Festival Review - ATP New York 2008

Day two had a ton of music, which I mostly spent darting to and fro. I'll toss out my impressions in capsule form:
Growing - somewhat interesting take on electronics fused to guitar rock, in a duo format.  Stuart from Mogwai was right on the rail, digging their set immensely.
Drones - blazingly hot set...the kind of dirty ass rock and roll that's been done to death, but when it's done this well, you realize we need more. A highlight for sure.
Wooden Shjips - San Fran's 60's psych scene breathes and shambles across the land again. Good grooves, nice Jack Casady lookalike on bass, right down to the instrument.
Harmonia - legendary Krautrock trio spills out a soothing, intricate mix of guitar and knob-twiddling. German scientists would be proud.
Edan with Dagha - I'm from Boston, and I had no idea about this hip-hop duo. Pretty fun stuff, jerky electronics and a nerdy sense of humor along with lightning quick phrasing.
Om - first time I've seen mastermind Al Cisneros with new drummer Emil Amos (Grails). The throbbing diseased core of Sabbath held aloft for hours in a mantra which sucks all into its vortex. Mesmerizing.
Polvo - math rockers reunite, rewrite their songbook, and also add new material. Amazingly strong rhythm section. Ash and Dave's guitars perform heroics as usual.
Les Savy Fav - Tim Harrington is a performance artist fronting a rock band who likes to groove. Masks, shin guards, Frankenstein bolts, Reese peanut butter cups, over-the-top use of a cordless mic, a ten foot ladder (carried by the crowd)...frenetic energy, easily the act which whipped up the crowd the most. The set ended with the stage flooded with people.
Shellac - When Steve Albini wasn't busy tending to one of the poker tables, he was on stage with Bob Weston and Todd Trainer. The cha-ching of the metallic Travis Bean guitar and bass set up the familiar skree/roar to Todd's awesome drum skills (and equally awesome facial expressions). I love this band's no bullshit approach. Stage lights up high, three guys across a stage, ready steady rock yr ass off. Their sense of humor via the question and answer bits was great too.

CLICK HERE to see day two in stunning pictures!

Day Three:

I guess it was the big day with the sixteen year absence of My Bloody Valentine, but there were still a bunch of phenomenal bands slated to play. As I was walking out of one show to another, I spied Colm O'Ciosoig outside and told him that he was gonna blow my mind tonight. He laughed.
Wounded Knees - I forgot my earplugs at home, and when I got to the photo pit of the 2nd stage my ears flinched at the familiar howl of J Mascis, which was unexpected. He played some nice bits against the backdrop of two acoustic guitars, and an occasional flautist. This band also opened the NYC shows for MBV (along with Le Volume Courbe, who I missed). Kinda boring, to be honest.
Robin Guthrie - textured guitar soundscapes with very nice visuals via a projected backdrop (which took a very long to actually find a sound/visual person to hit the 'play' button. His love of delays and chorus pedals is no surprise for any Cocteau Twins followers
EPMD - Erick and Parrish took their early hip-hop sound and breathed fresh life into it, also using the occasion to do a medley of fallen heroes (Biggie Smalls, Tupac, etc). Got our hands in air and when they said 'hip,' we said 'hop'!
Lilys - hadn't seen Kurt Heasley and band since Terrastock V, and their well-burnished Brit-pop sound was a-ok; they didn't do anything from their shoegazer-indebted debut record while I was in the room, but Kevin Shields was there to take note if it happened.
Gemma Hayes - Lovely to look at, and a surprisingly muscular song sprang into my ears when I joined their set. That gave way to an acoustic guitar being donned, and a fairly rote folk-number ebbed my interest level.
Mercury Rev - The surprise of the weekend. I'd not seen them since David Baker manned the mic, and lost track of their Flaming Lips-ish gauze works. Big mistake, at least in the live setting. This band slayed...not to say they would match against Slayer, but the energy level and manner of engagement was top. Big rock moves, big guitar sounds, big drums. Sometimes it teetered on the razor's edge of pretension, but never fell into Coldplay territory. Chris Martin wishes he could stand in Jonathan Davis' shoes.
Spectrum - I hated to leave Rev's show prematurely, I'm glad I did but just late enough to hear the fading notes of "How You Satisfy Me" across the courtyard. As I entered the room, Sonic Boom and his three piece were deep into the two note mantra that the Velvets mapped out and the Stooges brutalized, Wow. I'd seen Jason Spacemen do some acoustic readings last year ("Amen," "Walking With Jesus") but this was the dark throbbing counterpoint. "When Tomorrow Hits," "Revolution" and especially "Suicide" were about the perfect set of songs all weekend. Killer.
Yo La Tengo - About the ninth time I'd seen them, and I should have stayed in for my debut dose of Spectrum. A good noise/instrumental number to open, but I think they lost some momentum afterwards, and an asshole in the crowd talking loudly and than openly mocking the band killed my mood, and I moved over to...
Mogwai – Easily set of the weekend. I love the new record, and it was magnificent in its glacial sweeping; think early LaBradford, or thundering Eno. The older bits ('Like Herod,' 'Mogwai Fear Satan') were devastating. Clouds form, storms clash. After the show drummer Martin Bulloch had a health problem which necessitated the cancellation of the remaining North American dates. Will look forward to seeing them in early '09.
Dinosaur Jr - Good set, though I heard I missed 'Raisans' as I was hurrying over to catch Brian Jonestown Massacre. Lou snarked that he was looking to see MBV, as they kicked him out of the band before they toured together. Usually J and co are the loudest band to plug in, but that wouldn't be the case tonight.
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Another surprise. Having seen the movie 'Dig!' I wasn't sure if I was to receive a boot to the head while trying to photograph the band, but it was all psych rock goodness reigning and raining down. Great sounding band, Anton off to one side and belting out great song after great song. "Swallowtail" in particular is about as perfect a song as I can imagine.
My Bloody Valentine - The wait was over. No it wasn't. MBV took their merry time strolling on stage after the audience was afforded free ear plugs in case they were rash and didn't bring any of their own; I heard of someone asking Kevin Shields if the gig was going to be loud and he replied "I certainly hope so." Then the backdrop projector started, the Jaguars were slung over shoulders, and a collective ecstatic state was joined. 'I Only Said' broke sixteen years of MBV silence on American soil, and ~80 minutes later the noise onslaught of 'You Made Me Realise' was the realisation of a dream for many. To me the set was good but not stellar; it was clear there was a lot of backing tracks being played, and the click track/sequencer/whatever got woefully out of phase during "Soon," (which Bilinda reminded us that we could dance to). That said, the most self-indulgent part (the ~20 minute white noise onslaught during 'Realise' akin to the Nazgul screaming directly in your ear) was among the best. I do like abstract noise music, and this band has the wherewithal and budget to do it right, to subject cowering punters to its mighty presence. I took my ear plugs out for 4 seconds and swiftly jammed them back in lest my brain boil.

CLICK HERE to see Day Three in stunning pictures!

The rest of the night faded into the afterglow; a great weekend coming to a close, and a friend of mine trying to win money off Albini at the poker table. I'll be back for the rumored '09 ATP fest.