12 March 2012 (gig)
10 March 2012
All Tomorrow’s Party’s prides itself on the delivery of a rich and diverse range of music that challenges the mainstream, shattering the foundations of the norm. Whilst the foundations of normality remain intact after Saturday’s line-up at the event, certain acts provided audible bliss and freshness to musical expression that is lacking so much in an era that seems content with resting on its laurels, with a continuous rehashing of the past.
The day’s first standout act, Boredoms, had made the trip across continents from Japan, bringing a show oriented around a fundamental experiment in dynamics and noise. In recent years Boredoms’ live performances have featured a sea of drum kits and drummers, orchestrated by vocalist and integral member, Yamantaka Eye, providing a powerful visual aesthetic that corresponds effectively with Boredoms’ captivating dynamics. There is something exhibitionistic about Boredoms’ live show, like it would be at home in art exhibition, as opposed to at a concert. The the delivery of a set so visually and dynamically rich, did unfortunately lack in variety, but what it did miss in that department was well compensated for through the evocative visual / audible dichotomy it offered in abundance.
As if to reinforce the diversity in style offered by an ATP line-up, the next performance of note was given by critically acclaimed harpist, singer / songwriter, Joanna Newsom. Her brand of polyrhythms, Appalachian influenced vocal notation, and avant-garde, modernistic arrangement, held what was arguably the day’s largest audience in a bout of devoted silence for the entirety of her set. To generate that level of intimacy, enchanting intoxicated revellers with fluid and translucent melody in the manner that she did, was a sight to behold in itself, but when her music consumed the last part of one’s own self-awareness, the inebriating closeness generated by her harp playing, intertwined with her unique vocal range, became revealingly inescapable.
Next on the festival’s Centre stage was Low, whose introduction was typically exaggerated by a wall of melodic drone. This dramatic entrance was nonetheless suppressed by the frequency squashing, acoustically dead space, that was just not suitable for music of this grandiosity; Low’s whole ethos depends on reflective surfaces, high ceilings and “wet” spaces to prolong the all important harmonics that each of their song’s is built upon. However, certain aspects of their sound were left unchanged, as the dual vocals, so consistent with Low’s slowcore sound, provided by Alan Sparhawk (guitar) and Mimi Parker (drums), were typically hypnotic. Nonetheless, Low belong in a cathedral or auditorium, not one of the cabaret rooms at an English holiday resort.
Whilst having the unfortunate task of performing at the same time as Low, arguably the festivals’ most popular act, Blanck Mass’s (Benjamin J. Power – one half of Fuck Buttons) set attracted an audience that grew exponentially, minute by minute, with each passing and inquisitive ear unable to remove itself from an atmosphere arbitrated by a sound that could be described as being of this earth, but not belonging exclusively to it. Blanck Mass’ earth rumbling, all-enveloping, resonant sounds conjoined both harmoniously and antagonistically with mesmerising visuals, that dislocated the audience from what was on stage, relocating them in a space where the senses were manipulated by sub, swirling frequencies and transcending melody that seemed to emanate from an intangible place. The delivery of the performance was hyper-aware of timing, and displayed an intuitive understanding of the power of such earthly and organic sounds and their potential to generate natural rhythms and movement.
