So this ATP NY 2008 thing...

Growing are fuckin killing it.

Really? My girlfriend and I didn't really get into Growing earlier today. I personally liked them better in their Kranky days, the new stuff isn't nearly as engaging.

Highlights of day one: Bardo Pond and the comedy lineup, which was very solid.

Highlights of day two, so far: Alexander Tucker, Fuck Buttons (too loud though!) and Harmonia.

Overrated: Apse.

Looking forward to: Low especially. But several other things as well.

Currently drinking: Amaretto and red wine. Separately.

I have also decided, upon seeing five minutes of their show last night, that Built to Spill sounds like Death Cab for Cutie after going through puberty.

i'm recording some of the sets and putting them on my blog.
http://radicalriffage.blogspot.com

i think i'm going to stop for a while after om. i'm getting bored of sitting at my computer.

oh, i should mention that you can hear some mouse clicks around the start of growing's set, cause i was trying to figure out how to shut them off. and wfmu had a problem with their stream in the middle of harmonia's set, and cut to a beastie boys song for a few minutes. i edited that part out.

Pretty good Low set last night, a bit downbeat though, even for Low. Alan seemed in good spirits, made fun of the crowd of "white people," and said that half the guys "probably couldn't lift their arms over their heads." No guitar antics, either. Almost all recent material, a lot of stuff from Trust, a couple from The Great Destroyer, maybe one old song but I don't remember.

Shellac was very good, and very loud. Lots of banter between the guys and the crowd, Bob Weston taking questions between songs. "Big Black or Mission of Burma? Hmmm... Steve, I think I'd have to say Mission of Burma on that one."

Kevin Shields was standing in the aisle during Shellac, toward the back. After the set I said a quick "hi, thanks for putting together and playing this event," he said thanks for coming out, we shook hands and that was that. Seemed genuine though. So that was cool.

Skipped on Lightning Bolt, not a fan.

Thoughts forthcoming on today's lineup at some point. This has been fun so far.

lightning bolt's set was full of great new songs.
can't wait for the new album.

Elvis, I thought you were going to this. How'd you like it?

they sounded amazing for the couple of seconds without earplugs i withstood, but sorry, i'm not gonna sacrifice that much of my hearing for any band, let alone them. and with the earplugs in, i lost a lot of midrange (with the aid of some low-mixed/disinterested singing) on a good number of songs. so the show, while certainly awesome in parts, also kind of sucked at the same time, evening things out to i'm glad i saw them, but it wasn't super-memorable. that dude's quite a drummer, yeah?

Colm? Quite a drummer, indeed. He was killer on pretty much every song from Isn't Anything. The names of which I cannot remember. Blame it on the wine.

Elvis, I thought you were going to this. How'd you like it?

I took an early pass on this. Would rather see MBV in a non-festival setting (and will do so when they get to LA next week)

How big is the LA theater, anyway? The ATP venue was 3,000 capacity with great sightlines, better sound and (not to cop Pitchfork's festival review, because I had this thought while at the festival) a very David Lynch-esque atmosphere. Totally awesome.

"Soon" at ATP New York (click over to HD for best quality, obviously):

And three minutes (also in HD) from "YMMR," great recording: