All Tomorrow's Parties - I'll Be Your Mirror 2012 - Unofficial Review Part 2
Part Two of my review. Today is my birthday.
Waking to the blinding sunshine that crept softly through our window today, a mouth dryer than the room is humid, the leftover aroma of takeaway pizza and alcohol. Once leftover cans are consumed to tend to the hangover and a waking cigarette, it soon becomes clear that everyone else using the guest house last night was also watching Slayer. Even the tall Norse gentleman who had arrived like a business man staying away on a training course. Lethargic piecing together of ourselves, showers, a few cans of Red Bull, another taxi ride to Ally Pally and were onto day number two of the Ill Be Your Mirror experience. Part Two of my review. Today is my birthday. Saturday On arrival its immediately clear that yesterdays prediction rings true today; such a variety in colour of the attire on display, and nary a Slayer T Shirt on show. We continue re-cooperation with further alcohol consumption, first food of the day and many cigarettes. First on our agenda for the day is Harvey Milk, playing in the West Hall, which is the main event hall for the remaining weekend. Cult classics since the 90s, renowned for their heavy, noisy, low and slow experimentation. They play a solid and strong set, even for the unfamiliar delivering their noisiest and heaviest moments alongside their most tender, solemn and melancholic moments. The section of which is introduced with a question so came out to hear the really depressing stuff? Though strangely no one replied to this, their entire performance is met with applause and head nodding approval, the festivals staple display of appreciation. Its unfortunate then, when, due to an overrun of their set, that despite introducing their final song, they arent allowed to play it. http://youtu.be/OMvM-XGQhQw Between sets, whilst grabbing fresh drinks and heading for the smoking area, we catch the Panorama Room, and head in for a nose. Its a pretty strange set up, the unfaltering sunshine outside makes quick work of the white tenting/sunblock ceiling, leaving the room look kind of like an outdoors wedding or birthday, minus the cake and tables, instead filled with a scattering of old, young and press, sat and standing, as they watch Antoni Maiovvi perform fearlessly and without car for the crowd despite being one man and a backing mix. Not all that great though. We go for a cigarette as planned. We arrive to Chavezs set, each unfamiliar musically, I know the name and of them, but thats as far as it reaches. A quick nose on the smart phone brought up some information, we tagged along. The set starts of promisingly, and there are some highlights, but theyre fairly indistinct. I have the feeling that theyre kind of band you need already be familiar before catching live, because on the whole nothing really jumped out, kind of bleeding and blending in to one another. Though some nice melodies and riffs do cut through. Unfamiliarity with the band leads to a pretty lacklustre set, perhaps fans of the band feel differently, but nothing about it really seemed to grab. Ultimately Ill check them out some more, because as stated the odd riff or melody shone through, particularly their last song, announced as the first ever jam they wrote Repeat the Ending. http://youtu.be/TAiFq0-eZuA Codeine come around though, and immediately things change. Their songs instantly welcoming and comforting, even in their subdued melancholy. Its a set that leaves the hall silent, bar the applause between songs of course, but when the band are playing its visible and audible that everyone gathered is under some kind of spell. The band interact with the crowd, but for the most part leave the music do the talking, because thats all that needs to be said. Myself having only been vaguely familiar again by name and their slowcore association with bands like Low, who Im rather keen, and my friends completely new to them, are sold straight away. The songs are expansive and hypnotic but in a very minimal and open way, my friend comments theyre like a snail pace Fugazi. Its a brilliant set, both haunting and seductive. Much like a good dose of real codeine. http://youtu.be/dHPwJiT7buM Maybe it was the intoxication, maybe it was the performance, maybe it was the same level of fuzz and mud throughout, but I dont remember much of Mudhoneys performance. There was energy there, could hear that in spades, but nothing else seemed to get out. They delivered a crowd pleasing performance though, that touched on a good few of the necessary bases for a set list. It just didnt make much more of an impact on me than that. Just to further prove, the lack of real review about this review, if that Mudhoney paragraph wasnt evidence enough, Dirty Threes set was completely missed. Mostly due to extracurricular activity, and laying on grass, staring at clouds, musing on life and talking utter shit. http://youtu.be/_nGsT_qFMBs I like Mogwai. I have done since I first bought Mr Beast on its release and fell in love. In my youthful days of exploring new sounds, reading music magazines cover to cover, scouring the internet; absorbing information and bands and music. Today is my birthday, Im 22, Im in the company of my two best friends, and were watching Mogwai. Ill admit right off the bat, that this is a pretty awesome way to round off my birthday, and I dont even care about birthdays anymore. I was considerably disappointed that I missed them play Cardiff the last time they were around (and that I hadnt been able to see them prior to that), so with the aforementioned information and extracurricular activities. Im in good spirits for this. http://youtu.be/HOuZ6UgFWAg Start as you mean to go on, and they do. Opening with the slow building and atmospheric Sine Wave, makes for a wise choice, settling the crowd in and leaving everything inside West Hall awash with sound. The set as a whole seems to work much like a Mogwai epic in itself as it drifts serenely in passages, builds tension and rises to crashing crescendos, except that each of those sections are songs in themselves and feature their own unique rises and falls. In this respect I find myself swapping between lying flat on my back staring at the lights letting the songs crash and wash over me like the ocean to a rock. Though of course I was here to watch too, and many times stood to see the band doing what they do and move in unison with the rest of the crowd. Occasionally quite uniquely as drink, drugs and damn fine music lead me to moving somewhere between air drums and air conducting. Looking a twat, but fuck it, its my birthday. Including several of my favourite tracks. It was kind of them do that just for me on my birthday. http://youtu.be/h7buYvkSIlQ Now it is now that I unfortunately announce, there is no Sunday review, given my call centre employees wage and delays in confirmation of time off, when the weekend tickets sold out, only two were affordable. Particularly disappointing about not seeing the Sunday was missing Yuck and Thee Oh Sees, and for one of my friends Louis Theroux being a hero, he was distraught with realising on Saturday he would premiere his new documentary and have a question and answer session. I mean, maybe if in future All Tomorrows Parties founder Barry Hogan wanted to offer up some press presses to WhatCultures music section with the ability to work in some interviews, then perhaps thered be a fuller feature... What there is though is this, my two day first experience of Ill Be Your Mirror and All Tomorrows Parties. What I experienced were some brilliant bands, sets ranging from really good to amazing, I got to see bands Ive wanted to see for nearly a decade, in the form of Sleep I got to tick one of the high up gigs off my bucket list and in doing so witness when of the best gigs Ive seen, then in the form of Mogwai I finally got to see them, and was absolutely blown away on my birthday. Its definitely a festival Im going to go to again, and am definitely going to try and get to an All Tomorrows Parties one year. For anyone who hasnt been, go, its always eclectic array of underground and alternative acts and what better way to get exposed to new music. Plus, if a band you like curates a day, then make sure you go. http://youtu.be/Zei_wnNZ1mo