I've had a bit of a live music binge this year, in total I've been to 56 gigs, three 3-day festivals and I've seen 159 individual live performances.
70% of these have been in London, although I've been to gigs in Cambridge, Belfast, and the two ATP sites at Minehead and Camber Sands.
I have tried to pick out my 20 favourite performances from these and I've put them in order below. Where possible I have linked to my review of the show and I have embedded other people's amateur video footage as well.
1. Swans, Koko, November
An amazing show. the highest compliment I can pay is that it made me not want to see any more live music for while, I couldn't see how anything could follow this.
my review (londonears.com)
Most of the performance is on youtube, though I've embedded the 49-minute version of 'The Seer' below.
2. Boredoms, ATP curated by Jeff Mangum, March
The Boredoms two extraordinary sets at Jeff Mangum's ATP had my number one space for most of the year.
my review (the 405)
Here is a spliced together video of highlights from it.
3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Forum, November
Delighted to see these guys on my actual birthday. A cracking set from them once again, including an epic new song which may be titled 'Behemoth'. Heavier than their earlier years, but still thrilling.
4. Jeff Mangum, ATP curated by Jeff Mangum, March
It seemed unlikely a few years ago that any of us would see Jeff Mangum play live, but to see him twice in a weekend was something else. As a lot of Elephant 6 people were in the area this was as close as anyone could have hoped to a Neutral Milk Hotel reunion. my review (the 405)
5. Deerhoof, ATP curated by the National, December
This was a performance by a band at their absolute peak, so finely honed at the end of a three month tour. The best show I've seen them play.
6. Orbital, Brixton Academy, December
Quite a spectacle with all those lasers, but perhaps the best thing about this Orbital show was the way they have invigorated their classic material to sound completely contemporary and cutting edge. A bit like Kraftwerk did with the Mix, I reckon.
7. Japandroids, Upstairs at the Garage, May/ Belfast Mandela Hall, August
Two gigs, two different cities. The London show at the start of the tour probably just shades it in terms of live experience, but both were great.
my review (slowthrills.com)
8. Dan Deacon, Scala, September
Certainly the best interactive live experience of the year. Dan Deacon took on the challenge of a sold-out Scala and made the place move on his every whim.
9. Bo Ningen, Portland Arms Cambridge, September
I saw these people twice but their slot as part of the Wish You Were Here festival in Cambridge was a revelation. A genuinely fresh approach to psychedelic noise.
10. Atlas Sound, Scala, July
A jet-lagged rambling solo show by Bradford Cox, full of surprises and underlining his prolific talent.
my review (londonears.com)
11. Cocorosie, Royal Festival Hall, August
my review (londonears.com)
12. Ty Segall, Tufnell Park Dome
13. Grizzly Bear, Cambridge Junction, August
my review (slowthrills.com)
14. Bonnie Prince Billy, Hackney Empire, February
my review (slowthrills.com)
15. Tim Hecker, St Giles Church, January
my review (slowthrills.com)
16. Sharon van Etten, Scala
my review (slowthrills.com)
17. Joanna Newsom, ATP curated by Jeff Mangum, March
my review (the 405)
18. Wild beasts, ATP curated by the National, December
Billed as a gig where they would just play 'Smother' in order, they iced the cake by playing a long encore which featured about half of 'Two Dancers'. That made my night that did.
19. Metz, the Old Blue Last, November
I checked these guys out on the recommendation of a friend and i was amazed by the reaction to them. Cameras everywhere as well, which resulted in this rowdy video.
20. Calexico, Kentish Town Forum, October
my review (the 405)
most visited venue: The Lexington, Pentonville Road, London. (6 shows) The Scala, in the same street, came second with 5 visits. Both fine music venues in my opinion.
most seen band: Bizarrely, no single act managed to make it to three viewings. The acts I have seen twice are: Perfume Genius, Sharon Van Etten, Tim Hecker, Alexander Tucker, Bo Ningen, Echo Lake, RM Hubbert, Japandroids, Public Service Broadcasting, Sir Richard Bishop, Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat, Peepholes, Darren Hayman, Jeff Mangum, Boredoms and Joanna Newsom.
best support bands: The Men (supporting Lee Ranaldo), Rob St John (supporting Meursault), Cadence Weapon (supporting Japandroids).
