Slint ATP FAP (also, tell me about these bands)

white magic are a great little trio from brooklyn. they mix bits of folk tradion with art-rock. whimsical/mgaikal vocal melodies from mira (quixotic, etc) soar above spooky rustic arrangements. ep on ...drag city..and a split w/ american analog set out for free...some sort of tylenol ad.

faun fables are also on drag city and have a similar to an end wierd, sublime, rustic vibe...

I reckon there are about 10 acts missing, based on numbers from previous years. I'm gutted I picked the wrong weekend for Suicide though.

there'll be a gang of us spread over two chalets. if previous years are anything to go by, they'll be the worst ones in the place. which is really saying something.

awesome psych blooz by psych rock historian Paul Major and Chris from Double Leopards - reason enough to go, I'd say

THE NAYSAYER

is this the chick from Retsin's new band?

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/2142/sllivebig.jpg

wrong, he's playing guitar on the far right. your jock-radar needs some recalibration dudeman.

But that looks like Doug McCombs sitting cross-legged to me, innit?

You may well recognise some of us from gigs Grimly Fiendish. When I met some of em for the first time I recognised them from gigs. There's myself, Hoody (whose Instal photos are all over Jandek fan pages), the infamous Hamilton bros and a couple of Edinburghers.

Drew or hstencil would know better than me but I think it's Ethan Buckler (of King-Kong fame).

?

I love this band, but there aren't any drums or piano on the record. It's almost entire stand-up bass and mandolin, and it's fuckin' gorgeous.

Rog Adultery OTM re: Endless Boogie. They rule.

Anyway, King Kong are the world's most basic party blues-based party band. Good primitive fun.

As for Neil Hamburger: You call that slop microhouse?

Ian - do you have any idea how one would go about getting in touch with Feathers? Just heard one of their songs and was REALLY impressed. Would love to make them a last-minute addition to the new comp if possible...

http://www.doppelgangerrecords.com/04_av/av.html [scroll down]

Many bands i dont know but looking forward to it

ENDLESS BOOGIE are playing at Siberia this Saturday! Come watch them rock out before poncey UK people get confused.

is this the chick from Retsin's new band?

If you mean "the chick from Retsin" - Cynthia Nelson - "that's not the chick from Rodan" - Tara Jane O'Neil - then yeah, except it's not that new - they've been around since at least 2000, if not before that. Also, TJO contributed to the first two albums, according to the Naysayer bio.

Barring something absolutely astonishing being on first on the Saturday, I propose from 12 or so at the Royal William (which is usually fairly empty, so we should be able to spot each other). That's the one on the seafront road behind the dunes (Old Lydd Road) with the big car park. Out the front gate, turn right, turn left after the green and past the Camber Cafe and it's at the end of that road (Marchant's Drive). See you round the pool table?

Friday 25 February

The Melvins
Sean Garrison + Five Finger Discount
Deerhoof
Love as Laughter
Bad Wizard
Early Man
Born Heller
+ staremaster competition

Saturday 26 February

Slint
Matmos
Polar Goldie Cats
Need New Body
Mogwai
Spoon
Faun Fables
The Naysayer
Brightblack
+ staremaster competition

Sunday 27 February

Mum
Mark Kozelek
Pearls and Brass
Rednails
Miighty Flashlight
White Magic
Endless Boogie
King Kong
Neil Hamburger
+ staremaster competition

Anyway, sorry, as you were!

We all usually are. which is why a pint is a good idea.

you're always quite sensible on the friday night. well, no: let me rephrase that. because of your enormous capacity for booze, you don't start getting properly drunk till noon on saturday. that's why you feel queasy. you peak at about 3am, by which point the rest of us are hollow-eyed wrecks :)

it's me that normally loses it badly on the friday, lightweight that i am. by 7pm last year i was skidding around on some onions by the hot-dog stall, laughing hysterically.

(NB: if anyone actually saw a little bloke skidding around on some onions by the hot-dog stall, laughing hysterically, it was someone else, not me. OK?)

The extreme temperature change between the main room and the chalets is going to get around that whole 'forbidden data from Dachau' issue.

