had barely heard of them before they were confirmed for the line-up. Their presence on stage was majestic; their sound was slow, calculated and crushing; and the crowd was mystified, myself included. Oh, and this was the coolest crowd of the festival by the way; while the Indie Brigade had gone off to see the latest hype in the guise of
Fuck Buttons, a darkly-dressed, long-haired crowd descended into Reds for this particular show. It felt as if I was witnessing a solemn ceremony of the Church of Doom Metal, with Electric Wizard being the resident High Priests. Oh, and did I mention that the guitarist was sexy as hell?
I went to bed happy that night. :^)
Saturday:
Nico Muhly: Saturday's shows started early, but since we were well setup by then it was not a problem (unlike Friday that I couldn't find the time to see
Grouper). And what better way to kick things off in a relaxed manner in the afternoon than with Nico Muhly's artful antics. My friends thought he was amazing; I thought his approach to music was a bit too academic/clinical for my tastes, but whatever, it was an enjoyable set nonetheless.
Then after that there was a big gap in the program, as far as I was concerned. Saw a bit of
Lords, and cool as their classic rock'n'roll sound might have been, once I'd listened to a couple of their songs it felt as if I'd listened to all of them.
Retribution Gospel Choir were alright, I had wanted to see them, but again nothing spectacular.
The Cave Singers were pleasant, but highly forgettable. Then I had a bit of a break, because all this mediocrity was getting on my nerves.
Young Marble Giants: Definitely not as young as their name would imply any more. :^) Unlike Devo who were the most confident band on stage ever, these ones were noticeably nervous, though they seemed to loosen up as their set progressed. Still, they looked happy to be there, and their performance was solid. Their music is not something I could ever get overly excited about, but I enjoyed watching them anyway.
Grizzly Bear: Does anyone else think that their promotional photos for their latest record make them look like a boy band? Fortunately they didn't have a boy band feel on stage, apart from the fact that they all had microphones that is. :^) Anyway, I liked their show, their new material seems solid and the familiar tunes were a treat too. Their carefully-crafted melodies served as an excellent warm-up for Beirut, too (see below).
Harvey Milk: I guess I'm quite immune to hype, because considering how during the weekend I'd continuously hear about Harvey Milk and how great the are, I should have become convinced that they are indeed a great band. Well no, the little I watched of their set didn't make them seem ever the slightest compelling. But to each his own I guess.
Beirut: Though I'm definitely not crazy about Zach Condon like the rest of the people (mostly girls) that were around me near the front of the stage (my chalet-mate included), I thoroughly enjoyed Beirut's performance. Zach has a lovely voice no doubt, and the rest of the band complemented him nicely, with the orchestration (lots of brass, for the most part) being top-notch. Definitely one of the most melodic and feel-good sets of the weekend.
Errors: This, on the other hand, was the dance highlight of the weekend. :^) Errors sure know how to get the crowd moving with their cool, rock-inspired, electro-fuelled music. I went straight to the front and danced away, and that's what most people around me seemed to be doing.
Marnie Stern: Heh, usually, when the band on stage has an obvious lead singer / guitarist / whatever (like Marnie Stern obviously is in this case), the audience ends up watching him/her for most of the time. Well, I'll have to guiltily admit that in this case, most of the time I was just watching Marnie's extremely hot bassist (who was right in front of me anyway). Not that Marnie herself is unattractive, mind. Anyway, looks aside, I like this punky, playful, fast-paced music, and therefore this show was tons of fun to watch (though my friends thought she was "too high pitch"). And the banter was good too, I liked how the girls took the piss on each other, the audience, and just about anything. Quote of the weekend (coming from the aforementioned bassist): "So... did anyone get fingered last night?" :^)
The Jesus Lizard: Again, not my thing. They sounded better to me on record, but when I went to the stage and saw this ugly old man running about drunk and half-naked on stage, I was kinda put off. Oh well, it's good to hear that the people that are fans of them enjoyed this a lot, I was simply not one of them (I don't think I stayed for more than 10 minutes).