Showing posts with label Jeff Mangum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeff Mangum. Show all posts
WATCH: Sebadoh at ATP 2012, full set
Some fine person has uploaded the entire Sebadoh set which concluded the recent Jeff Mangum ATP. This is especially handy for people like me who were the worse for wear at that stage. Also, I thought I had seen most of this gig, which on paper seemed impossible as I had watched all of Group Doueh downstairs. In reality I reckon I only caught the last 10 tunes of the 22 song set.
The whole thing is available at this youtube playlist
Here is song 20 out of 22, Beauty of the Ride, complete with some, erm, preamble. I was there for that one alright.
Full festival round-up is here, and my review of the weekend is here.
The whole thing is available at this youtube playlist
Here is song 20 out of 22, Beauty of the Ride, complete with some, erm, preamble. I was there for that one alright.
Full festival round-up is here, and my review of the weekend is here.
review: All Tomorrow's Parties curated by Jeff Mangum, Butlin's Minehead 9th-11th March 2012
this was first published on the 405 on 15th March, 2012.
All Tomorrow's Parties festival is one of my favourite events, but there were a few things that worried me about this one. Would Jeff Mangum be able to pull together a bill and a performance that would reflect his brief but stunning legacy from Neutral Milk Hotel? Also, after this event was postponed from last December amid rumours of financial difficulties, would the festival itself deliver the same experience as previous years?
I need not have worried, because after three packed and varied days where it was difficult to find any musical disappointments, I can report that ATP was its usually awesome self.
The central Pavilion stage was closed during the festival and all the live action was concentrated in the smaller Centre Stage, Reds nightclub and the Crazy Horse pub. Although this was bad for business it also meant that the bands sounded great wherever they played. However, ticket sales may well have been a bit better than rumours suggested and a Butlins staff member told me they had 4000 people on site, which is more than the 2800 Centre Stage capacity. Despite a wristband system to guarantee access to Jeff's second set there on Sunday, apparently there were still a small section of people who failed to see him either night.
Friday was busy from the start, with the ELEPHANT 6 HOLIDAY SURPRISE kicking off events at the early hour of 4.30pm. Sadly that was too early for me, but the buzz was already building by the time I was inside as people told me about this de facto supergroup who had featured people and songs from the Gerbils and Elf Power amongst many other Elephant 6 bands, and they all ended up in the crowd on the last song.
The first act I actually saw was ROBYN HITCHCOCK, who was performing his classic solo album I Often Dream of Trains at the request of Jeff Mangum. This was the only 'Don't Look Back' type event at the festival and it worked very well, with Hitchcock in his usual rambling, humorous form, but it was the slower, reflective songs like the title track and 'Trams of Old London' that stood out for me.
However, for most people today was all about the return of JEFF MANGUM who didn't disappoint. When you think about it, In The Aeroplane Over the Sea is mostly a solo performance with occasional other musicians dropping in, and so was this. Although it wasn't technically a Neutral Milk Hotel reunion some of them did appear exactly when you expected them too. In particular Scott Spillane who, with his striking beard and ever present sousaphone, was one of the faces of the weekend, and the beautiful musical saw playing of Justin Koster, who has probably caused a post-festival sales spike in that particular tool.
Jeff was in great voice and people were hanging on every word. There were so many highlights – Ghost, Oh Comely, Song Against Sex, Naomi, and both parts of Two Headed Boy. The set ended with the instrumental The Fool, which is the closest it came to becoming a full band show. There was a lot of emotion in the room and a lot of love for these songs. It was still only 8.30 on the first day and the festival had already reached a huge peak.
Happily when he returned for his later slot on Sunday he played a different set and added rarities like 'Little Birds' and a cover of Daniel Johnson's 'True Love Will Find You'. That would be youtube gold, except all cameras were strictly forbidden at Jeff's request. Despite this rule, he seemed friendly and encouraged the audience to sing along. He was also spotted many times over the weekend, walking around and chatting to fans, perhaps in defiance of his perceived image as a recluse.
An admittedly jet-lagged JOANNA NEWSOM had the hard task of following this on Friday, but clearly a lot of the audience were here to see her too and both of her solo sets this weekend were well received. She alternated between piano and harp for an hour for each of her sets, and she returned to play an even better set on Saturday night. She played many songs from Have One On Me, although songs like 'Sawdust and Diamonds' on Saturday and 'Cosmia' on Friday were the real highlights. Friday's show stopper was 'Emily' despite some lyrical fluffs which she managed to laugh off and recover from. Superb and very endearing.