Never mind the post rock bollocks. Come on down, Alba, & you can stay in our chalet for free.

And still no official running order.

No hope of Slint reverting to Shellac's lead and providing free sample CDs of all the bands I suppose? No, thought not.

I may be tall BTW, but I'm also cute and loveable and normally surrounded by Scots peoeple.

Friday 25th February 2005
Stage One (Main stage -upstairs)

The Melvins 11.45am-12.45am
Sean Garrison & The Five Finger Discount -9.45pm - 10.45pm
Deerhoof -  7.45pm - 8.45pm
Love As Laughter - 5.45pm - 6.45pm
+ Stereolab DJs

Friday 25th February 2005
Stage Two (downstairs)

Mogwai DJs Vs Arab Strap DJs 1.45am - 5am
Staremaster - Battle One (The Fans)- 12.45am - 1.45am
Bad Wizard 8.45pm - 9.45pm
Early Man - 6.45pm 7.45pm
Born Heller - 4.45pm - 5.45pm

Saturday 26th February 2005
Stage One (Main stage -upstairs)

Slint 11.30pm - 1am
Matmos - 10pm - 11pm
Polar Goldie Cats - 7.45pm - 8.45pm
Need New Body - 5.45pm - 6.45pm
Mogwai - 3.45pm - 4.45pm
+ ATP DJs

Saturday 26th February 2005
Stage Two (downstairs)

Intensive Care Soundsystem DJs 1.45am - 5am
Staremaster - Battle Two (The Bands) - 1am - 2am
Spoon - 8.45pm - 10.00pm
Faun Fables - 6.45pm - 7.45pm
The Naysayer - 4.45pm - 5.45pm
Brightblack - 2.45pm - 3.45pm

Sunday 27th February 2005
Stage One (Main stage -upstairs)

Múm - 11.15-12.45pm -   
Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters/Sun Kill Moon) - 9.45pm 10.45pm
Pearls and Brass - 7.45pm - 8.45pm
The Red Nails - 5.45pm - 6.45pm
Miighty Flashlight - 4.00pm - 4.45pm
+ Arab Strap Djs

Sunday 27th February 2005
Stage Two (downstairs)

DJ Spykid Vs Stereolab  DJs 1.45am - 5am
Staremaster - Battle Three (The Bands Vs The Fans) - 12.45am - 1.45am
White Magic - 8.45pm 9.45pm
Endless Boogie - 6.45pm - 7.45pm
King Kong - 4.45pm - 5.45pm
Neil Hamburger - 3.00pm - 4.00pm

It also looks like FAP then on to Mogwai (unless anyone wants to see Brightblack - or someone wants to tell me why I might like to).

Arab Strap and Stereolab DJing but not playing. This is insanity.

I quite like the sound of Brightblack BTW.

I'm sure there are photos of me on a couple of 'what do you look like' threads, but without beard.

http://www.gamesmastertv.co.uk/presenters/presenter1a.jpg

ihttp://www.geocities.com/ Augusta/1660/eyebrow.jpg

(Googled it)
http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=tbn:1FEoBUHeOhUJ:www.geocities.com/Augusta/1660/eyebrow.jpg

(actually: if you see a short-arsed bloke with big pointy sideburns zooming about the site, wearing a black zip-up top, it's almost certainly me. feel free to buy me a restorative brandy.)

MOGWAI -- One of the best festival performances I have ever seen on par with Kraftwerk

THE MELVINS -- I saw then live, it was like watching the rabis virus crawl through a distortion pedal in slow motion. Awesome.

not sure who was supporting hood in glasgow last week. i missed the first band and caught a bit of the second. they were so dull i can't remember a thing about them.

but what i'd overlooked momentarily is that we can see pretty much everything at this ATP if we so desire: there are no clashes. OK, you might miss a song or so in the battle to get into the hall, but ... at least there aren't any dilemmas along the james orr complex/trans am one last year.

(not that it was a dilemma for me, i hasten to add. but others in my party swithered. and did actually forgo the MIGHT of the AM. the big dobbers.)

