Shellac last night at atp (1 Viewer)

[krystal]

haha.

McLusky were totally deadly. Had a really good crowd too, and nearly everyone seemed into them.

"My band's better than your band
We got more songs than a song convention"

yes
that particular song is the most excruciating.

 

[simp]

Copyright 2004 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited
The Independent

March 31, 2004

ARTS REVIEWS: TREASURES FROM THE LEFT-FIELD
Kevin Harley

ONE WEEKEND in, the fifth All Tomorrow's Parties festival is shaping up to be that rare thing: a genuinely fresh Director's Cut - more Blade Runner than Apocalypse Now Redux. It's longer than before, but far from being indulgent or unwieldy, it's turning out to be lean, slick, full of surprises and very distinctively flavoured.

Indeed, ATP is in a field - well, holiday camp - of its own as festivals go. It's like the anti-V or anti-Carling. There's no backstage area for schmoozers, and punters aren't assailed by stalls flogging mobile phones, branded beers or useless herbal highs. As for the bands, it's testimony to the audience's faith in the event that it almost sold out before most were announced. And we're not talking Glastonbury-type surprises here: with Botnledja, Uzeda and Lungfish among them, it's fair to say that a good proportion of the audience were taking a leap of faith on an adventurous bill. It's being duly rewarded, too, by the headliners, made up of curators from four previous ATPs (Mogwai, Tortoise, Sonic Youth and Shellac), one guest curator (Stephen Malkmus) and, for the closing day, the festival's organisers, Foundation. With ATP requesting that curators didn't pick bands from their previous stints at the festival, each band managed to cast their day in their own image while digging out plenty of treasures.

In part, Glaswegian noiseniks Mogwai used their day to showcase the bands on their Rock Action label, which ranged from the spectacularly intense Envy to the nicely delicate James Orr Complex. No less in keeping with their image, too, they split the two stages into a quiet and a loud one, a contrast that gave you the option of catching exquisite sets from Papa M and an on-form Cat Power, or the hyper-pop pastichery of Trans Am and schlock-rock Norwegians TurboNegro, who comically struggled to get the audience singing along to "I got erection!" Come the close, Mogwai pulled these contrasts into one peerlessly dynamic package, playing to a packed hall and a heroes' welcome.

Any suspicion that Chicago's neo-jazz rockers Tortoise would be a beard- stroking affair were soon scuppered. The Boredoms opened the day with their percussive, electronica-flavoured bustle, a rousing physicality making up for what they lacked in subtlety. The rest of the day was nicely wide-ranging, from Supersilent cranking out electronica glitch-bombs to wee Bobby Conn's glam-pop, falsetto-driven frivolities. There was plenty to turn your head, literally so in the case of the weekend's talking point: Lightning Bolt, a duo from Providence who dished out their agit-techno- cum-avant-punk while in the thick of a duly captivated audience.

Lightning struck again on Sunday, waking up the campers with a set outside their chalet that was swiftly curtailed by security. "Best alarm clock I've ever had," quipped Shellac's Steve Albini, perhaps miffed that another band had swiped the thunder from his opening slot. Much of the rest of the day was given to hardcore fare, from Arcwelder to the biker post-rock of Stinking Lisaveta, but unlikely discoveries emerged from left field. The six-piece A Whisper in the Noise proved gorgeously cinematic, playing lullabies with a hint of burlesque that sounded not unlike Black Heart Procession crossed with Godspeed You Black Emperor!

At the other extreme, Phillip Roebuck put an invigorating twist on the one-man-band set-up. With a mean banjo, and bass drum strapped to his back, he swept away any day-three cobwebs in a terrifically energetic punk-folk style. It's the kind of unexpected treat you get at ATP, and after three days of such, makes the second round (next weekend) seem mouth-watering already. As for 2005, what'll that be? A Special Edition, with extras? Roll on weekend two.

 

[ddmurph]

a bit late to this cos i only got back from london last night. anyway, kid 606 and the boredoms were mindblowing. supersilent were amazing aswell, as were sun city girls. only caught the last 10 minutes or so of lightning bolt cos of em but i saw em on tuesday with the boredoms anyway. they were fucking nuts. missed em outside their chalet sunday morning aswell but they could've been playing in our chalet and i probably wouldn't have been able to get out of bed for em. also, when it comes to the dodgy taches mike watt wins that one hands down (with the possible exception of the cop feen in the village people). oh yeah, for all of ye going to the 2nd weekend black dice were also amazing supporting the boredoms the other night. lucky bastards, the sonic youth day looks unbelievable. and about the security thing, they were indeed very nice and polite. i was walking past em with cans heading into the venue and pints heading out of the venue all the time and they didn't say anything.

 

[wound]

black dice were also amazing supporting the boredoms the other night.

did they play any of their old screamy vocals stuff?

 

[ddmurph]

no, unfortunately not. they were still lethal though.

 

[Stan Bowles]

The Boredoms were the only really great thing I saw last weekend, and they really were amazing. Turbonegro are never gonna be as good as that Whelans gig, so I should stop going to see them with such high expectations and leaving dissapointed. Bobby C was great, but only 3 old songs was a bit of a jip. Trans am were great. Caught the last 5 mins of converge, seemed a far cry from the crushing metal I had been told to expect. I quite enjoyed shellac on the sunday night, not amazing, but fun enough. There was some Icelandic band that I thought were fun enough. Prefuse73 rocked in places too. Overall a great weekend, but Boredoms aside pretty weak musically I thought.

 

[Kibosh]

I agree with Robbie there, loads of mediocre stuff this year. I thought Supersilent were self-indulgent shite myself. Isis had sound problems so only played for about 20 minutes. Most of the best stuff was on the Shellac day - A WHisper In The Noise, McCluskey, Stinking Liziveta, Uzeda.

The Boredoms were great too but dragged a bit towards the end. Turbonegro are highly overrated. Mogwai sounded brilliant but Shellac and Tortoise ddnt do much for me.

Raging I missed Lghtning Bolt twice and Converge.

What about the sauna upstairs though, i dont remember it being like that last year.

 

[mangler]

I agree with Robbie there, loads of mediocre stuff this year. I thought Supersilent were self-indulgent shite myself. Isis had sound problems so only played for about 20 minutes. Most of the best stuff was on the Shellac day - A WHisper In The Noise, McCluskey, Stinking Liziveta, Uzeda.

The Boredoms were great too but dragged a bit towards the end. Turbonegro are highly overrated. Mogwai sounded brilliant but Shellac and Tortoise ddnt do much for me.

Raging I missed Lghtning Bolt twice and Converge.

What about the sauna upstairs though, i dont remember it being like that last year.

Isis didn't have sound problems - a fuse went or something half-way through their set, and everything suddenly went silent. A few minutes later they came back on and finished out their set. So it didn't sound as good as the Whelans gig, but jeez - it was still amazing.

I thought A Whisper In The Noise were pretty lame really. Just nice music, with nothing cool. McLusky were totally cool, as were Stinking Lizaveta (sp).

I thought Mogwai's sound was deadly too.

And Lightning Bolt are the best band I've ever seen.
Converge - despite starting out with a totally crap sound, finished well enough - the new stuff they played was best Converge ever.

 

[SONYMEGADRIVE]

it's weird anyone would think that black dice would play any of their old stuff...
it's like saying "andy, do you still play subbuteo?" - i was 10, guys.
didn't see BD at the weekend though - aktion unit was unreal.
andrew

 

[yames]

Shellac. Amsterdam. Great. Screw you guys.