Photograph by Rich Thane, taken at ATP 2009

There aren’t many bands that can whip a tired Sunday afternoon festival crowd into a throbbing mass of pheromones and adrenaline, but NYC by way of Sacramento gents !!! did exactly that at ATP The Fans Strike Back this May, and will undoubtedly wreak the same sexual wrath next Tuesday (7th) when they play Camden’s Electric Ballroom. Over email, exuberant frontman Nic Offer discussed a refreshing devil may care attitude to money, being grabbed in the biscuits, and whether the Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act has taken any ostensible hit on the scene…

We have a pair of tickets to giveaway for the Electric Ballroom show on 7th July courtesy of the lovely people at ATP. To be in with a chance of winning them AND a load of !!! goodies (t-shirt, album) email contact@thelineofbestfit.com with the subject line CHK CHK CHK. Please include your name, phone number, address and T-Shirt size please. Closing date is Friday 3rd July @ 2pm GMT

This is probably a fairly common response, but your set at ATP was one of the most ecstatic gigs I’ve ever seen. How was the festival for you, did you get to hang around and catch many other bands?
Paul bought me a massage during Spiritualized and it was worth every pound he paid for it. The Jesus Lizard was for dickheads with clean rooms, but I bet David Yow’s room is dirty. The only time I ever heard Sleep was years ago on an acid trip and they were not quite as slow as they seemed then, but just as amazing. Killing Joke was kinda funny.

Considering that you formed to play an all-night party in Sacramento, it wouldn’t appear that you’ve changed your live approach that much – do you miss the debauchery of those more intimate settings in comparison to sanitized venues?
We bring the debauchery. I never noticed it was gone.

Do your parents ever come to watch you play? What do they make of your shows?
The first time my mom watched us, I thought she left early but finally at the end of the show I spotted her, she had made her way to the front and was dancing. I just tracked my dad for a vocal part on the new record yesterday. It was a part only he could sing, you’ll have to wait for the record to find out why that is.

Is !!! a full time job for you all? What were your last jobs?
I was a babysitter, or as they’re called in NY, a “manny”. Most of us still have real jobs, but I don’t ‘cuz I think spending money is tiresome and I need to save my energy for the stage.

It’s been two years since ‘Myth Takes’ – how far are you into the next record? Do you know where you’ll be recording it?
1/3 in Berlin, 1/3 in Sacramento, 1/3 in NY. I have no idea how finished it is. Pretty finished, but not totally. More finished than it was yesterday, how’s that?

Have you managed to perfect a method of cross-country collaboration yet, or does putting the record together still take its time?
We don’t perfect.

I heard you use audience response to determine the future of new songs – have you had to change anything based on their reactions so far?
Response has been good, and yes, there was one part that wasn’t slammin’ enough and you could feel the audience want more, so we slammed it up.

From the fairly cheap crude recording origins of ‘Myth Takes’, has its success given you more money to spend on recording, or is that primitive recording process something you’re keen to retain?
Success has not given us anything that we can count.

You said previously that after ‘Louden Up Now’, the criticisms spurred you onto your next record, but ‘Myth Takes’ was acclaimed pretty much across the board. Have you felt any pressure in writing its follow-up?
Myth Takes was slammed pretty much across the board in England, what board do you read? (Metacritic, which puts it at a pretty solid 8.1)

You have such a vast frame of reference, from James Brown to Sonic Youth. Before you start making a record, do you actively spend time with the kind of records that influence you?
Kinda. I always consider that what I’m listening to may end up an influence and I try to have a broad palette subsequently. Did you ever hear about the record Peter Murphy [of Bauhaus] made after a year of listening to no music but his own? It still sounded like David Bowie, bless his heart.

What are you all listening to at the moment?
Tones on Tail [Bauhaus side project].