I was downstairs for James Orr Complex last year. What Chris does might be cliched, but I like it.

Um... full report later (maybe tomorrow) but Slint were a bit of an anti-climax, almost like the idea was better than the real thing. Barry Burns told me when we were buying sweeties that Slint didn't enjoy it much themselves, and Dave Pajo in particular is questioning the sanity of the American tour.

I was gutted my plans to go fell through in the end, but seeing as I'm going to Slint tomorrow and saw some mint bands in someone's house, I'm not fussed really

We got down at a decent time on Friday despite the snow on the roads, and got settled into the chalet after the obligatory lunch at the Camber Castle. I decided this was a year for experimentation with the mental kids sweeties you only get at Pontins, and knocked back 40g of coloured sugar which was supposed to be pineapple flavoured in a oner. This may have contributed to me thinking Born Heller were a bit dull (worthy nu-folk - why is it when mainstream folk is getting more interesting {Karine Polwart's album, for example}, indie folk seems to be retreating into a finger-in-the ear ghetto that it can't get out of?) but helped my DDR performance quite a bit (although I'm still shit compared to some of the people we saw over the course of the weekend). A couple of songs of Love As Laughter (I actually can't remember anything about them, which must mean something) is enough to convince me it's time to grab something to eat. Back in time for Early Man, which is good because they're the first exciting thing here. It's Big Dumb Metal in lots of places, and skips between sounding like early Hardcore Metal (Onslaught and the like) and Vol 4 era Sabbath. One song has the line "Satan reflected in my eye-eyes" in a complete Ozzy fashion and is perfect. Deerhoof keep the good stuff coming, with the world's shortest singer and some outrageous prog stylings (although the guitarist seems bemused when I put this to him in the merch room, so it must be unintentional). It's then up to Bad Wizard to put in what is probably the performance of the weekend. I swear, sometime it's like their singer is channeling Bon Scott as they canter about the stage doing their boogie shenanigans (with, I note, another short woman which must be this year's unofficial theme). The mikestand gets shaken about, water gets thrown, he plays tambourine and maracas and around him the band produce something Angus Young can no longer remember. Aidan Moffat walks past and tells me that he doesn't see the logic of him turning up to do DJ sets and Malcolm being at home when the bill is short of bands either. Sean Garrison And The Five Finger Discount turn out probably to be my favoutite thing at ATP. They start off maybe way too straight country, like they could be just some bar band from Kentucky (no shit, Sherlock), but there's an astonishing burst of about 5 songs that are as good as 16 Horsepower (but with politics instead of religion). Their guitarist (the fantastically named Wink O'Bannon) looks like Kris Kristofferson and only takes his hat off for the last song. This is A Good Thing. I actually forego much of The Melvins to have a bit of a chat with Sean, mainly because The Melvins are WAY TOO FUCKING QUIET, but pay full attention to about the last five songs. This turns out to be a good idea, because not only are they the best ones they're also played by a band who look like they've been The Melvins for 20 years and so know exactly what they're doing. Then, just to raise the bar, King Buzzo announces a special guest. THEN DAVID FUCKING YOW APPEARS! IN A TOGA! He does two songs, dives into the crowd and returns without it. The man is a legend. Foundation, next year can we have a reformed Scratch Acid please? I want to see Staremaster, but frankly I'm fuckoed. Plus we appear to have lost Onimo at one point (but luckily he's back in the chalet instead of freezing to death outside) so discretion seems the better part of valour and we call it a night.

