Festival Review: ATP Curated by Animal Collective - Sunday

The final May ATP festival day began with a viewing of Oddsac (in a word, weird) and the obligatory participation in the ATP quiz which included a rather brilliant interpretation of what a Meat Puppet actually looks like. Soon enough though, our attentions turned to music, starting with the Entrance Band (featuring Paz Lechantin formerly of Zwan!), whose raw set of posturing psych-rock was a relative breath of fresh air at this festival. That was followed by Prince Rama (below-right), two white, glitter-clad American girls' interpretation of indian music, replete with exotic interpretive dancer (something of a recurring theme for the day). It was a highly entertaining set, but if there was one problem with Prince Rama this weekend (aside from the name) it was Gang Gang Dance. We'll come to that later.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was unfortunately a rather scattershot affair. Tickley Feather were slight and uninteresting, whilst Tony Conrad's set - featuring a girl seemingly speaking in tongues, and violins treated in such a way that someone really should set up an RSPCV - was, to my ears, unbearable. Returning to Crazy Horse, Drawlings - a.k.a Abby Portner, sister of Dave "Avey Tare" Portner of Animal Collective - put on what first seemed a promising set of atmospheric drones, beats and vocals, but failed to find any real kind of rhythm. We left before we ever found out whether the girl laying prone on the stage ever made it fully to her feet.

Following those disappointments, I approached Centre Stage for Atlas Sound (pictured top) with some trepidation; I love Bradford Cox (in the musical sense) very much, but three years ago on this very stage he had given a dismally boring performance. Such memories were thankfully eradicated by an achingly gorgeous set, made all the more heart-warming by it being his birthday and a cake being brought on stage by a motley crew, Ariel Pink among them. Defying all expectations, Walkabout was performed sans Panda Bear, but in truth he wasn't missed. A truly touching and captivating display.

Having raved to my friend all weekend long about the brilliance of Gang Gang Dance (pictured left), I was relieved when the band delivered on all my hyperbole, producing what we unanimously agreed to be the performance of the weekend. What was particularly amazing about the performance was how the long-established House Jam became little more than a bit player to fresh cuts such as Glass Jar and Mindkilla, which were rapturously received. Whilst Liz Bougatsos went for a trek through the crowd, standard-bearer in tow, the rest of the band continued with a seamless set, and whilst the dancer in Prince Rama's set felt so integral to the overall enjoyment, here they were merely periphery figures to the genre-defying brilliance of the band. The motto behind GGD's new album Eye Contact seems to be "Positive Energy"; GGD delivered that in spades, and the crowd reciprocated it.

Lacking the energy to see Animal Collective a second time (a wise move, as it turns out that they produced a near-replica performance of the previous night), we closed out our ATP watching the second half of Teenage Fantasy's set from afar over in Reds. The electronic dance duo continued the good vibes from GGD's set, Cheaters in particular proving itself to be the brilliant tune that it is. A highly satisfying end to what had been an eclectic and often ear-shreddingly loud ATP. It's just a shame that next time around, I'll be forced to pack more winter jumpers, but then when is it ever truly warm in Minehead?

Review: Friday

Review: Saturday