Downstairs THE RAINCOATS are also endearing, particularly when Gina Birch apologises for not having her bass amp switched on for the first two songs! Their set gets better as it goes on, touching on old classics like 'The Void', 'In Love' and a stunning, rarely played 'Life on the Line'. They play a delightfully gender-confused version of the Kink's 'Lola' and Verity from Electrelane pops up to play saxophone on one track as well.
Back on the centre stage, Raincoats contemporary Mark E Smith is also briefly touching on THE FALL's back catalogue, with a great version of 'Psychick Dancehall', although most of the set concentrates on their fine recent Ersatz GB album, with 'Nate Will Not Return' and a sneering, edgy version of 'Greenaway'. Smith was on fine form too, doing his 'live-mixing' ( i.e. fiddling with the amps) having a laugh, bashing his microphones and teasing Butlins security. It's the second great Fall gig I've seen in a few months, and one of my main highlights of the whole weekend.
I spent the sunny Saturday afternoon watching A HAWK AND A HACKSAW in the makeshift cinema of Crazy Horse as they performed a live score to the Russian film 'Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors'. Although you could hardly see them, they were sitting opposite each other on either side of the screen, and they played their own music but kept parts of the film soundtrack as well. It was very skilfully mixed and sounded great.
However Saturday, and to an extent the rest of the weekend, was all about BOREDOMS. By now well known for their epic shows involving multiple musicians, this performance was billed as being “very rare and entirely new” and for the first 45 minutes they played a brand new piece with five drummers and 14 guitarists, all of which were conducted and controlled with precision by Boredoms leader EYE. I'm happy to report that his seven-necked guitar tree was there, although I had difficulty naming the drummers apart from the regular members Yoshimi and Yojiro. If anything, this piece was played with even more intensity on Sunday afternoon, when the band held a one minute silence prior to it, as it was the anniversary of the Japanese tsunami disaster. It started as a delicate, minor key guitar piece with lots of cymbal washes and grew into something very overpowering and emotional. Amazingly after this they played for another 90 minutes and featured a few things that were more familiar to fans. They crammed so much other music into their trance-like mix, you could hear elements of krautrock, miminalism, dub and some of Eye and Yoshimi's vocal exchanges are an almost operatic babble. They closed both sets with an epic version of Acid Police which had to be seen to be believed and left most of the audience stunned. I'm not alone in saying it that this music had hallucinogenic properties.
If it was hard to follow Jeff Mangum, it was impossible to follow Boredoms. Although the festival was very musically varied, I felt it missed the presence of any dance or hip-hop acts and we were left with a schedule that offered Low, Mt Eerie and Earth at peak time Saturday night. Having said that I thought LOW played a great set. Alan Sparhawk was wired and angry about Syria from the start, but as a curveball he asked us all to meet him for a jog on Sunday lunchtime. It turned this was one of those brilliant ATP moments that actually happened, and about 30 people ended up going for a run with him. Music wise they played a festival set, with old favourites like 'Sunflower' and some of the strongest songs from the recent 'C'mon' album as highlights.
Later on SCRATCH ACID played an intense set of post-hardcore rock which didn't put a foot wrong. Although they haven't played together regularly since the 1980s, they look and sound like the best mid-life crisis ever. They were incredibly tight and they came over as across between the Birthday Party and The Jesus Lizard, the band whom both singer David Yow and guitarist David Wm. Sims went on to form after Scratch Acid originally folded. They were a highlight for many people here.
After that it was a relief to finish off the night with ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER in Reds. I can take or leave laptop performances really, but Daniel Lopatin had brought along Nate Boyce's visuals to accompany his set and they are always intriguing to watch. Musically, Lopatin stuck closely to the 'Replica' album and by 3am had sent us into the night content.
Sunday began in a quiet way with the noon performance by the AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC ENSEMBLE. This string quartet, who have collaborated with Grizzly Bear, Matmos and Hauschka amongst others, played an amazing version of Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet with Julian Koster from Electric 6 adding beautiful banjo and musical saw. If you don't know the piece, it is built around a loop of a homeless man singing which was left hanging in the air when they quartet finished, finally fading to black after about a minute and earning a standing ovation from the crowd.
After the Boredoms blew everyone away again, there was another jam packed schedule looming on Sunday evening. OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL were slightly disappointing, but this was mainly due to some sound issues in Reds, although the resolutely 90s indie-rock of VERSUS sounded fine in there later. MAGNETIC FIELDS pulled possibly the largest crowd of the weekend but I found they were too quiet and subdued to really carry. They have some great songs of course, Stephen Merrit was in fine form, and they do deserve credit for choosing varied songs and not just playing the new album.
Queues were in fashion tonight, and after an epic queue for the second Mangum show, I found myself in another one for GROUP DOUEH. This band are a family from Western Sahara who have been going for a long time but have been given a bigger audience thanks to the Sublime Frequencies label. Their sound is formed from the trance-like traditional music of Western Sahara and they feature two female singers and very long melody lines, although it was the guitar skills of Doueh that stole the show tonight. Playing his stratocaster behind his head as the women danced in their traditional costumes beside him was a memorable image.
Immediately afterwards SEBADOH finish off the main proceedings with one of the best sets I've seen them play. They included lots of favourites, 'The Freed Pig', 'Soul and Fire' and many more, although my notes had gone astray by this point.
I thought it was all over but I was tempted back downstairs by the Elephant 6 jam session, where members of the collective were on stage with some of Sun Ra Arkestra and Boredoms for a lively jazz-based finale.
As I stumbled out of Reds in the early hours, coincidentally with Scott Spillane right beside me, his sousaphone still attached, I knew it would be several days before the world got back to normal again. That's what a good ATP does, it changes your perspective and opens your mind, and this was a very good one.
All Tomorrow's Parties festival is one of my favourite events, but there were a few things that worried me about this one. Would Jeff Mangum be able to pull together a bill and a performance that would reflect his brief but stunning legacy from Neutral Milk Hotel? Also, after this event was postponed from last December amid rumours of financial difficulties, would the festival itself deliver the same experience as previous years?
I need not have worried, because after three packed and varied days where it was difficult to find any musical disappointments, I can report that ATP was its usually awesome self.
The central Pavilion stage was closed during the festival and all the live action was concentrated in the smaller Centre Stage, Reds nightclub and the Crazy Horse pub. Although this was bad for business it also meant that the bands sounded great wherever they played. However, ticket sales may well have been a bit better than rumours suggested and a Butlins staff member told me they had 4000 people on site, which is more than the 2800 Centre Stage capacity. Despite a wristband system to guarantee access to Jeff's second set there on Sunday, apparently there were still a small section of people who failed to see him either night.
Friday was busy from the start, with the ELEPHANT 6 HOLIDAY SURPRISE kicking off events at the early hour of 4.30pm. Sadly that was too early for me, but the buzz was already building by the time I was inside as people told me about this de facto supergroup who had featured people and songs from the Gerbils and Elf Power amongst many other Elephant 6 bands, and they all ended up in the crowd on the last song.
The first act I actually saw was ROBYN HITCHCOCK, who was performing his classic solo album I Often Dream of Trains at the request of Jeff Mangum. This was the only 'Don't Look Back' type event at the festival and it worked very well, with Hitchcock in his usual rambling, humorous form, but it was the slower, reflective songs like the title track and 'Trams of Old London' that stood out for me.
However, for most people today was all about the return of JEFF MANGUM who didn't disappoint. When you think about it, In The Aeroplane Over the Sea is mostly a solo performance with occasional other musicians dropping in, and so was this. Although it wasn't technically a Neutral Milk Hotel reunion some of them did appear exactly when you expected them too. In particular Scott Spillane who, with his striking beard and ever present sousaphone, was one of the faces of the weekend, and the beautiful musical saw playing of Justin Koster, who has probably caused a post-festival sales spike in that particular tool.
Jeff was in great voice and people were hanging on every word. There were so many highlights – Ghost, Oh Comely, Song Against Sex, Naomi, and both parts of Two Headed Boy. The set ended with the instrumental The Fool, which is the closest it came to becoming a full band show. There was a lot of emotion in the room and a lot of love for these songs. It was still only 8.30 on the first day and the festival had already reached a huge peak.
Happily when he returned for his later slot on Sunday he played a different set and added rarities like 'Little Birds' and a cover of Daniel Johnson's 'True Love Will Find You'. That would be youtube gold, except all cameras were strictly forbidden at Jeff's request. Despite this rule, he seemed friendly and encouraged the audience to sing along. He was also spotted many times over the weekend, walking around and chatting to fans, perhaps in defiance of his perceived image as a recluse.
