VARIOUS
ARTISTS
All
Tomorrow’s Parties 3.0 (curated by Autechre)
2LP/2CD,
ATP
I sense the effort to produce a globalized showcase here, but in the good
sense, meaning, that there are intriguing influences and roots hinting at
all corners of the world, but all of those are actually quite minor, taken
to the extreme or around the bends, having become something completely new.
From the tribal drums of Public Enemy to the Indian folk of Masters of
Illusions in the so-called Bhongra Remix to the glacial sounds of ice moving
in the arctic during Jim O’Rourkes eclectic drone to the urban beats of
Autechre and / or Hecker, there is a lot to discover on this double-disc. No
doubt, anyone who will take the time to get closely into “All Tomorrow’s
Party” already has an open mind, because such is required when being
confronted with the forefront of progressive music today.
Autechre had the honour of curating the festival in its fourth year, and
as I have heard it were great days full of exceptional and thrilling music.
A pity I always have to miss out on these things. ATP has become somewhat of
the Lollapalooza of underground / avantgarde music, with its branches
settling for one festival in the UK and one in the USA, so it has quite
overtaken the Spain Sonar-festival. Getting bigger and branching out is not
a bad thing in itself, but it should be done with consideration and care,
because somewhere along the way old things get lost and new things get added
and suddenly you have arrived somewhere that was not at all intended when
you started. To all of us, who are restricted to pondering and watching
these events unfold, we have the honour of saying “I knew that” or
“told you so” afterwards. Maybe they’ll branch out like Starbucks,
which would be great: Austria would have an ATP in about ten years then.
I’ll wait up for it.
Autechre have done a fine job compiling artists for ATP, as far as I can
judge from the compilation, even though it leaves out all of the
guitar-based bands, that appeared live, such as The Magic Band, Aphex
Twin or Coil. The spectrum of “ATP 3.0 (curated by
Autechre)”, which was obviously narrowed by Autechre as opposed to Steve
Albini’s line-ups in the year before, goes over a large place
nevertheless, from hip-hop and old-school rap with Dr. Dooom and Public
Enemy to electronica with Autechre themselves or OST to downright techno
with BFC (another moniker for Carl Craig). For those people quite aware of
the works of all these artists, let it be said, that almost all tracks on
here are previously unreleased (5 out of 19, and 2 of the 5 are labelled as
“very rare”!) which makes this compilation a veritable must-have.