You once said in an interview that you hoped African music would become the new hip thing. What did you make of the supposed Afrobeat phenomenon last year, with everyone from Vampire Weekend to Franz Ferdinand appropriating it? And which records would you recommend as starting points for people unfamiliar with the real genre, as opposed to Urban Outfitters’ appropriation?
I think it was as refreshing as I had hoped, though not quite a musical revolution. I mean, Vampire Weekend caught a lot of hype, then flack, but I thought they were kind of fresh. They sound a bit like a Shins record or something, but without the African influence it would have been rather bland, now wouldn’t it have? I’m hoping they got just enough flack to scare them into making an even better record. They’ve got a great pop sense and I’d like to see them go even deeper. I think the Golden Afrique compilations are pretty great, especially Vol. 1. My summer jam is “Sweet Music” by Dizzy K. “Excuse Me Baby” might be easier to find. He kinda sounds like a Nigerian Ariel Pink, not just ‘cuz of the reverb on his vocals, but the freeform cheesy ‘80s sense of melody as well.

Pitchfork remarked that the abandon of Nic’s behaviour makes people forget themselves in the crowd, and totally let loose. Have there ever been situations jumping into the crowd where someone’s tried to get a little too fruity, or does anything fly?
There’s always that one girl who grabs me in the biscuits and is surprised to find out the yeast hasn’t risen. But that’s fine, if you feel can do that, do it. If you feel like doing something else, do it.

Considering the craziness of your gigs, much like people thinking actors are their characters, do you find that people expect you to be wired all the time?
Yeah, sometimes I feel like I’m disappointing people when I’m mellow. Like Iggy doesn’t read a book sometimes?

Do you ever consider changing your name? Does it ever get to the point where you want to make up a new story about its origin?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Actually, no to the first question, but the record company does. Wait a minute, they did.

The ‘Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act’ has seen a number of New York clubs shut down in the past couple of years, for seemingly tenuous links with drugs – selling water at large prices, or even glow sticks. Particularly given that as a bill it was sponsored by Biden, who’s now VP, has there been much of a noticeable influence on the scene?
I don’t look as often as I used to, but last time I needed it, I found it. But drugs like that have always been more underground in the States compared to the UK and Europe.

Finally – were there any legal repercussions of throwing the piano into the river?
Shhhh.

You can catch !!! live at the following dates:
July
05 Ruisrock, Finland
07 Electric Ballroom, LONDON
08 Whelans, DUBLIN
09 Coalition, Brighton
10 Les Ardentes, Liège
11 Paradiso, Amsterdam
12 Cactus Festival, Bruges
14 Torino Spazzio, Torino
15 Vrahan Theater, Athens
16 Neapolis Festival, Napoli
18 Melt Festival, Feropolis, Berlin
19 Latitude Festival

(Very exciting) news just in…

We will be celebrating 10 years of ATP from December 2009 to December 2010. As the fastest selling ATP ever, Nightmare Before Christmas curated by My Bloody Valentine is almost sold out, to get things going for our milestone, ATP is incredibly excited to reveal that we will commence our 10th birthday festivities with a second weekend in December and we want you to come and party with us!!!

The Ten Years Of ATP festival will take place at Butlins Resort in Minehead from Friday 11th December to Sunday 13th December, 2009.

As this is our birthday party – it is going to be very special weekend. For the line up we are inviting our nearest and dearest to play – which means past ATP curators, ATP recordings artists and some ATP favourites thrown into the mix too…

So far confirmed to play are:

Explosions in the Sky
Dirty Three
Shellac
Tortoise
Melvins
Mudhoney
The For Carnation
Papa M
Deerhoof
F**k Buttons
The Drones
Sleepy Sun
Bardo Pond

…with more curators, recording artists and ATP favourites to be announced! Tickets for this special event will be priced at £160 per person for room only accommodation and £170 per person for self-catering.

More info on this and indeed all other ATP events can be found here.

Future Cinema and Warp X, in association with ATP, have released tickets to ‘The Night of Musical Delights’, a spectacular concert that will follow the UK Premiere screening of All Tomorrow’s Parties at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 24^th.

The concert is part of a unique live cinema event presented by Future Cinema – the creative force behind Secret Cinema – which will see the Edinburgh Picturehouse transformed into a 1950s Holiday Camp for the screening. Audiences will see and hear the film brought to life through a fusion of music and performance, complete with midnight bingo, Northern Soul dancers and lovely legs competitions. Win!

The concert will feature live music and DJ’s including Belle and Sebastian’s Chris Geddes, and culminate in a very special headline set from a top-secret Scottish act.

Tickets to ‘The Night of Musical Delights’ are on sale now. More information is available at www.futurecinema.co.uk

Combined tickets to the screening & concert are also on sale and can be purchased through the Edinburgh International Film Festival Box Office: www.edfilmfest.org.uk

Following its Edinburgh premiere, there will be a series of special events across the UK in September to tie-in with the September 21^st DVD release of All Tomorrow’s Parties.

We thought it’d be a nice way to end our bumper ATP coverage for this Summer by running a selection of our favourite photos from the two Minehead based weekends. Yesterday we re-lived ATP vs The Fans Strike Back, today it’s the turn of ATP curated by The Breeders which took place between May 15th-17th.

If you missed our indepth review of the ATP vs The Breeders weekend, you can find it (along with some more photos) here.

Photo credits:
Lucy Johnston = (LJ)
Ama Chana = (AC) Continue Reading

We thought it’d be a nice way to end our bumper ATP coverage for this Summer by running a selection of our favourite photos from the two Minehead based weekends. Kicking off with the first weekend; ATP vs The Fans Strike Back which took place between May 8th-10th.

If you missed our indepth review of the ATP vs The Fans weekend, you can find it (along with some more photos) here.

Look out for photographs from The Breeders weekend coming tomorrow!

Photo credits:
Lucy Johnston = (LJ)
Richard Thane = (RT) Continue Reading

Shellac :: All photographs by Lucy Johnston

From the moment I embarked the 10am train to Taunton, it was obvious this ATP would be a very different kettle of fish to my previous excursion Minehead way. Whilst the journey to The Fans was like being trapped in a feature-length episode of Skins, all flannel-shirted youths sporting Converse and polka dots, the clientele this time was, let’s say, a little richer in years…and volume. But with ATP: Breeders focusing on more established acts than last week’s indie-schmindie extravaganza- over half the bands have been around at least a decade- that’s no real surprise. Neither is it a criticism; in many ways having a line-up I was far less familiar with (being but a twinkle in the milkman’s eye when Gang of Four and X were first around) made this a more interesting experience to review, and indeed, it also proved that these old-timers could show their more youthful counterparts a lesson or two… Continue Reading

Aaaaaah our favourite time of the year has loomed yet again. All Tomorrow’s Parties. The one event in the calendar year where geeks mingle with beardies and hipsters hold hands with hippies. There really is no other festival like it, and for those of you who couldn’t make it or even for those out there who want to re-live the shenanigans we like to give you the best coverage that’s humanly possible.

We’ve already published John Brainlove’s diary and even ‘twittered’ our way through last weekends events.. But as ATP round 2 kicks off this afternoon we’re pleased to unveil our bumper review!

Two perspectives. Boy and girl. Adam Elmahdi and Kate Price give a detailed look at last weekends The Fans Strike Back event accompanied with the photographs of Lucy Johnston and Rich Thane.

Enjoy! And if we’ve missed anything out – don’t forget to tell us about it in the comments thread below…

Look out for a full review of The Breeders weekend, plus a massive photo feature of both events. All that’s to come next week…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Continue Reading

Very exciting stuff indeed. Check out the brand new trailer for the ATP Film. Due out on DVD in September with its premier due on June 24th at Edindburgh Film Festival.

For all up to date information check out the official website for the film Our True Intent. Or follow ATP Film on Twitter here.

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Before we run our extensive review of last weekends ATP shenanigans, we asked  John Brainlove’s to jot down some thoughts about the weekends happenings.

Look out for a full review plus a bumper photo feature coming very soon!!

All band photographs by Rich Thane.

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So, we’re in Simon’s rickety car, screaming down the motorway, chasing the patch of blue sky that somehow seems to be constantly moving away from us. The moustachioed Major Matty Hall is our car’s co-pilot, having shotgunned the front seat, like a bastard. He is conducting a short seminar on the difference between nuclear and thermonuclear bombs. We are hurtling towards Minehead. The tape player is apparently frozen, so I am piping The Horrors’ new album through my tinny battery powered speakers.

It’s ATP. yayTP. The lineup this weekend was ostensibly selected by ‘The Fans’, or at the least the excitable ones who buy tickets in time to effect the voting.

Christopher Alcxxk of Internet Forever texts me. He has picked up ten of my favourite Portuguese custard tarts for me from the bakery near his house. We have a boot full of booze and breakfasts. I’ll be sleeping on a sofa in someone else’s chalet this weekend – ATP press tickets come sans-accommodation – and I’m gonna be doing some cooking to say thanks.

By the time we get onsite, we’ve already missed Grouper. Apparently she had an early slot because of travel arrangements (before people were even allowed into their chalets) and played a pretty grumpy set to a half empty room.

After some epic trundling around the chalet village with my luggage on a trolley, I make it into Casiotone For The Painfully Alone in time to catch a few highlights from his great new record, Vs. Children. I get a text – our chalet window has been smashed in while the others were at Tesco getting booze, and there’s glass everywhere, including on the sofa I’m sleeping on.

Andy Hung, Fuck Buttons

But before I want to deal with that, Jeffrey Lewis is downstairs plying his ever-engaging anti-folk, then HEALTH, who turn in one of the performances of the weekend: a battering, powerful, committed set. I’m a convert.

I pop back to the chalet to survey the damage. Butlins have cleaned up our chalet and boarded up the window. I sit down for a minute, and end up boozily sleeping through Devo.

Fail.

Back in the festival, everyone is talking about how good they were.

Double Fail.

It’s around this time that I bump into Andy from Fuck Buttons, who says their set is going to be 80% new, with a new beginning. The crowd is heaving. “The Fans” are, tonight, increasingly ‘messy’, dressed up kids staggering around with wide pupils. I’m still pretty straight at this point and feel a little bit old. Unusual for the famously ‘beardy’ ATP festival. Fuck Buttons launch straight into a new song, and don’t let up for an hour – their new set is more about beats and building momentum than their previous layered noise stuff. There’s a rhythmic, wriggling section with Andy squeezing sounds out of a Gameboy, an extended, dancey, layered up new song with softer drum and synth sounds than usual, and a new ending with some searing bassy bursts and powerful drumming from Ben. If there’s any criticism to be made, it’s that some of the transitions are a bit long, and let the build/release energy drop rather than peak, but it’s a good solid performance, and a great introduction to the new songs.

Rolf Klausener, The Acorn

Saturday morning, and I still haven’t got those damn tarts off Chris. We keep missing each other. It’s turning into an ongoing custard tart saga. Me and my chalet-mates play crazy golf. The Cave Singers are audible coming from the main stage. The golf isn’t at all crazy. It’s just small.

The Acorn is my favourite show of the weekend. They’re perfect on the pavillion stage. Their warm sound fills the space, resonant and embracing. The two-drummer rhythm section fill every space with sensitively played taps and beats, carrying along the wonderfully emotional and engaging songs. The hairs on the back of my neck go up, and my body feels suddenly ablaze with adrenalin, and I breathe in the sound. Connection: made.

We bowl. I win. Win!

Beirut play the electronic songs from the new album as traditional arrangements, and they stand up well. “Would you prefer it if I put on a donk on there?” asks Zac. I’m half surprised that my answer is no.

Sarah Pickles of team ATP is having a big wedding party on the Saturday night, so we head over. Marnie Stern is there! I croak out a feeble fanboy “hello Marnie Stern!”, much to the amusement of my so-called friends. The Pontin’s 5-0 descend at 5am and disperse us. Chalet parties till dawn, then the seaside for a blue light sunrise. A man with a musical backpack goes spinning past us, to the strains of “North American Scum”, wheeling down the beach and into the surf, followed by a flock of dancing hippy kids. I fall into bed satisfied that as much fun as humanly possible has been squeezed out of Saturday night at ATP.

By the time I’m capable of functioning again, the Sunday lineup is sparse. The headliners are repeated with both Sleep and The Jesus Lizard playing again, even though neither of them were full to capacity on Saturday. Doubling up the headliners was understandable when there was a queue around the block at the Camber Sands site for someone like Sonic Youth, but here it seems excessive, especially considering the ever-escalating ticket price.

Jason Pierce, Spiritualized

I don’t know if my mood is something to do with it, but Parts & Labour seem really weak. I can’t get into Killing Joke, but then I’ve never liked them much really. Spiritualized play a bludgeoning, unsubtle steamroller set of gospel-tinged stadium rock that sounds more Oasis than Spaceman 3. It’s a big, satisfyingly large and solid sound – but size isn’t everything.

It takes the sheer happiness explosion of The Mae Shi to get the blood pumping again – their odd mixture of jerky guitar lines and screamo, and their chubby-faced emo-tinged manboy 90’s pop-punk sound is accompanied by all kinds of ace theatrical stage antics, including their trademark move – covering the crowd with a giant rainbow-coloured cloth canopy. Fun times.

Custard Tart Saga

Chris finally catches up with me – the box of tarts has congealed into a solid mass of soggy pastry and warm custard. The rest of Sunday night is spent playing poker and making a dent in the last tray of beers. I’m too exhausted for the party/melee/dance-off/bro-down down at the Crazy Horse bar this time around.

The next day, I hang around a bit longer than usual as Simon steels himself for the drive after 72 hours of sleep deprivation. Within hours, the hall is full of extended families, and the shutters have gone up on confectionary stalls, and the bouncy castles have been blown up. The main hall is full of Lego-coloured plastic furniture, and the only soundcheck that’s happening is for bingo. I finally fall into the car, and fall asleep, and wake up back in London a few hours later.

Brainlove Records

Announced literally minutes ago to TLOBF plus a handful of choice online publications, ATP have revealed that My Bloody Valentine will be curating this years Nightmare Before Christmas Festival. Here is all the info you need…

Start getting excited…………………………..NOW!

After the enormous success of last year’s sold out and mind-blowing UK tour and a brilliant turn as the inaugural curators for ATP New York, we are very pleased to announce that the curators for ATP: Nightmare Before Christmas, 2009 will be:

MY BLOODY VALENTINE!

The event will take place at Butlins Holiday Resort in Minehead, England from December 4th – 6th, 2009.

So far confirmed to join the legendary sonic sculptors are:
Sonic Youth
De La Soul
EPMD
Sun Ra Arkestra
The Horrors
And of course, My Bloody Valentine themselves.

Tickets are £150 for room only accommodation and £160 for self-catering accommodation, BUT for 2 weeks we are slashing the prices so YOU can save money.

2-WEEK EARLY BIRD SPECIAL!
We know it’s hard out there right now, so in recognition of everyone tightening their belts we are offering a couple of early bird specials to help out your hip pocket.

Tickets for ATP Nightmare Before Christmas curated by My Bloody Valentine go on-sale this Friday April 17th at 9:00am. For one week only we have drastically reduced the price on a limited allocation of tickets. Everyone purchasing tickets for 7 days, until 9:00am on April 24th, or until the allocation runs out will receive a massive £20 off their ticket. So, if you are purchasing a 5 berth apartment, you will pay £100 less for 5 tickets! If you are buying a 2 berth that is £260 + bf instead of £300 + bf.

If you miss out on this first discount, don’t despair. When the first allocation runs out or for 7 days from April 24th – May 1st we will be offering tickets at £10 off. So instead of paying £150 for a room only ticket you will pay £140 + bf and instead of paying £160 for a self catering ticket you will pay £150 + bf.

To recap;
April 17th – April 24th * Room only ticket – £130 Self-Catering ticket – £140
April 24th – May 1st * Room only ticket – £140 Self-Catering ticket – £150

From May 1st* Room only ticket – £150 Self-Catering ticket – £160
*(or until allocation runs out)

Remember, a ticket gets you three nights accommodation with an actual roof over your head, a bathroom and shower just for you and your friends as well as a pass into the festival – you can’t get better value than that!

Please note the discount tickets are only available through www.atpfestival.com via Seetickets.

