Ten Years of All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival – Butlins, Minehead – 13/12/09 [PART 3]
5/5
By: Thomas Hannan, Tim Dellow
Whereas yesterday’s first set was perhaps predictably wonderful, the second helping of Shellac of ATP is something of a revelation. Fully cementing its place as a bona fide Shellac classic, Bob Weston’s ominous bass thuds usher in ‘The End of Radio’ to beign. Steve Albini’s lyrics mutate it in to an off the cuff tribute to the very existence of the snare drum, whilst beatsman Todd Trainer begins the gig at the back of the packed room, smacking said instrument held high above his head, working his way through the crowd to the stage as Albini continues his improvisation rant-come-tribute that also finds time to eulogise Martina Navratilova before a whisper of “is this thing on?” brings the chaos that everyone knew was coming, but nobody could have predicted precisely how or when. Fully aware that there will be dicks like me who go to see them twice in the space of two days, there’s very little repetition over the two gigs either – in fact, the proper geeks are rewarded with songs like the very rarely aired ‘Killers’, prompting us all to turn to each other and discuss the brilliance of the Lounge Ax Defence and Relocation Compact Disc compilation on which it first appeared (there are other people in the world who wouldn’t mind if people like us died). Shellac geeks are a particular kind of prat. But it’s performances like this astonishing hour or so that are the reason there are so many of us in the world. [THOMAS HANNAN]
Initially greeted with great scepticism The Magic Band, Captain Beefheart’s backing band, return with Drumbo Rollins now fully abandoning the kit to front the act through renditions of the Captain’s more leftfield oeuvre. Minus points for Rockette Morton’s ludicrous pixie hat, no scrap that, in the case of this act plus points for the ludicrous pixie hat. After years of dictatorial (and at times violent) training from the genius that they all clearly loved and admired beyond belief, the band now dedicate their time to celebrate and languish in the stunning arrangements of their master. And they are on fire, brimming with energy, passion and humour. The Don may have been the genius architect of this sound, but the Magic Band were, are, the best band in the world. [TIM DELLOW]
Would many people in the UK care about Deerhoof if it wasn’t for ATP? I’m pretty sure most people in the country who count them as fans heard about them here before they heard about them anywhere else. Or if they heard about them from a friend, it was likely to be a friend who saw them at ATP. Rightly then, they’re one of the most respected bands on the bill this weekend, a fact that’s reflected in an astonishingly huge turnout for their upstairs set. They’re perhaps not at an absolute peak of their form at the moment, the additional guitarist that takes them back to being a four piece seems to have them playing things rather safe rather than pushing the boundaries they seemed to enjoy railing against on the likes of Friend Opportunity, but there’s still so much to love about this set – ‘The Perfect Me’, the astonishing musicianship displayed by each and every member, the very fact that Satomi exists and can’t stop bouncing around like a loveable idiot – to have me believing they’ve much more of wonder in them yet. [THOMAS HANNAN]
The surprise of the festival; Devandra Banhart’s new direction of brilliant humoured Zappa-esque melody is a captivating stream of sex piss that slams your ears back and sucks the salty residue from your lobes. And if you think that’s a filthy reaction you should have seen me dropping my drawers, using my belt as a lasso and samba-ing the night away with the esteemed editor of this very site, and co-author of this article. His exhilarant and irrepressible approach to the delightful possibilities of music (Devendra’s, not Tom’s) blow all fusty cobwebs from my heart and serenade the very essence of the Earth in a celebration of life and lust. If only he hadn’t entertained his bandmate’s side project and performed a Little Joy number, this set would have been perfection. [TIM DELLOW]
As curators, The Mars Volta contributed one of the finest, weirdest, bravest line ups ATP has ever witnessed. As such, their place on this retrospective of a bill is justified. But any applause that I’m giving them reserved solely is for this past contribution, and certainly not for the set they’re playing at the moment – psychedlia devoid of any of the sense of humour that seems to me to be so inherent to the medium, all in front of an enormous banner that looks like it would be more at home in one of those shops you get in run down seaside towns that sells incense, tie-dyed fabrics and nu-metal t-shirts. Really quite dull. [THOMAS HANNAN]
Also making their second appearance of the weekend are Sunn O))). Such is the subtle nature of their cacophonous craft that some people won’t notice the difference between this and their first set, even though they’re playing an entirely different album. Those already au fait with their particular brand of slow death and doom will however count the differences between this Monoliths and Dimensions-heavy set and yesterdays Grimmrobe Demos run-through as being huge and instantly noticeable. There’s a cello. There are vocals. The pace of it is comparably breakneck. The costumes now involve headpieces made out of hundreds of jagged shards of glass through which light bounces unpredictably around the a room of mesmerised punters. The crowd here is definitely smaller than for yesterday’s set, Grimmrobe doing a fine job of separating out the men from the boys when it came to seeing who would be up for another go at it. But those who turn up for helping number two get the finer of the performances in my opinion – by adding instrumentation and spoken word elements to their sound, Sunn O))) haven’t diluted their still very singular vision one bit, rather they’ve expanded its resonance into parts they were never previously able to explore. Dark, horrifying parts which they shed no light on, but leads us blindly, happily in to the very depths of all the same. [THOMAS HANNAN]
THIS IS PART THREE OF THREE
Artists in this article: Shellac, Sunn O))), The Magic Band, Deerhoof, Devendra Banhart, The Mars Volta
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