Sleep: Man. Like on Friday, the best had been saved for last. One hour and a half of stoner/doom heaven. Despite the years that have gone by, these guys are still experts in their music, and their music rocks. It was all brilliant: Al Cisneros's vocals and bass work, Matt Pike's guitar work (with a l33t nine-string guitar no less), and Chris Haikus's drumming. The songs of course were massive, epic tales of who cares really, it could have been in any language and it still would have felt just as epic and imposing. I went as much to the front as I comfortably could and simply immersed myself to the experience, which consisted mostly of
Sleep's Holy Mountain, but even concluded with a song that they had never played live before, if I understood correctly. And Sleep themselves looked like they were quite happy to be playing this material after so many years, and quite happy too that the crowd was so welcoming, and yet they seemed to be humbled by the whole affair more than anything else. Anyway, this was a show of epic proportions, and again I'm glad that ATP helped me discover this band that I wasn't familiar with before.
Once again, I slept happy that night. :^)
Sunday:
Shearwater: Shearwater had an interesting approach: they played their quiet music, very loud. And it worked! Jonathan Meiburg has a very expressive voice, and one that benefits from having available to whole range from whisper-quiet to screaming-loud (not that he was screaming at any point, mind). So the vocals were lovely, the orchestration was lovely, the songs were lovely; what more can you ask? A highly rewarding show, coming after the highly rewarding album that
Rook was.
Grails: This whole psychedelic, world-music-inspired genre is definitely not my thing, but it did look like these guys knew what they were doing. And it was good for a bit of relaxing between the important (for me) shows, so it's all good.
Future of the Left: Future Of The Left were one of the bands that I most wanted to see out of the entire line-up, and they did not disappoint. The new record is solid, and the songs from their first record were of course welcome too. Lots of energy, highly inventive music, and sharp lyrics too. Oh yeah, and the banter, like the other reviewers have said, was almost even better than the music. :^) And they threw sweets at us! Sweets are good.
!!!: I'd seen these guys live twice already in the past, so I wasn't dying to see them. But exactly because I'd seen them, I knew how good they are on stage, so I thought I'd drop by between sets. Therefore, half an hour of pure fun and dancing it was. At some point actually I was dancing and their singer was dancing right in front of me. Fun times. :^) It looks like they're preparing new material, which is definitely cool.
Parts & Labor: Great, great music. The usual Brooklyn produce, I guess. They definitely deserved a bigger crowd than what they actually had. Everyone went off to
Killing Joke? Who knows. Anyway, they were wonderful. Oh, and the weirdest thing happened at the end: The bassist took his bass, came down from the stage, raised the bass, inspected the front-row crowd (I was part of it too), found a suitable member of the crowd, lowered the bass as if knighting him into bass-dom, and then... gave it to him! Everyone was incredulous, the guy even more so; I guess we were expecting the bass player to return after a bit and say "haha, that was a joke, now give it back". But that never transpired, and after a few minutes of excitement, doubt, and general awkwardness, the guy and his friends went off with the loot.
Spiritualized: I must admit I'm getting tired of Jason Pierce. Sure, admittedly they did a good show. Sure, he was obviously in a good mood (well, as good as Jason Pierce's mood can ever get), and he even applauded the audience at the end. And if I hadn't seen them in Glasgow a few months ago, I probably would have enjoyed the show more. As it was though, it was more of the same, and I founded it almost an ordeal. Oh well, as I was telling a friend after the show, it was good, good in a there's-nothing-else-on kind of way.
The Mae Shi: How much energy can a band have? Lots and lots and lots, if one judges by The Mae Shi. They were running up and down on stage, they were jumping shouting singing kicking and screaming, they were enjoying themselves and so were we.
The feel-good show of the weekend.
This Will Destroy You: Straightforward post-rock, nothing overly exciting, but a post-rock gig is always a welcome experience. Novocaine for the soul. I like these guys anyway,
Young Mountain is a record I've listened to a lot. So it felt good to sit there, let myself get carried away by the music and wind down. Thanks, band.
Then I went off to catch a bit of Sleep's second set, but I've never been a big fan of repetition, so I didn't stay long. And then it was off to bed, and the long journey back to Scotland the next morning...
Big thanks to the ATP organisers for yet another top-notch festival! Also, big big thanks to my chalet-mate
shell_fish, for being such good company and for putting up with me for four days, I know I can be a handful.
Thanks for reading,
Vasilis
Antipop Consortium