INSTALLMENT TICKETS
We’ve also spared a thought for those of you who can’t come up with the money in the next two weeks. ATP will again be running a deposit scheme for the festival to make it easier for some people to pay. We are offering a limited number of 4 berth apartments, both room-only and self-catering to be paid for with a small deposit upfront, and the remaining amount to be paid by the end of July. Both come with a booking fee of £7.50 per person (£30 per apartment). These chalets will be sold at £150 per person room only or £160 per person self catered.

People who would like to hold a 4 berth room only, must pay a deposit of £50 per person, (£200 for the apartment). The remaining £430 must be paid by July 31st.

People who would like to hold a 4 berth self catering, must pay a deposit of £60 per person, (£240 for the apartment). The remaining £430 must be paid by July 31st.

As we will be holding the apartments for you, all deposits will be non-refundable, so please only apply if you are sure you can pay the remaining amount when it is due in July.

If you are able to pay through a normal ticket agency upfront for your whole apartment, then please do so and don’t use this scheme and leave the deposit scheme for those people who find it harder to get the full amount together in one go. Also, remember those using this scheme will not receive the two week discount tickets!

You will be required to pay both installments by either cheque or paypal. Please note, that all cheques must be received and cleared within 5 days of you being accepted into the deposit scheme. If your cheque does not clear, or is not received, your application will go to the bottom of the queue which may mean you do not get to participate in the scheme this year.

Please email deposit (at) atpfestival.com if you would like to take part in the deposit scheme including: your name, address, which type of room you want (room only or self catering) and which payment method you would like to use (paypal or cheque). You will then be notified if your application was successful and details of how to pay by your chosen method, or if you are in a waiting line. Applicants in the waiting line may be accepted if earlier applicants fail to make the first deposit in time.

All emails will be answered within 48 hours. Deposit applications will be granted on a first come first serve basis.

(Last update: 28th May)

Ah, the great British festival. Pay over the odds for a ticket, camp on a damp incline in a field that turns brown at the first sign of drizzle, clump what seems like miles between stages past people who still think loon pants and glowsticks are fashionable, get fleeced for drinks and listen to a clodhopping post-landfill indie band through a murky sound system. Can’t beat it.

This is TLOBF’s list of every festival this summer in the UK worth bothering with. All prices given are for full weekend camping tickets and all details are correct at time of going to press.

We will update this as and when new acts get confirmed making it (hopefully) your one stop shop for all Festival shenanigans.

Continue Reading

Spiritualized will perform their classic album Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space live in its entirety at the Royal Festival Hall, London on Monday 12th October 2009.

Tickets cost £27.50 / £32.50 + booking fee and go on sale this Thursday 19th March from 10am.

They will be available via phone on 0871 663 2500 or online at www.southbankcentre.co.uk, www.seetickets.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk.

This very special show will feature a choir, string and horn sections and special guests. It is 12 years since the release of this album set the summer of 1997 on fire. Receiving massive critical acclaim, it was hailed as an instant classic, winning NME’s album of the year in 1997 (beating Radiohead’s OK Computer), and reaching No.4 in the UK charts.

To tie in with the live performance, Sony Music will be releasing an expanded Legacy Edition of “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space” in October with added content and new packaging.

This show is part of the Don’t Look Back season from British festival and concert promoters All Tomorrow’s Parties. ATP has been running Don’t Look Back since 2005, curating yearly seasons of artists performing famous and/or acclaimed albums in a live setting in original album order. Past years have included stunning performances from The Stooges (Funhouse), Belle & Sebastian (If You’re Feeling Sinister), Gang Of Four (Entertainment), Ennio Morricone (classic film soundtracks), Slint (Spiderland) and Sonic Youth; their series of performances of their classic Daydream Nation earning the title of Time Out magazine’s Gig Of The Year 2007. Don’t Look Back has expanded in recent years to include concerts in mainland Europe, Australia and the USA. This year’s UK season also includes shows from Devo, Young Marble Giants and Sleep.

