Hello darlin', The ATP experience this year was, like the weather, a bit mixed. A heavily US-centric bill probably put paid to any notions of a 5-a-side football tournament ("football? But we don�t have any helmets..."), which was a great shame, as it provided a nice point of social contact between the punters and the popstars in their fancy luxury chalets in �99 and �00. Oh, and we did win the thing last year. Funny that folks seem to be labouring under the idea that this was another dronesome post-rock seaside experience - the line-up was much more varied than Mogwai�s guitary choices of last year. It was practically all hip-hop on the second stage on Friday, and full-on electronica, avant-jazz and improv elsewhere. Highlights for me: the freestyling Atmosphere, Mr Charisma himself Mike Ladd (I was an infesticon! Fuck the majesticons), Boards of Canada (whose �performance� was little more than uninflected LP tracks reproduced at immense volume through the PA with wobbly interludes and uninspired visuals - but it hit the spot for me), Autechre (I considered it a point of principle to stay at the front for the whole 65-minute set, buffeted by spazzing German teenagers in the throes of mathematical ecstasy; Ae were as ferociously dense as I hoped, all locust-piloted helicopters dragging open zippers in the earth�s crust and spilling runny silicon over misfiring spark-plugs. Like being battered by a robot). "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and "Down By Law" on the telly. The full-moon sea at night. Less than wonderful: Lambchop bookended a soporific set of unfamiliar material with a �Nixon� track and a Sisters of Mercy cover (or was that just a joke? I only saw the new stuff), Calexico - great horns, bad vocalist. Poor sound on Friday and Saturday seemed to mar much of the main stage performances. Broadcast had friends raving in unseemly ways, but I missed two-thirds of the set and heard only shuddering wig-outs. Derek Bailey was �enjoyable� for a punishing 15 minutes but then close to intolerable. Tortoise vexed me even more than they do on record. Television and The Sea and Cake I missed in their entirety. YLT meandered, but not in a good way. My inevitable sore throat. Worst of all - the non-appearance of NYC legends ESG. Of course, one relied on word-of-mouth about things like that - I don�t think Foundation attempted to post this information on-site at all (nor did they announce the alterations to show-times as a result, attempt to replace the missing acts [difficult, I know] or breathe a word about Black Heart Procession�s vanishing act either). Oh well. Socially, a joy as ever. I won�t name names because, well, I don�t really exist, do I? Knocking back the zinc and OJ, GF. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+