| StoreTags: ATP, aphex, techno
Author: Analog on December 15 2007 Viewed 2344 times. 5 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
-->
Last weekend (it seems so long ago already) I went to the best festival ever (TM) All Tomorrows' Parties. The lineup was amazing, as you may know, including Aphex Twin, Sunn O))), GZA, Thurston Moore, Etc etc.
I've seen Aphex Twin play live once before. It was at Reading festival. The tent he played was pretty big, but stuffed full of indie kids not dancing. I couldn't even get in the doors as he played some fucking banging techno (including vitalic's La Rock 01 which had just come out). I was really mashed and wanting to dance, but frustrated by NME statues.
So at ATP i was looking forward to a second chance. And what's more, Aphex was playing the medium stage and doing so twice (the pavillion stage has restrictions on sound, the medium one doesn't: he was to play the same set in the same slot on both saturday and sunday nights).
Saturday night was just totally debauched. Drinking from mid afternoon, GZA on at 5pm (???) so the night started properly then. By 1:30 when Aphex came on i was beyond paggered. I couldn't remember ANYTHING about the set: stage set up, where i was, whether i was even awake, what the music was like. I was informed i was raving like a bastard all the way through.
Sunday i decided to go and watch the set again: i'd paid my money and aphex twin was one of the main acts i wanted to see. why not take the chance to watch him again, this time more sober? pay attention. watch the genius at work. i might even learn somthing.
By 1:30am again, i was lagging a bit. It had been quite a heavy afternoon: boris, followd by Earth, then Sunn 0)), but a couple of pints of cider were helping. The crowd was smaller, but everyone was dancing and having a good time.
So what was the set like?
It was all right. That's about all i can say. Techno for the first half. lots of nice oldskool stabs, acid tweeking, 909s, garagey bits, windowlicker sounds. mostly four to the floor, a bit of breaky stuff. Not massively bass-heavy. upbeat, speeding in tempo later. Second half: Jungle and DnB. Pretty good Jungle: nice classic amen stuff, heavy bass, some pounding liquid dnb. One or two sections of mashup chopped breaks, verging on frantic (classic aphex) sound, but never quite going all the way: always quite easily danceable. Finally some digital hardcore type stuff (sounded like Hannan Elias to me; ie, slightly dated) which left a nasty 3day tinnitus in everyone's ears. The crowd went wild. So did I (again).
But it left me thinking. Aphex Twin's set was in no way unique. I could have had the same set, pretty much, from Tim Wright. It was a decent set, no doubt. Interesting to a degree. a few different styles. Very danceable. But pretty dissapointing at the same time.
I know he's played this set at the Warehouse Project in Manchester over the same weekend, and it would be perfect for there. I just felt like it could have been so much more. Where were the frantic, spastic rhythms we know and love? "I'm taking control of the Drum Machine" style? Or some ominous droning stuff? some none rhythmical freakout machinations? or just something to set Aphex Twin, the Lord of Alternative Dance Music (TM) apart from so many other DeeJays?
Maybe i was blown away by Sunn O))'s 50 minutes of petrifying discordant drone a few hours earlier. Or Chrome Hoof's death metal disco circus the night before. Or any of the other myriad of mind expanding acts i'd seen over the weeken. But for me, at what is probably the most experimental UK festival, Aphex Twin was a flop.
Teh Aphex Beats don't cut the mustard. 
 | |
Comments
12/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
Analog
orac: not really keen on Explosions in the Sky (put harshly, they're kind of a mogwai wannabe but a bit cheesier). Would love to see four-tet though. my last chance at sonar04 he was rained off (along with to rococo rot). Missed Hawk & Hacksaw too.
Saying that, ...trail of dead and Ghost face killah (??? WTF!!!!) on the same bill has to be a winner!
only a couple on the pitchfork one i'd watch (hot chip are good live) but sometimes i think that's better: more new bands to discover...
will deffo go to one or the other.
12/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
quip
erm the reason it might of sounded a bit old was because he was djing. like you say mostly old techno, industrial and drum and bass.
it wasn't a live set. he did however get paid 25k which for a dj set is pretty good going.
saying that when i saw him in manchester it was great, mainly due to the wonderful crowd who got a good friendly mosh pit going.
chrome hoof are fantastic and will probably take over the world pretty soon.
Register / login
|
^
EM411 is Copyright 2001-2008 EM411.com
All rights reserved. | Contact | RSS
|
