ATP (UK version) 2009 - who's in?

Agree with a lot of what u said there with some caveats. Personally I'm a bit of a wire-reading chin stroker beardo who still thinks autechre 03 was about as good as it ever got and still thinks it's shame that it went from being a pretty excellent avant-garde/experimental festival to something very corporate-y, by-the-numbers, and sort of pitchfork approved. My gf picked up the film last year and I was very disappointed that the early years were basically reduced to a 10 second Russell haswell clip.

The branding thing has reached ridiculous proportions with stupid "secret" shows and organised vice-style chalet parties. A friend of mine said that on the Saturday she turned up at a "chalet party" that was organised by ATP - signs on the door announced that ATP were filming it presumably for the 15 year anniversary DVD.

As regards the spiritualised thing we felt the queuing etc totally ruined the end of the festival. However I don't think there was a grand conspiracy behind it to make sure there was a crowd for spiritualised - they are a very big deal for a lot of people beyond their status as "ATP RECORDING ARTISTS" (not particularly to me but I could care less about JN as well tbh) and it wasn't a surprise that they would headline the festival. It doesn't seem unlikely that JN would take a long time to soundcheck particularly if as I heard her flight had been delayed and she'd turned up late.

It doesn't seem unlikely that JN would take a long time to soundcheck

^^^^^^^^^^

If you'd had the misfortune of seeing one of her shows before, you wouldn't have been at all surprised.

autechre 03 was about as good as it ever got

I was reminiscing this weekend about just how blinding that was.

Yeah I was saying 03 was the best to this random American guy I met and realised the demographic might have changed a bit when I had to explain to him who autechre were , although I guess they're probably not so well known outside of the uk.

It seems it is a period the organisers would best like to forget, but any festival with the fall, aphex twin, sunn0))), the magic band, Venetian snares, carl craig, dj stingray, public enemy, kool Keith, el-p, coil, jim o'rourke, just to name a few, just about ticks every box for me. And to think they tried to book busta rhymes as well...

Sorry not carl craig, I was thinking of a guy called gerald. What a great bill!

Anyway enough with the past, despite the above I really, really enjoyed the following sets:

Panda Bear
Boredoms x 2
Toumani Diabate
Spiritualised
The Stooges
The XX
Deerhunter
The Residents

The rest of it I was fairly ambivalent towards, except for CocoRosie who I though were just horrible.

Mainly though I went to gawp at Matt Groening and get my Simpsons boxset signed.

It seems it is a period the organisers would best like to forget

Ehh I was at that Autechre weekend and it owned but it was one of the v few they've done that lost money (inc the one that just happened by the sounds) and since then other ppl have took up the mantle as regards most of that bill (Dedbeat, Bloc and Bang Face weekender mainly) so I think there are perfectly valid reasons why they haven't really f'ed with that sort of lineup since

i was also at the autechre one and yes it was the best

it's shame that it went from being a pretty excellent avant-garde/experimental festival to something very corporate-y, by-the-numbers, and sort of pitchfork approved.

otm

other ppl have took up the mantle as regards most of that bill (Dedbeat, Bloc and Bang Face weekender mainly)

yeah this is true but i don't necessarily want them to re-create that autechre lineup again and again. i guess the point is that a festival where a different person is chosen to curate every year should leave huge possibility for variation + different kinds of music. instead it seems to have converged to this steady-state lineup (probably due to the international festivals + the record label and the whole branding etc) which i'm not really interested in. i'll probably go again tho because it's always a fun weekend regardless.

Am going to the pavement one and the lineup is so one-note pavement-like forebears/copyists it's pretty depressing tbh. The groening line-up seems like a feast of eclecticism by comparison.

It was never an "avant-garde/experimental festival", stuff that actually fits that description has always been totally in the minority and when this hasn't been the case they've tended to sell like shit. I'm a looooong way from being a stan for this festival and probably won't attend any of them this year but folks are pretty unrealistic about what ppl's tastes are actually like

i just want some bands that sound a bit different from each other :/

Maybe calling it experimental is too strong, but it definitely had a more definite defined curatorial edge to it which is what attracted it to me in the first place. Now half the time they don't even have a "curator" as such, they book far less bands it seems, and when they do have a curator it is very suspicious how many ATP recordings artists they appear to like.

