Day One
The Journey
Six hours sitting in a car (with a brief stop for a stretch and some scran about half way). This six hour journey involves pretty much 3 roads, motorways are a beautiful thing. I am self appointed navigator (because the navigator gets to sit in the lap of luxury that is the front seat , and gets to be the DJ (CD changer) which is an added bonus) and after a bad start while the driver and I have a dispute over the meaning of “left” and “right”, everything goes well (what could go badly in a three road journey?). We arrive in good time having listened to some quality tunes and sucked on some really fruity sweets.
The place
We go first to the wrong room, but these Butlins women let us in anyway and it's only after we've pondered on how the four of us are going to sleep in the one double bed on show that we contemplate the fact that we are in the wrong room.
We find the right room.
Drop off our stuff and it's off to the main bit to watch some bands.
Bands
It starts off inauspiciously with The Thermals, who are ok but lack a certain edge, we only catch maybe the last half of their set then it's off to check out the scene. First impressions are, as expected, downbeat. We're so used to Camber Sands. The main stage especially seems a touch soulless. The upstairs stage feels right though, somehow. The downstairs Reds isn't open yet, first impressions will have to wait.
We take in Daniel Johnston from the bar. He seems ok, I'm not a fan of that whole thing, but stood at the bar, getting used to the festival prices, he makes it feel alright.
Go down to the main stage for the beginning of Yo La Tengo. No matter how many people tell me they're brilliant I don't really see it. I've tried (at least twice) to listen to some Yo La Tengo, but they leave me feeling ... nothing. And I think it's the same tonight. For one minute it almost clicks, when they begin to rock out it almost feels right, but then they come down and the feeling goes before it's fully there. Maybe the daylight big stage ruins it, but shouldn't a band be able to transcend the surroundings? There's a big enough crowd so maybe it's me that's wrong. Must try harder.
The Notwist (is that no-twist or not-wist?) are truly amazing. The first proper ATP experience of the weekend, a band I have heard nothing of before blowing the mind. Neu Order anyone? Not that they really sound like either but it drifts in and out like a trace of collective cultural memory, they remain essentially other while
all the time being only themselves.
Decision time: Mogwai or Sparklehorse. Mogwai were apparently mind-blowing so maybe I chose wrong, catching Sparklehorse then the last ten minutes of Mogwai (who did sound like the bomb), but Sparklehorse were pretty good. Simple but effective, stripped down, engaging, moving. Lacking a killer spark perhaps, but i'll be definitely checking some more of their stuff out.
Alexander Tucker with his layers of looped sound I didn't altogether take to: good for a taste but I couldn't eat a full one. Though he did raise several questions about presence and mastery: the masturbatory pleasure of the great artist vs the anonymous pleasure of great music. He seemed to be on both sides at the same time. The craft and the guitar heroics vs the loops and wordless singing.
Saw a little of the Akron Family but remember nothing: that good. Ditto Death Vessel. Subtitle seemed to have put together a show in ten minutes but couldn't work out whether this was a defensive strategy in case we didn't like him or whether he had really cobbled together a show from scraps of music off of his laptop. He was OK. Dudes seemed to like him.
And that was the bands (think I might have seen some of Tall Firs but not exactly sure. Can't have made an impression.
Did I mention I was drinking copiously?)
Back to the room. Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld to come down to.
Day Two
Not the greatest night's sleep.
We hit the beach. The beach always seems like a great idea but when I get there I'm always left thinking, wow (in a sarcastic way, obviously). Guess i'm not much of a beach person. Hit the arcades. Back to the resort for Shellac and the Cup Final.
Shellac are delayed by an hour (due apparently to Wilco taking far too long over their soundcheck, which as the dude introducing Isis on Sunday says, “is a soundcheck, not a quality check”) so I miss them, which is always a disappointment, even if they're on again tomorrow. The FA Cup Final is the low point of the afternoon, stood and watched it in the pub next to two Londoners. Say no more. Please.
Catch the end of The Go! Team. Again the bigness of the stage seems to detract a little, and the lightness doesn't help, they seem to suit a smaller area. They had energy though, the new songs sounded ... like ... The Go! Team. Which I guess isn't such a bad thing but...