An admittedly jet-lagged JOANNA NEWSOM had the hard task of following this on Friday, but clearly a lot of the audience were here to see her too and both of her solo sets this weekend were well received. She alternated between piano and harp for an hour for each of her sets, and she returned to play an even better set on Saturday night. She played many songs from Have One On Me, although songs like 'Sawdust and Diamonds' on Saturday and 'Cosmia' on Friday were the real highlights. Friday's show stopper was 'Emily' despite some lyrical fluffs which she managed to laugh off and recover from. Superb and very endearing.
Downstairs THE RAINCOATS are also endearing, particularly when Gina Birch apologises for not having her bass amp switched on for the first two songs! Their set gets better as it goes on, touching on old classics like 'The Void', 'In Love' and a stunning, rarely played 'Life on the Line'. They play a delightfully gender-confused version of the Kink's 'Lola' and Verity from Electrelane pops up to play saxophone on one track as well.
Back on the centre stage, Raincoats contemporary Mark E Smith is also briefly touching on THE FALL's back catalogue, with a great version of 'Psychick Dancehall', although most of the set concentrates on their fine recent Ersatz GB album, with 'Nate Will Not Return' and a sneering, edgy version of 'Greenaway'. Smith was on fine form too, doing his 'live-mixing' ( i.e. fiddling with the amps) having a laugh, bashing his microphones and teasing Butlins security. It's the second great Fall gig I've seen in a few months, and one of my main highlights of the whole weekend.
I spent the sunny Saturday afternoon watching A HAWK AND A HACKSAW in the makeshift cinema of Crazy Horse as they performed a live score to the Russian film 'Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors'. Although you could hardly see them, they were sitting opposite each other on either side of the screen, and they played their own music but kept parts of the film soundtrack as well. It was very skilfully mixed and sounded great.
However Saturday, and to an extent the rest of the weekend, was all about BOREDOMS. By now well known for their epic shows involving multiple musicians, this performance was billed as being “very rare and entirely new” and for the first 45 minutes they played a brand new piece with five drummers and 14 guitarists, all of which were conducted and controlled with precision by Boredoms leader EYE. I'm happy to report that his seven-necked guitar tree was there, although I had difficulty naming the drummers apart from the regular members Yoshimi and Yojiro. If anything, this piece was played with even more intensity on Sunday afternoon, when the band held a one minute silence prior to it, as it was the anniversary of the Japanese tsunami disaster. It started as a delicate, minor key guitar piece with lots of cymbal washes and grew into something very overpowering and emotional. Amazingly after this they played for another 90 minutes and featured a few things that were more familiar to fans. They crammed so much other music into their trance-like mix, you could hear elements of krautrock, miminalism, dub and some of Eye and Yoshimi's vocal exchanges are an almost operatic babble. They closed both sets with an epic version of Acid Police which had to be seen to be believed and left most of the audience stunned. I'm not alone in saying it that this music had hallucinogenic properties.
If it was hard to follow Jeff Mangum, it was impossible to follow Boredoms. Although the festival was very musically varied, I felt it missed the presence of any dance or hip-hop acts and we were left with a schedule that offered Low, Mt Eerie and Earth at peak time Saturday night. Having said that I thought LOW played a great set. Alan Sparhawk was wired and angry about Syria from the start, but as a curveball he asked us all to meet him for a jog on Sunday lunchtime. It turned this was one of those brilliant ATP moments that actually happened, and about 30 people ended up going for a run with him. Music wise they played a festival set, with old favourites like 'Sunflower' and some of the strongest songs from the recent 'C'mon' album as highlights.
Later on SCRATCH ACID played an intense set of post-hardcore rock which didn't put a foot wrong. Although they haven't played together regularly since the 1980s, they look and sound like the best mid-life crisis ever. They were incredibly tight and they came over as across between the Birthday Party and The Jesus Lizard, the band whom both singer David Yow and guitarist David Wm. Sims went on to form after Scratch Acid originally folded. They were a highlight for many people here.
After that it was a relief to finish off the night with ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER in Reds. I can take or leave laptop performances really, but Daniel Lopatin had brought along Nate Boyce's visuals to accompany his set and they are always intriguing to watch. Musically, Lopatin stuck closely to the 'Replica' album and by 3am had sent us into the night content.
Sunday began in a quiet way with the noon performance by the AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC ENSEMBLE. This string quartet, who have collaborated with Grizzly Bear, Matmos and Hauschka amongst others, played an amazing version of Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet with Julian Koster from Electric 6 adding beautiful banjo and musical saw. If you don't know the piece, it is built around a loop of a homeless man singing which was left hanging in the air when they quartet finished, finally fading to black after about a minute and earning a standing ovation from the crowd.