I know it is never going to go back to what it was, festivals like bangface and supersonic cater to the niche, and that is fine it is still a bloody good weekend. You can't deny though that it has lost some of its charm thanks to the very overt ways in which the organisers try to sell this mythic ATP experience and airbrush over the bits that don't quite sit right with the pitchfork / vice crowd.

In short I'm getting old...

Can't speak for the overseas lineups, but at ATP NY there were, of course, a number of ATP recording artists on the lineup -- but they were focused on the day curated by ATP -- whereas the chosen "curators" (MBV, Flaming Lips) would not really venture into ATP territory on their given days.

The Thurston Moore Nightmare Before Xmas had quite an 'out' line-up and that sold out, right?

Yeah that was the one exception - no dance stuff tho iirc, basically I think that people who are primarily into electronic music just do not give a flying one about ATP

You say that, but it also had:

Deerhoof (ATP artists)
Iggy and the Stooges
Melvins
Sonic Youth
Alexander Tucker (ATP artist)
Bardo Pond (ATP artists)
Dinosaur Jr.
Mats Gustaffson + Eye (left in for Boredoms content)
plus Flipper, Go4, Negative Approach, MC5 reformations shows

which makes it look more like every other ATP than you'd think it did.

Who cares if it looks "like every other ATP" when that list of artists is pretty much uniformly godhead?

Btw, Bardo Pond are more so a longtime Matador band than ATP, which they joined relatively recently for a couple releases, and their less "major release" shit comes out on other labels, including Three Lobed and others.

Not sure how long Deerhoof have been on ATP (is this UK only?), but they've mostly been on Kill Rock Stars here in the states.

Alexander Tucker I believe has mostly been on ATP.

Really, though -- who cares what label these guys are on when the music's great?

Cannot believe we're complaining about the *inclusion* of Melvins, Boredoms, Bardo Pond, Gang of Four, Stooges, Sonic Youth, Flipper, Mats Gustaffson... I would be thrilled to see any of those names on, say, Coachella (or any other washed-up, even-more-corporate ca$h cow festival).

Sorry -- rant over.

People who are into the intersection of electronic music and ATP music do not have enough friends to fill a chalet and go to festivals where they can buy tickets in 1s and 2s instead.

(I kid, except, I'm in this category. poss substitute "rich enough, music-digging enough" for "enough")

even if you're gonna complain about that list of artists at the Thurston Nightmare, it did have about sixty bands in total!

I stuck with Joanna Newsom till the end, when she was about to play something before apparently being told she had no time left after a 45 or 50 minute long set (my friends confirmed that there was no encore despite the demand), then I headed to The Raincoats where I too hung around for 20 minutes or so before they got the all clear. What's that all about then. They then ended up overlapping quite precisely with The xx, who were supposed to come on when The Raincoats finished, so take THAT, anyone who wanted to see both of them.

I could join in the complaints, but hey I saw about fifteen bands I thought were great and another ten or so I thought were between good and really really good, so I have little right. Actually ATP could have put on Boredoms and slowly flayed me over the rest of the weekend and I'd have been happy. I understand the complaints, though. I'm guessing it would've been seen as a bit embarrassing to have a couple of hundred people watching Spiritualized as there were during the encore when everyone noticed the mighty queue. Also, why the 2am shut-down on Sunday? We are responsible enough to dance the night through and get out of our chalets by 10, we promise.

I am also now old enough to understand why they have the on site masseuses. God is my body broken.