It's a struggle getting up for the FAP, especially when there are intersting documentaries about Amish kids on Slint's TV channel. But we make it ONLY TO FIND THE PUB HASN'T RE-OPENED AFTER THE WINTER BREAK YET. Having come up with no backup plan, we resort to a walk on the beach and a trip to the shop for more sweets. I buy a Mystic Pop (which looks like a dildo filled with green spunk and, I'm reliably informed, tastes like it too) and Toxic Waste. Toxic Waste is labelled "hazardously sour" and is imported into the country from Pakistan. We make the mistake of trying the first ones in the middle of one of the internal roads and people walking past are laughing at us - these things are like drinking caustic soda. Needless to say, we experiment with them and other substances (such as coke and lager) during the day but nothing quite equals that first reaction. But without the FAP we get to see a bit of Brightblack. I wish there had been a FAP, in that case. Uninspired nu-folk isn't enough to keep me from saveloy and chips before Mogwai, who are immense. There are two new songs, and Aidan gets woken up just in time to come on and do "R U Still In 2 It?". "Glower Of A Cat", the song they open with, is awesome. They over-run and we get in just in time to see The Naysayer don a wig and headscarf, and start playing with cutlery. We watch a bit, but it's slightly wacky nu-folk - surely potentially the most annoying kind of all? Need New Body are wacky too, but in a good way. The trouble is, I suppose, that they're so schizophrenic it's hard to describe them properly. They have one song that's funk underpinned hip-hop, and another that sounds a bit like Focus. At their best they're like Beefheart wrote songs for Cameo. I think. Faun Fables. Blah, blah, blah "He sailed out of Liverpool, never to return". You've got a nice voice, but it's all just a bit bleh. I'd rather watch the football scores as they come in, and then a bit of Man U. I go upstairs to have a look at Polar Goldie Cats and end up staying. It's fairly generic post-rock on the face of it, but there's that prog underpinning again that we've seen throughout the weekend. Plus they're only a little bit wacky. I've decided in advance I can't be bothered seeing Spoon because I've got it in my head they're bog-standard generic "indie". I may have been completely wrong though. I get upstairs just after Matmos have started, and am confronted by an endoscope image that goes on for some time. As Martin says on stage, it's hard to see where they fit in, but they're a breath of fresh air on the bill. The track with maps shown behind was my favourite, I think. Then suddenly it's time for Slint. The whole campsite is upstairs and we're in our usual position - a sweet spot we found in the sound last year just behind the mixing desk, far enough back for the side fills to make a difference. On stage there's some fucking about, then they play "For Dinner". Then there's a lot more fucking about. Every single song is followed by a couple of minutes of embarrassed onstage silences and playing with things. A lot of people leave, with a steady stream after about 3 songs that continues till the end of the set. They do pretty much everything, with none of the new songs that Pajo hinted at as mitigation for them not being able to devote enough time to picking bands. At times though, it sounds like a trial in recreation of a classic sound rather than a band who are enjoying what they do. It's really good, don't get me wrong, but not earth-shattering. We're sober enough to see Staremaster and watch Drew narrowly lose in the final to the Staring Machine that is Jeff from Spoon. Jeff demolished the guy out of Polar Goldie Cats in the semi though, there were tears running down his face and everything. Enjoying it this much may well mean we're too drunk to stay up much longer though, and this does indeed turn out to be the case.