After the Boredoms blew everyone away again, there was another jam packed schedule looming on Sunday evening. OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL were slightly disappointing, but this was mainly due to some sound issues in Reds, although the resolutely 90s indie-rock of VERSUS sounded fine in there later. MAGNETIC FIELDS pulled possibly the largest crowd of the weekend but I found they were too quiet and subdued to really carry. They have some great songs of course, Stephen Merrit was in fine form, and they do deserve credit for choosing varied songs and not just playing the new album.
Queues were in fashion tonight, and after an epic queue for the second Mangum show, I found myself in another one for GROUP DOUEH. This band are a family from Western Sahara who have been going for a long time but have been given a bigger audience thanks to the Sublime Frequencies label. Their sound is formed from the trance-like traditional music of Western Sahara and they feature two female singers and very long melody lines, although it was the guitar skills of Doueh that stole the show tonight. Playing his stratocaster behind his head as the women danced in their traditional costumes beside him was a memorable image.
Immediately afterwards SEBADOH finish off the main proceedings with one of the best sets I've seen them play. They included lots of favourites, 'The Freed Pig', 'Soul and Fire' and many more, although my notes had gone astray by this point.
I thought it was all over but I was tempted back downstairs by the Elephant 6 jam session, where members of the collective were on stage with some of Sun Ra Arkestra and Boredoms for a lively jazz-based finale.
As I stumbled out of Reds in the early hours, coincidentally with Scott Spillane right beside me, his sousaphone still attached, I knew it would be several days before the world got back to normal again. That's what a good ATP does, it changes your perspective and opens your mind, and this was a very good one.
An extensive and final Jeff Mangum ATP round-up
Well, I've written my 'proper' review of ATP for the 405, which you can read here
However, this was actually a festival where I met more people off twitter and the internet than ever, so it seems fitting to put together a page of links and embeds. It is what we call in work (pardon the jargon) 'user generated content', so here goes...
There is little point adding more to my 2000 word review, especially if you wade through all this and the embedded podcast below. I had originally intended to cover the festival with three 'audioboos' and leave it at that, but this proved a bit tricky. I did one on Saturday morning looking back at Friday, and here it is.
As regular ATP-ers will know, the festival usually encourages people to film and photograph the bands, and this leads to a ton of great youtube clips and flickr sets. It was slightly different this year as Jeff Mangum had requested no photography of his sets, as the sign shows (left).
Lots of the other bands were captured, and this clip from Friday shows Mark E Smith at his most meddlesome and entertaining during the Fall's 'Cowboy George'. I can sympathise with the sound person trying to guess which mic he would use next!
Boredoms on Saturday and Sunday afternoon were the highlight for a lot of people, including myself. 14 guitarists, 5 drummers (including Yoshimi and Yojiro) and a brand new 45 minute piece. There are many clips of the set on youtube, but this one shows the drum interplay very well.
Sunday lunchtime was spent recording this podcast with a few other like minds for Plentyside, which turned out well. The clacking of the air hockey tables is already making me nostalgic!
Sunday's highlights once again were Boredoms, but Sebadoh were the last of the main acts that I watched, so I'll share a bit of them to finish.
some other reviews of the weekend...
My review on the 405, just in case you missed it up there, haha
Fellow podcaster Will Fitzpatrick's Festival Diary for TLOBF
The Gig Ghost, featuring the words of my twitter buddies @jkhigham and pics and vids by @pmhigham and @thelawes
And this Polish review, which has over 100 pics attached
some flickr sets...
by Simon Godley
by ukpeewee
by jaswooduk
by the_junes
My reviews or festival diaries of some of the other ATPs I've been to...
ATP curated by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
ATP vs the Fans
ATP curated by Slint
However, this was actually a festival where I met more people off twitter and the internet than ever, so it seems fitting to put together a page of links and embeds. It is what we call in work (pardon the jargon) 'user generated content', so here goes...
There is little point adding more to my 2000 word review, especially if you wade through all this and the embedded podcast below. I had originally intended to cover the festival with three 'audioboos' and leave it at that, but this proved a bit tricky. I did one on Saturday morning looking back at Friday, and here it is.
Lots of the other bands were captured, and this clip from Friday shows Mark E Smith at his most meddlesome and entertaining during the Fall's 'Cowboy George'. I can sympathise with the sound person trying to guess which mic he would use next!