I dig plenty of electronic/dance stuff, too... but I don't expect a festival that's already serving up an incredible variety of acts in other genres to cover every single base of stuff that I'm into.

xp

the only case of this ATP-favouritism I have any complaints about is Alexander Tucker, whose music I like fine but I don't entirely buy that he's quite popular or celebrated enough to have been selected for multiple ATPs and supported at every ATP-promoted gig ever. God knows how many times I've happened to see that guy. But I would gladly watch, say, Deerhoof or Lightning Bolt five times daily for the rest of my life.

Yep, Alexander Tucker does tend to show his face at pretty much every ATP event -- a bit too often. His music's just fine, though, unlike fellow ATP recording artists Sleepy Sun... aptly named, as "sleepy" is precisely how I felt watching their live show. Here's hoping they don't get the Tucker treatment and start hauling their asses to every ATP henceforth.

i've seen Deerhoof and Lighting Bolt and a bunch of the ones Aldo listed - Flipper? NA? di they play that many? - probably a couple times each in the past and enjoyed them, but i'd much rather see something new. or maybe it just feels like certain bands have played more than they really have. i mean, how many times *have* Lightning Bolt played?

i just think they need to cast the net out with curators. how bout Byron Coley or something? i don't really give a fuck about what Explosions in the Sky. but then i don'think i fit the typical dude for most of the recent festivals.

anyway, gripes aside, i'm still going to the pavement one but only really because a bunch of friends are going. and the SPACEBOWL, duh.

I saw Lightning Bolt play four times at one a couple of years back, that has probably coloured my mind re their ever-presentness.

I would like if they split their two summer ones into a big one at Minehead and a smaller, weirder, more diverse one at Camber Sands. Probably not too likely.

i just think they need to cast the net out with curators. how bout Byron Coley or something? i don't really give a fuck about what Explosions in the Sky

^^^^^^^^^

i just think they need to cast the net out with curators. how bout Byron Coley or something? i don't really give a fuck about what Explosions in the Sky think

OK, I'll admit now my main source of grief with the whole SPZ/JN queuing fiasco is that I fucked my knee on Saturday and another of our party was in a wheelchair so with none of us caring about SPZ one iota getting upstairs to JN where there was a bar and we could sit down was a priority and might have coloured how pissed off I was with the rest of it.

Now I have calmed down a little, I see my issues are the same as tpp's with talking about a 'steady state lineup'. I too don't necessarily have a problem with the extract from the Thurston Moore weekend I posted earlier, however, Deerhoof have played 8 ATPs to date. Melvins have played 6. Sonic Youth have played 8. Bardo Pond have played 7. Dinosaur Jr have played 4 (I could have sworn it was more, although none of these include when these bands have played multiple sets.) It seems to me they define the same old crowd. (For reference, Lightning Bolt have played 8.)

I'd argue Explosions In The Sky is a bad choice for representing a bad weekend, as it was the most hip-hop once since Autechre (Raekwon, Ghostface, De La Soul) and also had Adem, Four Tet and Saul williams in addition to a handful of relatively obscure Japanese bands and maybe the strongest alt-country line up of any year.

I'm probably just too old for it all, to be honest. Piles of people walking round round in ironic 80s clothes (seriously, how into it do you have to be to get a haircut ironically?) just annoys me more than anything else. The pride the guy who had the Thriller leather jacket was wearing it with was just beyond a joke.

Yrs,

Grumpy.

so so many moustaches, too. Never seen so many in my life.

xpost
you're right about Wu Tang, actually. worth it for them alone for hearing Raekwon tell everyone that autograph time was over cause he 'had to take a shit'

Maybe calling it experimental is too strong, but it definitely had a more definite defined curatorial edge to it

yeah this is what i was trying to say really. the crowd has definitely changed a lot since the first one i went to (shellac) most notably at that atp vs. pitchfork one (rip camber) which was full of london scene douchebags.

coley wrote the booklet for the thurston moore curated NIGHTMARE and im pretty sure had a hand in the programming, too

ATP vs Pitchfork was definitely the worst in terms of the crowd (as I recall tonnes of people seemed to go home after the Saturday, although I can't remember why that would have been), the ones I've been to since then have been closer to the old ways. First one I went to was Malkmus / SYouth / Foundation as a naive 18-year-old though, so I can only judge the developments in a minor way.

i just think they need to cast the net out with curators. how bout Byron Coley or something?

dude I have max respect for Byron Coley but what planet are you on

I'm going to the Pavement one, and it looks like a pretty unremitting diet of US indie rock, similar to the Shellac year. Still very much looking forward to it.

