Sunday is dance night, as Animal Collective close the festival

ATP curated by Animal Collective 2011 review

By Jason Wood | Published: Fri 20th May 2011

Animal Collective

Friday 13th to Sunday 15th May 2011
Butlins Resort, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 5SH, England MAP
£170 per person room only (£180 self catering)
Last updated: Wed 27th Apr 2011

Group Doueh provided a suitably mellow sound to come back alive to come Sunday. A family affair again, comprising 7 members from the sub-Saharan plains of Africa. An interesting mix of rock and North African folk anyway, quite unlike anything I've ever heard, using string instruments I couldn't even begin to name. (Angel) Deradoorian continued the tranquil vibe with her organ sound and ethereal vocals.

Prince Rama
The Entrance Band (formerly Entrance) proved an unexpected highlight for my bread-and-butter Alternative/Psych. Rock tastes to open on Reds Stage; the Chicago 3-piece banged out another of the better sets of the weekend along the lines of Kurt Vile the previous night. The cosmic, colourful Prince Rama showcased their heavy psychedelic sounds over on Centre; an Indian dancer stole the limelight and provided the photo ops. on a few of the numbers.

The Orthrelm performance saw the return of Mick Barr to the stage for more intense, dense sounds; more minimalist/post-rock than anything. Ear Pwr hail from North Carolina and seemed to be on a tourist promotion mission for the State. A lighter, more fun set than anything that had followed before anyhow.

Atlas Sound
Atlas Sound front man Bradford Cox celebrated his birthday at ATP for the second year running with a predictably charming/excellent set. He's one writer that gets better each passing year and debuted a great new tune in 'Cherry Incognito'. Mercifully someone caught it and has posted it up on YouTube. 'Happy Birthday' sang out from the audience between songs, and there was a more official version with cake courtesy of Ariel Pink, Kria Brekkan, and others later. Micachu and the Shapes appeared to be the youngest band of the weekend performing experimental pop tunes over on Reds.

A re-scheduled set over on Crazy Horse by Khaira Arby offered up something different again; she hails from around Timbuktu no less. A talented band complemented her powerful vocals, playing a wide variety of styles, though with the local North African influences predominant again. Group Doueh turned up en masse and clearly enjoyed themselves; dancing along at the front and even on-stage to what was a very danceable set.

Gang Gang Dance
Another highlight over on Centre in the form of a fairly mind-blowing set by Gang Gang Dance, another of the best audience responses of the weekend along with Big Boi. Not my usual thing again, though I appreciated the place coming alive once more.

Animal Collective saw out the night and the festival. They're not ones to play hits during their sets, when they did the crowd go mad for it which leaves you wondering why not. 'Brother Sport' and 'Summertime Clothes' had the floor bouncing once more, the rest of the set was more experimental. Dreamy psychedelic visuals accompanied the show, with the same setlist as the previous night.

Mellow would be the one word that would describe the overall vibe of the weekend. The lack of established, mainstream acts probably not to everyone's tastes, but then that's not what ATP is primarily about. Personally I came away with a lot of new bands to explore. However, the ATP's that resurrect peerless bands from the wilderness are always going to be the most exciting and anticipated, not the case this time round. As usual I never even had time to watch the (curated) cinema and TV, despite an appealing programme.

Animal Collective

review by: Jason Wood

photos by: Jason Wood


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