Despite the snow, we decide to drive along to Dungeoness on Sunday (after the Cane Toad and Scientology documentaries on ATPTV, the latter of which is awesome and gave us the meme for Sunday that was "your opinion is worth something") and stand in the snow in Britain's only desert. Everything is closed, except a pub for lunch. Derek Jarman's house looks very pretty, and we see that mental rubber-clad one as well. Get back in time to see the very end of Neil Hamburger, whose schtick appears to be a deliberately unfunny comedian. The Julia Roberts joke above is probably as good as he gets. I get more sweeties on the way up (the disappointing gummy fench fries, and even more disappointing "atomic sour" gobstoppers. I'm then sufficiently disinterested in Mighty Flashlight (yes, the guy was in Rites Of Spring, but this is kind of dull guy-with-a-guitar stuff) that I go back downstairs to watch the rest of the Cup Final in a bar that seems only to have Liverpool fans in it. It's hilarious, to be honest, when Stevie "I'm only staying if we win things" Me rises like a salmon to beat his own defenders. Maybe he forgot that he didn't actually sign for Chelsea yet. My Scouse Mate Colin doesn't see the funny side though. Through the wall, King Kong didn't sound interesting enough to tempt me through. I see most of The Red Nails and thoroughly enjoy them, despite them being the same sort of generic "indie" that I didn't see Spoon because of. Near the end they cover "Opportunities" and it sounds like the Dandy Warhols gang-raping Neil Tennant. Frances is awoken by the sounds of the PSBs from the chalet and sprints the 100yds or so in record time just to hear it. Endless Boogie start their first song and finish it 10 minutes later, having done about 3 songs in the middle (it appears). They then "turn punk for two minutes" and do and something that could vaguely sound like the Ramones. They then announce their last song. Luckily this turns out to be about 25 minutes long and is acers. Their name sums them up really, they lock onto one riff and keep on playing it till one of them gets bored and starts playing something else, then they lock onto that... there's no noodling though, which is maybe surprising for a band that appear to be so (largely) improvised. Pearls And Brass are the Cream that don't cost £150 to see (OK, they could do, but you get lots of extra bands for the same money at ATP). Their main guy is the most excitable human on the planet. Or maybe he's just taken enough speed that he can't speak properly and is working at a different pace to the rest of us. Actually, that sounds more likely. There's more nu-folk downstairs with White Magic so I forego chicken this year and try the pasta stand. It's not much better, but is actually edible, so a bonus there. Well done Pontins. I also meet some nice Irish girls that turn out to be sisters, who invite me back to their chalet later to drink, and so I can talk to them because they like my voice so much. Frances is sufficiently unimpressed by this (given she was standing right there) that I decide I'd best not bother. It may have been the fact that one of them actually forgot they had a boyfriend with the same name as me that tipped it, I think. Mark Kozelek has cancelled and has been replaced by Sons & Daughters. After I stop ranting about how much easier it would have been just to fly Malc down given Moffat was there already (who, somewhat fantastically, wears the same clothes all weekend) we decide to finish the beer in the chalet. Only a couple of us brave the weather back for a surprise set by Bad Wizard. OK, the same set by Bad Wizard, except this one sees the singer in shorts at one point doing Rollins impressions and the band giving away dope. It's an unbelievable finale to the weekend, only it's not as Múm close events upstairs. Except they're unbelievably meh. I actually said "I'd rather go back to the chalet and watch Jimmy fucking Carr than see any more of this."

We are woken at 5 by someone announcing they haven't been to bed yet. Two hours later they are shouting about how they are drinking vodka. Like Russians. Called Vladivar. Security tell them to shut up, and they whisper sorry to the site.

The "you can watch all the bands" thing really didn't work this year, mainly because if you didn't like what was on you went off to do something else - and if that was somewhere warmer than the band rooms it was a real struggle to get back. You might miss something the other way, but you don't look for things to do to fill time. Book more bands next time. Also, it was a really fucking stupid weekend to have it. OK, the weather couldn't have been predicted but CAMBER WAS SHUT. Hostage to Pontins isn't fun, and those heaters eat the electric.

And brilliant write up..made me wish I could have been there..

However the Naysayer did have a song called (I assume) 'I'm a Shark' which was accompanied by a special co-ordinated shark dance by the bassist and drummer.

Brilliant writeup that made me gladder still I didn't front for it, from this angle. I think we can take it as read, then, that they ain't gonna be dumb enough to try and do these thngs in February again?

I am informed that Neil Hamburger's best joke was in fact "Why did Michael Jackson dangle his son off a balcony? To punish him for not finishing his plate of sperm"

Not much to add to aldo's review. By and large I agree with him, except:

a) I thought the Miighty Flashlight was damned good - can anyone remember the name of the poet he had on with him for the last couple of tracks?

b) As much as I liked Bad Wizard (they were fantastic and were one of the few things that could have tempted me leave the chalet and join aldo on Sunday night)Deerhoof were my highlight of the weekend. I can feel a quick acquanitance with their back catalogue is in order.

I can fill in some of the blanks I think.

Spoon were absolutely great, one of the best performances of the weekend; Sons and Daughters were good, but not great, an odd hybrid of long-lost swamp-trash Edinburgh band Gilded Lil with occasional descents into sub-Waterboys Celtic arse; King Kong were good.

