We finish off our DoesItRock perspective on this year’s ATP curated by Pavement by looking at some of the more challenging bands to listen to at the festival.
Worth a listen:
The Clean
An indie band with a few decent tunes, although they can be a little forgettable.
Listen to: Starting Point (on We7)
Marble Valley
Electronic and vocoder action with a decent beat (not bad, considering Westie cannot drum) mixed into the stoner moments.
Listen to: Pneumonia (on Spotify)
Saccharine Trust
A progressive version of Sex Pistols-esque punk; their anarchic cover of Express Yourself is fun.
Listen to: We Don’t Need Freedom (on We7)
Sic Alps
A bit 70s prog-rock; they have their bluesy moments, but predictably with an avantgarde streak.
Listen to: L. Mansion (on Spotify)
The Raincoats
The Raincoats are an all-female experimental, lo-fi band who originally formed in the 70s. Style-wise, they’re reminiscent at times of The Velvet Underground. They’ve got melodic songs, but the stripped down mechanics of their style can make you wish there was some kind of hook to pique your interest.
Listen to: Balloonacy (on Spotify)
The Bottom of the Barrel:
These are a struggle, unless you’re a hardcore underground music fan. And if you call yourself that, then your friends might not be telling you how pretentious you are:
Atlas Sound
Lift music.
Listen to (if you really have to): Quarantined (on We7)
Grails
An instrumental psychedelic rock band; they can create some interesting guitar-based soundscapes, if you can stay awake long enough to appreciate it.
Listen to: Take Refuge (on Spotify)
Faust
Instrumental ambient guitar noise at their proggiest – jazzed up songs embodies some of the trippier moments of the 70s. Requires an open mind – scoring some LSD might help.
Listen to: The Sad Skinhead (on We7)
And that’s the end of this far from definitive guide to ATP 2010 curated by Pavement. We haven’t looked at every band in the lineup: we’ve missed out the highly rated Wooden Shjips, Japanese hard rock band Boris and Scott Kannberg’s solo material (playing as Spiral Stairs) to name a few of them, but we’ll have to leave finding about them as an exercise for the reader…
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