Boredoms on Saturday and Sunday afternoon were the highlight for a lot of people, including myself. 14 guitarists, 5 drummers (including Yoshimi and Yojiro) and a brand new 45 minute piece. There are many clips of the set on youtube, but this one shows the drum interplay very well.
Sunday lunchtime was spent recording this podcast with a few other like minds for Plentyside, which turned out well. The clacking of the air hockey tables is already making me nostalgic!
Sunday's highlights once again were Boredoms, but Sebadoh were the last of the main acts that I watched, so I'll share a bit of them to finish.
some other reviews of the weekend...
My review on the 405, just in case you missed it up there, haha
Fellow podcaster Will Fitzpatrick's Festival Diary for TLOBF
The Gig Ghost, featuring the words of my twitter buddies @jkhigham and pics and vids by @pmhigham and @thelawes
And this Polish review, which has over 100 pics attached
some flickr sets...
by Simon Godley
by ukpeewee
by jaswooduk
by the_junes
My reviews or festival diaries of some of the other ATPs I've been to...
ATP curated by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
ATP vs the Fans
ATP curated by Slint
In brief: Jeff Mangum ATP day three (and a link to a related podcast)
A busy, busy day! It started beautifully with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble string quartet who played Gavin Bryars's Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet with Julian Koster on saw. First standing ovation of the day.
After that I missed the chance to go jogging with Alan Sparhawk of Low because I was being a guest on a 90 minute podcast, which has now been uploaded at this link. I haven't had a chance to listen yet, but it was recorded in the Pavilion area and you should hear the clacking of the air hockey games in the background.
As for the rest of the day, Boredoms were stunning again. This was perhaps an even more intense performance than the first one. They held a minute's silence at the start as it was the anniversary of the Japanese tsunami disaster, and I wonder if that gave them even more of an emotional edge. Truly amazing and as close to being hallucinatory and a religious experience as music can get.
It was almost impossible to follow this by seeing any other bands, so the likes of Olivia Tremor Control and Versus would have been better enjoyed at their own gigs I'm sure. Magnetic Fields pulled one of the biggest crowds but didn't really click with me either, despite a crowd pleasing set on the new and the old. Jeff Mangum was great again, and although he ticked all my boxes on Friday, he did add a fine cover of Daniel Johnson's True Love Will Find You and revealed that he had wanted Daniel to play the festival.
I'll do what I did on Friday and give you the set list- Oh Comely, The King of Carrot Flowers Pts 2 and 3, Song Against Sex, A Baby for Pree, In The Aeroplane over the Sea, Two Headed Boy pt 2, Holland 1945, True Love Will Find you in the End, Ghost, Little Birds, Engine, Two Headed Boy pt 1, Fool.
My notes are a mess for the later part of Sunday because I was enjoying myself too much, but what you need to know is, the queues returned and not everyone got to see Jeff, Group Doueh played a fine set of psychedelic West African music with a couple of amazing guitar solos, Sebadoh played a cracking set which was maybe the best I've ever seen them and the whole bash came to an end with an extended 'jam' in Reds, featuring over 20 musicians from the Elephant 6 bands, Sun Ra Arkestra and Boredoms.
Yet another amazing ATP.
In brief: Jeff Mangum ATP day two
Saturday was all about Boredoms, possibly my favourite live band, and they didn't disappoint. They played a 45 minute new piece, for 14 guitars and 5 drummers, as well as some other pieces including a rearrangement of Acid Police.
Other highlights were A Hawk and A Hacksaw playing a score for the soviet movie Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Low, oneohtrix point never, and a wonderful second set from Joanna Newsom which had a completely different set of songs from day 1. Also Scratch Acid finished the night on centre stage with a mighty performance which sounded amazing.
In brief: Jeff Mangum ATP day one
Have a listen to my audioboo about ATP day one at this link http://audioboo.fm/boos/705920-atp-day-one or try below.
I will have a general review of the festival on the 405 next week {EDIT: full review is now online here), but this post will be my brief notes, made public.
Sadly too late to see Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise but I heard some great reports. Costumes, Elf Power songs and a Sun Ra cover at the end.
Robyn Hitchcock played I Often Dream of Trains which was pretty special if, like me, you like that album. Terry Edwards and a few others assisted.
Jeff Mangum was on surprisingly early and was every bit as good as you might expect. A classic set of songs. You're all googling this looking for the set list so here goes...
