Gas Water Nothing

September 19-21 I went to the first ever All Tomorrow’s Parties New York. It was great, and quite unlike any other US rock festivals I can think of. The music was all indoors, there weren’t too many people, the security wasn’t constantly stopping everybody from doing everything, the food and drinks were reasonably priced (plus you could bring your own), it was pretty easy to see acts on both stages, and stuff mostly just worked. Even the tickets and wristbands and guidebooks were fabulously designed.

The festival took place at the fabulously dilapidated Kutsher’s resort in the Catskills, a place that (in its current condition) I can’t imagine working for any group other than a bunch of drunken indie rockers. My friends and I didn’t stay at Kutsher’s (though some attendees did); we stayed at the nearby Days Inn of Liberty. Of which I drew my only picture of the weekend:

Of course the main draw of any festival is the performers. As soon as ATP’s line-up was announced, I knew I would regret missing it. Far two many of my favorite white guys with guitars were there. Even the acts I wasn’t excited about demonstrated reasonable integrity on the part of the curators. As the official literature put it, “no one selected or even wanted Jack Johnson.”

There’s plenty of reviews elsewhere, but below are my quickie reactions to all the performances. As well as the rock, they showed some cool movies and had Q&As with filmmakers, but I would have had to have been pretty injured or sick to bother with that instead of the music or the broken playground (thanks to Jen for snapping the shots!).

Friday, September 19th

STAGE 2
Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman, Maria Bamford, Joe Derosa
Haha it’s funny that you think I would ever go to a stand-up comedy show, especially given what was going on in the other room.

STAGE 1 (Don’t Look Back: artists playing their classic albums)

Bardo Pond performing Lapsed: Good. Reminded me of Philly in the mid-90s even though I never went to see them then.

Meat Puppets performing Meat Puppets II: Abysmal. I love this album, but they half-assed it beyond belief. I saw them play a good show only a year ago, so being dried-up old drug casualties isn’t their only excuse.

Tortoise performing Millions Now Living Will Never Die: Meh. And not at all tight, which is the least thing I would have expected from Tortoise! At this point I was pretty worried the weekend would suck.

Thurston Moore performing Psychic Hearts: An odd choice. Even big Thurston fans don’t care much about this album, and I don’t think he does either. Still, a totally great, rocking set. They may have played everything better than on the album, and they did it out of order.

Built To Spill performing Perfect From Now On: I’ve never been able to emotionally connect with BTS, but this was a solid set, very well played.

Saturday, September 20th – Curated By ATP

STAGE 2

Alexander Tucker: I missed this.

Growing: Boring boring boring. Knob twiddling can and should sound better than this.

Wooden Shjips: Too repetitive, and not in a good way. Endless boogie done all wrong.

Harmonia: Missed, though I was curious about ‘em.

Om: Proof my brain just can’t appreciate metal. They actually played it quiet and spare, but it was still metal and I just couldn’t get anything about it.

Low: I love them so. Not the best I’ve ever seen them, but still wonderful.

Thee Silver Mount Zion: Everything that’s wrong with hippies. Reminded me of Devendra Banhart, which is about the worst insult I can hurl.

STAGE 1

Apse: Dressed-in-black angsty kids, long on energy, short on songwriting.

The Drones: Never heard of them before but I really liked them. Angular postpunkiness, plus the singer sometimes sounds like Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil.

Fuck Buttons: Boring, but fun. Does that make sense? I saw them right after Growing, which probably made me like them more; still, I walked out.

Edan with guest Dagha: Never heard of these guys before but they were great. Very skilled, very entertaining.

Polvo: I didn’t see as much of their set as I wanted to, but I wasn’t exactly bowled over by what I did see. I don’t think I’ve ever liked them as much as I’m supposed to.

Les Savy Fav: I’d kind of dismissed them previously, and never seen them live. But this is what performance is all about; even if you hated their music (I don’t) you’d be very entertained.

Shellac: I’ve always wanted to see them and they were just great.

Lighting Bolt: Lotsa fun. I’m glad we decided to jump into the pit.

Sunday, September 21st – Curated By My Bloody Valentine

STAGE 2

Le Volume Courbe: Missed.

Wounded Knees: Missed.

Lilys: Fun, but not amazing. I saw them the week before, so didn’t prioritize their set here.

Gemma Hayes: If she was your friend you’d be quite proud of her. Otherwise, it’s hard to see the point

Spectrum: Only caught a bit, but it was pretty uninspired

Trail Of Dead: Missed.

Bob Mould-Missed entirely, which I regret, I hear he played a lot of Hüsker Dü songs.

Brian Jonestown Massacre: I only caught the end of their set, but safe to say they weren’t operating at the top of their powers.

STAGE 1

Robin Guthrie: Missed.

EPMD: A sad echo of what they used to be. Lost their rhythm and vitality.

Mercury Rev: Completely transcendent, possibly the best thing all weekend. I’ve always liked their records but had no idea they could be this stunning live. Definitely gave me that churchy feeling.

Yo La Tengo: Solid set. They’re always really good and always a little different. And I’ve never seen Ira go quite so ape-shit with his guitar before.

Mogwai: Powerful. I don’t know their music too well, and it’s pretty samey, but they’re very, very good at it.

Dinosaur Jr.: Wow wow wow. I had seen them once before (pre-reunion of the original line-up) and it was terrible. But this was really great. Along with Shellac, restored my faith in the power trio.

My Bloody Valentine: Stunning, lovely, huge. It was great, but also completely not vital nor spontaneous. Colm Ó Cíosóig is one hell of a drummer though, and almost as fun to watch as Todd Trainer from Shellac.