All Tomorrow's Parties: The Nightmare Before Christmas @ Butlins
A fine weekend for fans of the nosier and ""free of form"" inclination
| 10 Feb 2007
Now based in the unlikely resort of Butlins, Somerset, Thurston Moore's nightmare commences amidst the surroundings of fish and chips, penny machines, waterslides, giant queues for the main stage, and general drunken debauchery. The Sonic Youth alum's curation is quite possibly the noisiest and bleakest of the celebrations thus far – a surprising and bold move seeing as each ATP gets larger and arguably more mainstream as the years go by.
Reformed punk stalwarts Flipper aren't bad for a kick off, though they lull towards the latter part of their set - Bruce Loose's vocals don't seem to cut it like they used to on classics like 'Generic Flipper' and 'Gone Fishing', that and the fact that The Melvins would prove to blow pretty much everyone away on the main stage (on both days!). With a set strong with material from latest LP, (A) Senile Animal, aided with Big Business duo – Coady and Jared, this is a fine two drum, duo vocal assault. Debatably, a new and improved Melvins demonstrate exactly why they are equally as heavy and important as they ever were after all these years. On Stage 2, Bardo Pond fail, due to both a bad sound mix and an overall basic stillness, neither their finest hour collectively nor a particularly strong vocal performance. Sonic Youth's set has a queue the size of the Nile, which makes for more noise through the early morn. There isn't anything typical about Dominick Fernow's microphone attack under his pseudonym as Prurient, he's a beast tonight and ears are left violated in one of the most dominating performances these eyes have witnessed from him in recent years.
Stage 2 seems to be the only one devoted to free Jazz, with some stellar performances from Peter Brotzmann and Han Benink, Mats Gustaffson and Eye (of The Bordoms) as well as the Flaherty, Corsano and Yeh trio. The New Blockaders and The Haters - putting in a very rare performance - prove to annihilate what is left of that stage come Saturday afternoon, tweaking madness and crushing wave emissions, casting away any doubts as to why they are pioneers in the noise genre.
The most obvious and hard hitting thing about the line-up on the Sunday is the sheer amount of heavyweights from none other than the motor city. It's as if the nastiest of each generation of Detroit's underground have congregated for today's main festivities. Although these ears find Wolf Eyes to be a little underwhelming as far as their copious studio releases go, they certainly bring a definite blend of rock showmanship to the archetypal noise performance - however, it's ex-Wolf Aaron Dilloway's solo set that really melts some faces beforehand, harsh and a furious as hell. Michigan's own newly reformed 80s hardcore legends Negative Approach are furious beyond words - not the original line-up, but frontman John Brannon hasn't desisted in the slightest with age. This was fist pumping hardcore and proved a definite highlight. Next on the menu, Iggy's skin might look a little saggier, but the Stooges demonstrate an endearing performance amongst some of the younger blood, with singalongs aplenty plus a stage invasion and a half. MC5 (well, what's left of them) on the other hand seem a little too haggard.
The tantric and fantastical sounds of Ben Chasny's Six Organs of Admittance stands out as one of the definitive performances of the weekend – as a bonus we are also treated to a few numbers by stringmeister Sun City Girl's Sir Richard Bishop mid-set. The previous day, Sun City Girls had mixed things up interestingly, much like their albums, ending with a bizarre tongue in cheek comedy routine poking jibes at Wire magazine and Thurston Moore for the apparent lack of Japanese acts throughout the weekend. A bit odd, but mildly humorous. The drone of The Skaters, despite not being much of a visual show, creates a gigantic physical ambiance on the third stage, memorable and transcendent. Sunburnt Hand of the Man are just outright bizarre - fun, but messed up with a lot of waving of sticks, intriguing as ever. All in all, a fine weekend for fans of the nosier and "free of form" inclination, despite some logistical nightmares on site. [Nick Herd]
Reformed punk stalwarts Flipper aren't bad for a kick off, though they lull towards the latter part of their set - Bruce Loose's vocals don't seem to cut it like they used to on classics like 'Generic Flipper' and 'Gone Fishing', that and the fact that The Melvins would prove to blow pretty much everyone away on the main stage (on both days!). With a set strong with material from latest LP, (A) Senile Animal, aided with Big Business duo – Coady and Jared, this is a fine two drum, duo vocal assault. Debatably, a new and improved Melvins demonstrate exactly why they are equally as heavy and important as they ever were after all these years. On Stage 2, Bardo Pond fail, due to both a bad sound mix and an overall basic stillness, neither their finest hour collectively nor a particularly strong vocal performance. Sonic Youth's set has a queue the size of the Nile, which makes for more noise through the early morn. There isn't anything typical about Dominick Fernow's microphone attack under his pseudonym as Prurient, he's a beast tonight and ears are left violated in one of the most dominating performances these eyes have witnessed from him in recent years.
Stage 2 seems to be the only one devoted to free Jazz, with some stellar performances from Peter Brotzmann and Han Benink, Mats Gustaffson and Eye (of The Bordoms) as well as the Flaherty, Corsano and Yeh trio. The New Blockaders and The Haters - putting in a very rare performance - prove to annihilate what is left of that stage come Saturday afternoon, tweaking madness and crushing wave emissions, casting away any doubts as to why they are pioneers in the noise genre.
The most obvious and hard hitting thing about the line-up on the Sunday is the sheer amount of heavyweights from none other than the motor city. It's as if the nastiest of each generation of Detroit's underground have congregated for today's main festivities. Although these ears find Wolf Eyes to be a little underwhelming as far as their copious studio releases go, they certainly bring a definite blend of rock showmanship to the archetypal noise performance - however, it's ex-Wolf Aaron Dilloway's solo set that really melts some faces beforehand, harsh and a furious as hell. Michigan's own newly reformed 80s hardcore legends Negative Approach are furious beyond words - not the original line-up, but frontman John Brannon hasn't desisted in the slightest with age. This was fist pumping hardcore and proved a definite highlight. Next on the menu, Iggy's skin might look a little saggier, but the Stooges demonstrate an endearing performance amongst some of the younger blood, with singalongs aplenty plus a stage invasion and a half. MC5 (well, what's left of them) on the other hand seem a little too haggard.
The tantric and fantastical sounds of Ben Chasny's Six Organs of Admittance stands out as one of the definitive performances of the weekend – as a bonus we are also treated to a few numbers by stringmeister Sun City Girl's Sir Richard Bishop mid-set. The previous day, Sun City Girls had mixed things up interestingly, much like their albums, ending with a bizarre tongue in cheek comedy routine poking jibes at Wire magazine and Thurston Moore for the apparent lack of Japanese acts throughout the weekend. A bit odd, but mildly humorous. The drone of The Skaters, despite not being much of a visual show, creates a gigantic physical ambiance on the third stage, memorable and transcendent. Sunburnt Hand of the Man are just outright bizarre - fun, but messed up with a lot of waving of sticks, intriguing as ever. All in all, a fine weekend for fans of the nosier and "free of form" inclination, despite some logistical nightmares on site. [Nick Herd]