Two Headed Boy pt 2, Holland 1945, Song Against Sex, Gardenhead, King of Carrot Flowers, Oh Comely, Ghost, Naomi, In the Aeroplane over the Sea, Two Headed Boy pt 1, The Fool.
Joanna Newsom had the tricky task of following him but she was yet another highlight. Emily still is an astonishing song. And it was a solo set where she just alternated between harp and piano.
I saw most of the Raincoats too. Utterly charming and a bit shambolic at the start. In Love and No One's Little Girl are two of my favourite songs and they played them both.
The Fall were on similarly excellent form as they were in London in November, and probably stole the show today.
I saw some of Watt and Hurley but they didn't click with me, but Jon Spencer Blues Explosion finished off in fine style.
Jeff Mangum ATP: Clashfinder
Click here for the clashfinder
There will probably be a lot of posts here about the All Tomorrow's Parties festival this coming weekend. Some kind soul has done a clashfinder for the event already, although happily there doesn't seem to be too many nasty clashes. Although it's not great news that the festival is undersold, this means that the very large Pavilion area will not be used which I imagine a lot of people will be happy about. For the record the worst clash for me is Olivia Tremor Control and the Magic Band but even that isn't a full clash. Also Friday will consist of Jeff Mangum, then Joanna Newsom, then The Fall, then Thurston Moore, then Jon Spencer. Hard to beat really.
I may as well remind you of our Spotify playlist for the event, and our tenuously related mixcloud mix. See you there!
My own Spotify playlist for next week's ATP
It has been a very long wait, but there is now just a week to go until the All Tomorrow's Parties festival curated by Jeff Mangum. To celebrate this I have together a Spotify playlist which features one track each from most of the acts appearing at the festival. The likes of Joanna Newsom and Boredoms are only missing because their music isn't available on Spotify. You can listen or subscribe to the Spotify playlist at this link.
The playlist is mainly indie-rock and is a lot more accessible than last week's challenging mix which I uploaded to mixcloud. It was more of an exploration of some of the stranger music that Jeff played during his stint on WFMU in 2002. Have a read about it and listen via mixcloud here
Slow Thrills Friday mix: A Jefferson Mangum reversion
Well, as I said last week, it is a tough act to follow the efforts of Robin The Fog, who provided our debut mix, so I'm going to upload one of my own mixes, which is probably one of my most unusual and challenging.
As I'm looking forward to the forthcoming Jeff Mangum ATP, I have been doing all sorts of revision for it, and perhaps most obscurely of all I have become intrigued by the set of radio shows Jeff did back in 2002 for WFMU. They are a challenging mix of sound collages, drones, world music, field recordings, and quite a lot of John Coltrane!
I thought it might be fun to edit these down, but then I realised that they actually do belong to WFMU as original shows and that wouldn't be fair, so instead I went through the tracklisting to see which tracks I had, or more correctly, see which tracks I could acquire. That's what I have done, I have reversioned some of Jeff's musical choices by means of my own little primer or sideshow to the forthcoming festival. I guess it is a challenging flipside to the spotify list that I will publish next Friday. Please listen and enjoy, although this is yet another deliberately uneasy listen.
Contains audio from John Coltrane, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Blind Willie Johnson, Lee Hornby, Robert Wyatt, Charles Barnett, Clara Rockman, and some low frequency field recordings by S. P. McGreevy.
(the next mix by me will be all 3 minute indie-pop songs, you can hold me to that!)
As I'm looking forward to the forthcoming Jeff Mangum ATP, I have been doing all sorts of revision for it, and perhaps most obscurely of all I have become intrigued by the set of radio shows Jeff did back in 2002 for WFMU. They are a challenging mix of sound collages, drones, world music, field recordings, and quite a lot of John Coltrane!
I thought it might be fun to edit these down, but then I realised that they actually do belong to WFMU as original shows and that wouldn't be fair, so instead I went through the tracklisting to see which tracks I had, or more correctly, see which tracks I could acquire. That's what I have done, I have reversioned some of Jeff's musical choices by means of my own little primer or sideshow to the forthcoming festival. I guess it is a challenging flipside to the spotify list that I will publish next Friday. Please listen and enjoy, although this is yet another deliberately uneasy listen.
Contains audio from John Coltrane, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Blind Willie Johnson, Lee Hornby, Robert Wyatt, Charles Barnett, Clara Rockman, and some low frequency field recordings by S. P. McGreevy.
(the next mix by me will be all 3 minute indie-pop songs, you can hold me to that!)
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