ATP The Aftermath: Day II

I know...I've been slacking but here's day 2 which might have been the best day of my weekend, going by the bits I can actually remember. Ugh. I got this cold that's killing me.

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England's noise godfathers The New Blockaders and their American brethren The Haters climbed the stage fully clad in black, faces covered behind balaclava's, hands set on nihilistic torture. They stunned me with the most surprisingly hardcore set of the weekend. I was expecting bits and pieces, a musique concrête like work out of ideas but they hit it so hard it pierced the ears of unborn babies. Also very cool; scrouching inbetween the quartet's feet were the two Jazzfinger guys crawling like worms through stacks of effectery, so fucking awesome I almost forgot to breathe. Hair Police were up next and although I was hoping they could top their Hasselt gig earlier this year, I knew they probably wouldn't. And they couldn't. It was fierce though, starting off like a slowmo metal machine and eventually unleashing the fucking fire with their second track. A moment of hellish hallelujah came upon me when the spiked up feedback flew through the venue like a comet gone berzerk. Somebody should give Connelly a decent mic stand though, one that's cemented into the floor for instance. Thing fell down all the time, also: if you like Burzum-ish vocals, Connelly is your guy/slaughter.

Catched a tiny bit of Wooden Wand's rather dull solo performance to race over to Crazy Horse for Double Leopards, who delivered the best set of the fest, hands down, eyes turned back and smiles set on infinity. With the group splattered all over the stage floor, mics in mouths and guitars minimally strummed to blissful results. The whole room was soaked in a purple psychedelic haze, like floating on acid clouds, more pink than floyd though. In the meantime, the earthshredding trio of Chris Corsano, Paul Flaherty and C. Spencer Yeh were in full motion when I arrived. Flaherty's balding, red head and that immense white beard like the motherfuckin' messiah on sax, Corsano like a thousand limbed Animal on drums and Yeh terrorizing his violin and vocal cords like he just ate a dinosaur. Monstrous, especially loved the pure and uncut dynamics this threesome kept throughout, truly a revelation to see this kind of power live in action. Stuck around to end up really digging Han Bennink again, his energy at least matched all the young 'uns on the bill and together with Brötzmann it proved to be as magnificent as you'd imagine when listening to all their albums in a row and then ejaculating over a piece of.....pork.

I'm glad I went back to the Crazy Horse stage to check out Ohio's Lambsbread after the B/B gig cause those cats ruled the planet for some 20 minutes. Serious pit action going on, with the trio mashing all life out of their guitars and drums, standing with their backs towards the audience but that didn't matter shit, it was blazing from start to end. No, I wasn't there when trhe fire alarm went off, I was probably digesting a Chicken Royale. Word. Afterwards I was too fucked up to walk to the centre stage to check out the mighty Comets On Fire and decided to stick around for personal faves Magik Markers. Now a duo, they failed to impress like they've done so many a times. The room energy was wild and it was only when hairy pussy Elisa stuck her guitar into the audience the duo started to really feel that. Bummer.......Somehow I ended up at an extra Gang Of Four show later that night and I was pleasantly surprised how sharp and on point their music still is. Especially on this bill because it didn't seem to fit at all. NICE ONE.