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All Tomorrow's Parties Reviewed: All Hail Matt Groening
The Quietus , May 17th, 2010 06:23

Luke Turner and John Doran raise a glass to Matt Groening and Barry and Deborah at ATP for one of the most enjoyably eclectic festival line-ups they've ever witnessed. All photos by Maria Jefferis, Andy Ennis and Edd Westmacott for Shot2Bits.net

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Spiritualized play Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

You know how every time that wingnut Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream needs to build an extension on his Georgian town house in the leafy lanes of Canonbury and he releases one of those risible Rolling Stones records like 'Rocks' or 'Country Girl'? Well, in his head, this is what he thinks he's doing. Of course he's not clever enough to realise that actually that is the equivalent of the Stones releasing an album full of big band swing. Spiritualized however, reinvented epic gospel rock for the 90s, with an allegorical look at heartbreak as drug addiction. The sheer quality of Ladies And Gentlemen can be seen by the fact that all of these so-called UK event rock albums of the mid 90s, by The Verve and Oasis etc now all sound hopelessly dated by comparison. Even the recently reformed My Bloody Valentine's noise wipe out during 'You Made Me Realise' sounds pretty stupid compared to the two eviscerating free noise blasts during tonight's show. For this is not just noise for noise's sake; the way that the gospel choir slowly comes back in through the white noise at the end of 'Cop Shoot Cop' is sublime and a demonic/angelic portrayal of how strong drugs (and heartache) ebb and flow in waves. 'I Think I'm In Love' must be the song of the weekend though and has the entire room stood in utter silence. Special praise must go to whoever the sound engineer was for getting such amazing results off the often lamentable Pavillion Stage. This and other gigs by Grinderman, Amadou and Mariam, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Silver Mount Zion and Oneida have proved that getting a face melting sound in such a bizarrely shaped room is not impossible.

JD