Overall I saw more bands I enjoyed than some years, but still felt a bit let down by the fact that a higher percentage were rubbish than in other years due to there being fewer in total: the whole event felt a bit lacklustre, and there didn't seem to be very many people around for quite a lot of it, as if half the audience only came for Slint's night. (And I left Slint after a couple of tracks, when I realised that I had just fallen asleep standing up) (But this was not their fault, although they could have done more to keep me awake I suppose).

I thought there were too many bands who sounded like sub-standard copies of better bands; and I was a bit puzzled by the fact that two of the bands I enjoyed most, Early Man and Bad Wizard were facsimiles of the music I was listening to when I was 14: a çlassic metal Metallica / Iron Maiden mash up with tongues firmly in cheeks, and a gungey LA metal ACDC style band (c.f. Circus Of Power: anyone remember them?).

The singer from Red Nails also came out with the stupidest lines i have ever heard: a song announced as his 'first foray into political songwriting' opened with the line 'we live in a rich man's world' and the chorus went: 'we live in extraordinarily ordinary times' and something about not believing the lies and the hype. Well duh. He seemed proud of this incredible piece of non-thought, unless this too was all an elaborate gag.

On the first night I was pretty convinced downstairs was going to be heaving every band, but the ones I enjoyed (the RAWK ones) were only ever half-full. Good spot on Circus Of Power above as a Bad Wizard precursor.

The singer from Red Nails also said before one song "This is a cover song of one of my favourite bands. They're split up, and never made it out of Kentucky." SO WHY WOULD WE KNOW/CARE? They confirmed later this was "our first out of town show".

oh right, americans are the xenophobes, right.

fuck. why did we decide to give sean garrison a miss, alex?

actually: stupid question. why does anyone do anything at camber? it has its own mystical logic. and this year it rocked. literally. aldo: your writeup is making me nostalgic already.

some bonus thoughts from the tired mind of grimly (seriously: i'm still recovering):

• spoon were great. they reminded me of early pulp, though nowhere near so annoying

• king kong were just astonishing. every single song consisted of a big sludgy bassline, a big twangy guitar part, and a lyric about being a fish/cat/tree. this reached its apogee with "funky monkey" at the end, during which singer chappie removed his guitar and did a monkey dance up and down the stage. they were ace

• múm started out so badly it hurt, then did a U-turn and became the angelic elfin cousins of sigur rós. a lovely end to the night, all in all

• slint must make a solemn vow never to play anything from "tweez" live again, because it doesn't work and just sounds fucking horrible. this might make their set shorter, but hey: they could just spend more time doing ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOTHING between songs while their audience dehydrates. aldo: you're absolutely OTM with your comments; and it doesn't surprise me they didn't enjoy it. to hear them do the stuff from "spiderland" was awesome, though.

• faun fables (the sister duo who did the dressing up; the naysyer were more like eletrelane-lite) were my the discovery of the weekend. the acceptable face of whimsical folk

• the hot dogs were too cold

• i won the aidan-moffat-spotting competition with a total of six (or maybe seven)

• mogwai are gods

er, that's it. shame the FAP didn't happen. alext and i turned up at about 12.15 on the saturday, poked about, tried the side door, then gave up and mooched back to the camber castle. i did look for someone in an ILX shirt, but didn't see you. mind, you could have been wearing a shirt with "grimly fiendish is a twat" on it and i probably wouldn't have been able to focus properly.

what a top weekend, all in all. even the freezing walk along the beach. during which a blizzard started up. ah, happy daze.

I wish I'd seen King Kong now, arse. Maybe I should have persevered with Múm, but the start was so unbelievably bad I couldn't put myself through it. I also wish I'd maybe been in the mood for some folk as I had expected to like several of the bands (Faun Fables in particular).

I note with some concern (for people going to other dates) Slint have already started cancelling some shows - Barcelona is "logistically too difficult".

when we were walking back to the castle, just past the little shop opposite the entrance to pontin's, a group led by a bearded bloke did come out of the site and point towards the pub. for some reason i thought: "i bet they're ILM types". but i didn't do anything about it, because i was a bit hungover and confused :)

btw anybody (most likely for Drew!) know of any Maurice bootlegs?