Lots of pizza in generic pizza chain.
Ghost. I'm a big fan of Ghost so was ready to be astounded. And I wasn't disappointed. With the band anyway. It was disappointing that so few people turned out for them. Guess they were against Battles on the upstairs stage. Battle were apparently kick ass, sorry I missed them, but decisions had to made.
Anyway. The only complaint I had with Ghost was that they rocked just a little tooo much; except for the first song they did there was just no prog. The problem with these short sets: there's just no time to build anything.
Everyone was saying how great Cornelius were, and i was there in body but my mind was drifting in and out of consciousness so i'm not too sure. They seemed to be pretty good, but that might just have been my dreams – regardless, the soundtrack to my dreams was cool, whoever provided it.
Saw brief snippets of Apples in Stereo. Brief because they were shite. How I hate that type of chirpy rock.
The Books weren't too bad, nice projections, interesting music, but perhaps too cerebral.
Trans Am were quality. At one point one of them ate a hotdog while continuing to play – clever comment on the performer as shaman or disregard for the fans? Discuss.
65 Days of Static were adequate but couldn't survive to the end of their set. Back to the joys of Curb/Seinfeld.
Day three
It's a mistake playing football first thing in the morning. Still dehydrated and after about ten minutes of demonstrating my awesome skills my head feels like it may detach and become another Sun. I slow down. I promise myself I will drink more water today.
Shellac first band of the day and they are superb (as always). Todd gets pissed at some guy heckling, much hilarity ensues. These. Guys. Rock.
Slint complain about having to play on the main stage in the daylight. They still cut it though. They have a very cool way of just wandering on and off the stage when they are not required for that song. Maybe the experience would have been better (more) indoors and in darkness, but they are still one of the weekend's highlights.
Architecture In Helsinki? I don't get them. They kinda have the feel of some zany Australian movie which gets loads of critical praise but when you see it you end up thinking – that was too zany, it just tried too hard. Too much thrown at the canvas hoping something will stick. It doesn't.
Band of Horses surprised me by how good they were. The album had never struck a chord with me, 'The Funeral' was a song that made hairs stick up on the back of my neck (as it does again tonight), but the rest of the album (bar 'The Great Salt Lake' as well to be fair), take it or leave it. But tonight the songs sounds somehow meatier, they pack a punch which, now i've revisited the album, they apparently did all along as it turns out. One complaint - ending on a new song and playing 'The Funeral midway through the set: perverse?
Isis KICKED YOUR ARSE (and mine). The set was just too short though (a quibble: why did Grizzly Bear and Isis only get 45 minute sets whereas Built To Spill got 75 minutes? Share the love), they needn't more time to fully blow my mind. They only blew half of it.
Chose Echo and The Bunnymen over Built To Spill. Approached them with trepidation but they were pretty good. Or at least half of their set was. Half the time they sounded sublime geniuses, the other half they sounded like every other lame ass scouse band that ever played crappy guitar shit. But maybe the sublime just about outweighed the shite. It was a great chainsmoking performance as well. And some unintelligable scouse banter added to the feeling that we were witnessing a fluke.
Capricorns also KICKED YOUR ARSE (but not mine). They rocked but lacked a certain something, a certain sparkle, a certain magic. Enjoyable though.
Grizzly Bear were brilliant. Music for lovers I would have said. I was surrounded by couples snuggling into each other and looking into each others' eyes swaying to the sounds. Except one couple were having a huge argument and the guy was trying to demand the girl follow him out of the gig. She was having none of it. I think, I lost sight of her and know not how the story ends. And another couple stood right in front of me and talked throughout the entire set. Sod lovers I then decided. This was music for sunsoaked days (and they did play a set on the beach, which I missed. Goddamnit. Thankyou Youtube):
This was music to fall in love to, fall in love but briefly, love at first and only sight, the type of love you get on train journeys and the pretty girl you've been flirting with gets off the train and the last glance out of the window as the train pulls away... music to fall in and out of love to.
And that was that. No curb/seinfeld tonight. Catch the last hour or so of Requim For A Dream. A rather downbeat way to end the festival.
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