One thing that has always annoyed me about ATP is Barry Hogan. He always manages to say something passive-aggressive and charmless in his program notes. I remember one year he made some borderline racist remarks about So Solid Crew being criminals, for no apparent reason.

For me it really isn't about whether there is electronic music or not. As I said it is curatorial aspect that has been lost and with it the surprise and spontaneity. I want to be able to look at the bill and not know who 90% of the bands are, trusting in the wisdom of the curator to make sure I am entertained. I realise this puts me deeply in the minority of people, but I cannot nor ever will be able to understand ppl who think they really need to see deerhoof more than once in their lifetime.

dude I have max respect for Byron Coley but what planet are you on

not gonna happen, i know.

Sorry to keep harping on, but someone made the claim up-thread that Autechre 2003 lost money or was poorly attended. According to this http://drownedinsound.com/news/6162-atp-2003-sold-out-and-lineup-confirmed it did actually sell out.

Here's a note about the Autechre lineup (per discussion upthread on the merits of "unheard" acts at these sort of festivals):

The lists of bands have been around for a while, but here's the full running order for each room and day, you won't have heard of most of them, but that's kind of the whole point.

Nowadays you can predict most any ATP lineup, just pick about half of these bands and then add in another dozen or so similar acts that fit the basic "underground rock" calling card:

SPIRITUALIZED
SHELLAC
TORTOISE
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY
DEERHOOF
MOGWAI
FUCK BUTTONS
BOREDOMS performing BOADRUM
MELVINS
DIRTY THREE
SUNN O)))
BARDO POND
EL-P
STEPHEN MALKMUS + JICKS
MODEST MOUSE
LIGHTNING BOLT
OM
GROWING
APSE
ALEXANDER TUCKER
SLEEPY SUN
THE DRONES

Look, I just curated my own ATP!

onimo might attend ATP curated by ilxor

Haha... it's not a knock on the acts themselves, I'd attend that one, too!

More a jab at the somewhat "autopilot" curating...

It's a good list of bands, but not really repetitive when you actually look at the line-ups. Ignoring the 10th Birthday (which was billed as a rehash of past curators and ATP artists) and the American/Australian versions (because if you're crossing continents to go you lose your right to complain about seeing the same bands) the past 9 ATP's have included:

Explosions in the Sky:
-Explosions in the Sky

Patton/Melvins:
-Melvins

Fans 2:
-Spiritualized (acoustic set), Fuck Buttons (chosen by fans), Sleepy Sun

Breeders
-Shellac

My Bloody Valentine
-Dirty Three, Lightning Bolt

Matt Groening:
-Spiritualized (with orchestra), Boredoms

Pavement:
-Drones

Godspeed:
-Deerhoof, Bardo Pond, Growing

Belle and Sebestian:
-none

Max three from the list, only one repeat which was Spiritualized; once acoustic and once with orchestra.

Ah okay, that makes a lot more sense, actually (I'm in the USA). We got all these folks at just two ATP NY events:

SHELLAC
TORTOISE
DEERHOOF
FUCK BUTTONS
BOREDOMS performing BOADRUM
MELVINS
DIRTY THREE
BARDO POND
EL-P
LIGHTNING BOLT
OM
GROWING
APSE
ALEXANDER TUCKER
SLEEPY SUN
THE DRONES

Includes Shellac twice, of course.

you won't have heard of most of them, but that's kind of the whole point.

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Thursday, 13 May 2010 18:55 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Pretty sure some kid writing on Drowned In Sound in 2003 isn't the arbiter of what their booking policy is or indeed whether I've heard of such total nomarks as, say, Carl Craig or LFO