As previous ATP go-ers will know, ATP usually have an introduction to the festival written by the curators which goes in the front of the programme fans are given when they arrive at the event. However as the co-curators for this event are The Fans, ATP thought that this time one of them should write it on behalf of fellow ticketholders.

So today the organisers of ATP launching a rather special competition. They want fans to write an introduction of 200-500 words and send it to accommodation@atpfestival.com along with the list of 10 bands that they voted for and the booking confirmation number of their chalet.

The best one as chosen by ATP will not only be printed in the programme but the writer will also receive two VERY special prizes:

1. They will win a 2. berth chalet to the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival this December!
2. One of the acts from the winners chosen 10 will be added to the festival lineup!

Get writing! The deadline for this competition is the 15th March.

For more information check out the brand new look ATP website.

Good Luck!

Ok, so, I won’t bore you with the reasons why I can’t make it to this festival this year (first time in 5 years I’ve not made it to an ATP), but the ever swelling line-up for the Fans Strike Back makes me want to weep…

Yesterday, ATP announced the following new additions:

Latest additions to ATP: Fans Strike Back are:

Killing Joke
The Mae Shi
School of Seven Bells
Liam Finn
This Will Destroy You
Hush Arbors
+ Pete Fowler art exhibition

Excuse me whilst I find a small corner to hide in…

Oh, and as a side note, ATP have just refreshed their website. It’s red. Very red. Pop along here.

Walking around last years ATP’s Nightmare Before Christmas festival there were an abundance of ghoulish people donning Zu hoodies, their emblem being a blood dripping axe. I’d foolishly already missed these guys in action. Luckily I’ve got a hold of their latest record. Carboniferous is a deluge of sound; murderous violence reaping out its revenge. Huge Godflesh like bass lines throb over psycho terrifying sax solos, whilst incorporating almost rave beats, like on opener ‘Ostia’; the heavy trembling bass is almost as if Lightning Bolt and Holy Fuck have gone to hell and back with a sax. So there is some definite heavy groove in there fleshed out amongst the strange, morgue lingering world. It is brilliantly experimental, in a John Zorn head fuck kind of way. There are no side orders of salad with this record, it is pure meat, dripping slabs of malevolence, and, what appear to still be living bits of gristle and sinew, bones and fingers, writhing in madness in front of you, and creeping behind. Continue Reading

Before the imminent release of their corking new album The Century of Self, we made some time for a chat with art-noise supremo Conrad Keely from the band, and got to hear his views on art, science, religion, musical inspiration, the joys of relocating to Brooklyn and much more. Continue Reading

Announced today; Australia’s finest rock n roll exports The Drones release their eagerly awaited new album Havilah via ATP Recordings on February 16th. The bands second full length has been out for a couple of months in their native Australia creating huge amounts of crtical praise, with Plan B’s Everett True citing the band as “(the) saviours of Australian rock…melancholy, incendiary…brutal, brilliant.” We are a tad excited to say the least. Expect both a European tour and US dates to be announced shortly. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah. Here is what the label have to say about Havilah.

The splendid isolation in which Havilah was created lies in the foothills of Mt Buffalo, once goldfield territory, outside the town of Myrtleford in country Victoria. In February Gareth Liddiard began writing new songs for the album there. Two months later guitarist Dan Luscombe, the Drones’ most recent addition, and drummer Michael Noga joined Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin to rehearse the new material. Then producer and engineer Burke Reid (The Mess Hall, Gerling) lugged his recording gear through the door and off they went – two weeks flat out – until it was done.

Havilah, like everything The Drones have done, is an album of contradictions, where bombast meets beauty, melancholy wrestles with violent guitars and singer Liddiard’s incendiary voice lights up his angular poetry, this time on the nature of, in no particular order, the moon (Penumbra), divorce (The Drifting Housewife) and the acquisition of godlike power and the cult of John Frum (I Am the Supercargo).

