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Soundtracks of Our Lives 10/05/2009
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Popel Vooje
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Edited May 13, 2009, 01:22
Re: Soundtracks of Our Lives LIVE! from ATP w.e.10/05/2009
May 12, 2009, 15:09
Andrew W.K. (Centre Stage, Friday)
Engaging for about ten minutes, but his hyperactive cheerleader/ frontman shtick began to grate a good half hour before the set ended. There's only so many times one can be exhorted by tthe same gobshite to "stay p.p.p.ositive" and "party hard" without wanting to throw beer (which one of our party - amusingly - was on the point of doing).

Devo (Pavilion Stage, Friday)
Seamlessy tight and entertaining greatest hits set - nothing more, nothing less. They deserve credit for being one of the few bands on the bill with the budget / inclination to put on a full-blown show rather than a mere recital.

Jesu (Centre Stage, Friday)
Superb, bleakly compelling industrial / grindcore / shoegaze set from Justin Broaderick (ex Godflesh, Techno Animal etc.) and cohorts. Came away with the distinct feeling that post-rock and its multifarious offshoots will become as large a cult in the upcoming decade as Krautrock did in the 90s - it just needs someone to write a book about it first (well, if anyone fancies offering me a publishing deal...)

The Fuck Buttons (Centre Stage, Friday)
Unfortunately, we missed them due to being too f***ed to leave our chalets again by that time of night. Shame - I've seen them before and for a duo with few or no live instruments they're a pretty full-on live act. next time...

Lords (Reds, Saturday)
Don't fully understand the hype on this band. Too ham-fisted and rockist for my tastes.

Young Marble Giants performing "Colossal Youth" (Centre Stage, Saturday)
One of my all-time favourite albums, but it didn't quite come to life onstage. The band were rusty from not having played together for so many years, and palpably nervous in places - as Necorpolist pointed out, their continual re-tuning between songs disrupted the flow of the album somewhat. There were a few great moments though "Constantly Chaning", "N.I.T.A." and "Wurlitzer Jukebox" being the tightest and most memorable.

The Jesus Lizard (Centre Stage, Saturday)
Undoubtedly the most committed performance of the weekend from David Yow (in full masochist/exhibitionistic post-Iggy flow) and a well-rounded choice of songs that covered most stages of their output without becoming crowd-pleasingly predictable.

Sleep (Centre Stage, Saturday)
I enjoyed their drone-metal grindings for about an hour. After an hour and a half, however, I found myself entertaining sardonic thoughts about where they got their name from. Then I went back to the chalet to do exactly that.

Grails (Centre Stage, Sunday)
Spotty, but excellent in places. Their spacier, more tripped-out moments inevitably reminded me of a vocalless early Hawkwind, but like their forebears they can also kick up a fearsomely metallic racket
when they choose to. A good set with more dynamics and contrast than a good deal of other bands currently operating in this somewhat over-crowded field.

Future of the Left (Pavilion Stage, Sunday)
Not a great band by my estimation, although their Americanophile post-Shellac splurge was pleasing enough. They did earn extra brownie points by having the funniest between-song banter of any act I saw throughout the whole-weekend, though.

Spiritualized (Pavilion Stage, Sunday)
I thought that they were well past their peak by now, and little in the first twenty minutes of their set suggested otherwise. Their cover of "mazoing grace" was obvious to the point of being self-parodic, whilst the over-embellished version of "Walking with Jesus" sounded far better in its original Spacemen 3 incarnation, without the ever present gospel back-up singers that seem to trail Jason wherever he goes these days (are they his equivalent of the two Mexican girls who'd appear at the back door and sing flamenco to Drooper whenever he took out the rubbish in "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour"? Erm, probably not). Nevertheless, after an excellent rendition of "Shine A Light" they gradually managed to win me over. By the closing blast of feedback drenched freeform noise that ended "Take Me To the Other Side" I finally remembered why I became so enamoured with the Spacemen / Spectrum / Spiritualized axis in the first place.

School of Seven Bells (Centre Stage, Sunday)
Shimmeringly mellifluous and pretty - just like the album - despite being almost drowned out by the sounds of Marnie Stern emanating from downstairs, and being tied to a somewhat club-footed drum machine (not thet I have anything against programmed drums - just that they were so tinnily EQd and low in the mix that it drained some muscle from the music). Nonetheless, it was an excellent set that bodes well for the future, and it certainly knocked spots off Secret Machines' recent output.

This Will Destroy You (Reds, Sunday)
Quiet. Loud. Quiet. LOUD. Quiet. REALLY loud. Quiet. Really, really, REALLY fucking LOUD. You get the picture.

I should point out that although this wasn't the best ATP I've been to musically, I had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend that I'd happily repeat in December If I can find enough people who are up for it (hint, hint). Many thanks also go to necropolist for co-ordintating the whole shabang and to this sister for buying the tix. Meet again some sunny day and all that.
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Soundtracks of Our Lives 10/05/2009 (Moon Cat)		 Replies:
Oi never mind all thAT... (cHARLIE)
Re: Soundtracks of Our Lives LIVE! from ATP w.e.10/05/2009 (bubblehead2)
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