All Tomorrow’s Parties – Breeders weekend

Posted by jill on May 17, 2009

My first ATP at Minehead and my first weekend at Minehead. In some ways, I went to the ‘wrong’ ATP, the previous weekend, the ATP vs. the fans weekend, had more bands that I would like to see. However, this turned into an advantage, as I didn’t end up wanting to be in two places at the same time, and had plenty of time to take it easy.

The weekend can be very clearly divided into two halves, with Holy Fuck being the turning point. Before Holy Fuck, the weekend seemed a bit lacklustre. At times, we preferred to sit and watch TV in the chalet rather than go to watch some bands. in fact, the only two memorable musical things about Friday was Mr Lif’s shower song and Pit Er Pat. Saturday started in a similar way, Shellac were good,  Zach Hill was disappointing,  we danced to Cannonball by the Breeders and made a good discovery in the form of Styrofoam. But there was nothing worth a ‘Wow’.

Of all the bands playing this weekend, Holy Fuck were the ones I wanted to see the most, and their set lived up to the expectations. Blasting their way through the album, it seemed like the whole of ATP were in the room.

Maybe their set had me in a great mood for the rest of the weekend, and as a result I unexpectedly enjoyed Deerhunter, Times New Viking and The Soft Pack. The final highlights of the weekend were Melt Banana (especially the torch lead opening few minutes and a cute cover of the Specials) and dancing at the front for Foals.

Favourite gigs of 2007

Posted by jill on December 31, 2007

1. Daft Punk @ Wamu Theater, Seattle, WA, USA – 29th July
2. !!!, Holy Fuck, Midnight Juggernauts @ Koko, London, UK – 7th November
3. Dan Deacon @ The Dome, London UK – 7th December
4. Capitol Hill Block Party @ Seattle, WA, USA – 27th July
Girl Talk @ Bardens Boudoir, London, UK – 11th December
Matt and Kim and Jonquil @ The Barfly, London, UK – 9th November
5. Electrelane @ Koko, London, UK – 29th November
6. Acoustic Ladyland @ the Zodiac, Oxford UK – 29th April
7. Grizzly Bear @ the Scala, London, UK – 21st May
8. Silver Mt Zion and Jonquil @ the Zodiac, London, UK – 3rd May
9. Youthmovies, TTNG, Jonquil, Meet me in St Louis @ a house party, Oxford, UK 14th April
10. Beirut @ Rough Trade East, London, UK – 5th November
11. The Shins @ Bush Hall, London, UK – 26th February
12. Forward Russia @ Borderline, London, UK – 6th December

Favourite albums of 2007

Posted by jill on December 31, 2007

1. Beirut – The Flying Club Cup
2. Justice – Cross
3. Jonquil – Lions
4. Holy Fuck – LP
5. Super Furry Animals – Hey Venus!
6. Daft Punk – Alive 2007
7. Keyboard Choir – Mizen Head to Gascanae Sound
8. Eugene McGuinness – The Early Learnings of…
9. Electrelane – No Shouts No Calls
10. Herman Dune – Giant
11. Tegan and Sara – The Con
12. Menomena – Friend and Foe

And a special mention for In Rainbows by Radiohead. When I paid £40 for the boxset, it really did seem like it cost too much, but when the boxset arrived it was worth every penny.