It’s an album that’s brimful of the innovation and artistic integrity that has made The Drones one of Australian rock’s most critically acclaimed acts here and overseas during the past four years. There are vaguely familiar nods to Neil Young’s paint-stripping guitar spasms on Supercargo and Oh My, while the deliciously meandering pop dirges of Suicide and the Velvet Underground echo in Careful As You Go and Luck in Odd Numbers. It’s melancholic, certainly, but Havilah, in its tone and its delivery, is also a celebration. It’s a more positive statement than its predecessor. Once you’ve been around these 10 songs for a few hours, it’s not hard to make up your mind about them. They are bold. They are romantic. And they are dangerous.

Since the announcement a few weeks ago about the early lineups for this years ATP Festivals I’ve been totally undecided on which one to go to. “BREEDERS OR FANS BREEDERS OR FANS BREEDERS OR FANS etc” – both are offering some seriously good music. Though my mind has firmly been made up now as The Acorn and Shearwater have been added to The Fans weekend. FUCK YEA. How exciting??!! But still – the thought of missing Bon Iver and Teenage Fanclub at the Breeders weekend still fills me with absolute dread… Anyhoo – further news from ATP HQ follows:

From the 8th – 10th May, The Fans Strike Back weekend will see half of the festival line-up chosen by ATP and the other half voted for by everyone that buys a ticket. The latest additions to the ATP side of the line-up as of today are:

HEALTH
Shearwater
The Acorn
The Pink Mountaintops

That means that the full list of ATP curated bands so far is:

The Jesus Lizard / Devo / Sleep / Spiritualized  / Young Marble Giants /
Antipop Consortium / Grails / Sleepy Sun / The Cave Singers / Retribution Gospel Choir / HEALTH / Shearwater / The Acorn / The Pink Mountaintops

So far the Fans have only picked Beirut, but offers have been sent to My Bloody Valentine, Flight Of The Conchords and Electric Wizard.

Tickets to the event are on sale NOW from  here.

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From the 15th – 17th May, ATP will be curated by the legendary BREEDERS. The latest additions to their line-up as of today are:

CSS
Supersuckers

The full list of bands chosen by them so far:

The Breeders / Throwing Muses / Bon Iver / Foals / Teenage Fanclub / Holy Fuck / Kimya Dawson / Pit Er Pat / Deerhunter / Gang Of Four / Shellac / Zach Hill / The Soft Pack / The Holloys / Styrofoam / CSS / Supersuckers

Tickets to the event are on sale today from here.

Words: Marc Higgins | Photographs: Lucy Johnston

Sometimes Christmas comes early when you’re a child, but very rarely when you get older. This year, however, is going to be one of those Santas visited early moments. Obviously by Santa I mean Mike “I’ve got more side projects than you’ve had hot dinners” Patton. Riding a sleigh from the depths of ungodly hell, along with his good friends The Melvins to curate ATP’s Nightmare Before Christmas shebang at Butlins holiday resort in Minehead. Never before has ATP’s nightmare vision been more fully realized than on the days between 5th & 7th December 2008. Continue Reading

The latest additions to the May 2009 All Tomorrow’s Parties festival line-up curated by The Breeders were announced today:

FOALS
Ex-Hella member and drumming genius ZACH HILL
The much hyped THE SOFT PACK (formerly The Muslims) and
LA based post-rockers THE HOLLOYS

FANS STRIKE BACK VOTE: THE FIRST TOP TWENTY!
Each week ATP approach the top 2 bands and ask them to play the festival. If they can’t do it, they approach the next two. Keep checking back here for news on how it’s going.

FANS STRIKE BACK WEEK ONE CHART:
1 Sufjan Stevens
2 My Bloody Valentine
3 Beirut
4 Kraftwerk
5 The Knife
6 Eels
7 MF Doom
8 Jesus and Mary Chain
9 The Magnetic Fields
10 Flight of the Conchords
11 The Flaming Lips
12 Dan Deacon
13 Death Cab For Cutie
14 M83
15 MGMT
16 Electric Wizard
17 Jeffrey Lewis
18 Jesu
19 Robert Wyatt
20 Wolf Parade

If all those bands in the Top 20 played any festival, it’d be the best ever… apart from perhaps MGMT who are rubbish.

Anyways – more news when we get it folks!

Oh, and tickets are on sale now… try www.wegottickets.com as they don’t charge stupid amounts for booking fees.