Review: All Tomorrow's Parties End of an Era Part Two @ Pontins Holiday Camp, Camber Sands, UK

Mike Watt w/ Il Sogno Del Marinaio

All Tomorrow's Parties End of an Era Part Two @ Pontins Holiday Camp, Camber Sands, UK
November 29 - December 1, 2013
Photos/Review: Rhona (Wiglet Bill) Aquilina

So this is it. The end of an end of an era.

I can wholeheartedly say that for me, this really is the end of an era. I have attended seventeen UK ATP festivals over the last thirteen years. I was here at Pontins in 2000 at the first ever ATP festival curated by Mogwai. Ever since then ATP's UK holiday camp festivals have been a fundamental akin to nourishment or warmth. And I genuinely mean that. Why else would I have repeatedly reached into my pocket, scraping together all my resources in order to purchase tickets for a just-announced event that had no announced line up? Needless to say when the End Of An Era events were announced it was a no-brainer. I was going to be there!

Friday.

Having been here just a week earlier, with Fucking Nostalgic's head honcho Chris and his fiancée Jen (at End Of An Era Part One), our already well honed ATP travel routine runs like a dream and we make it to Pontins 15 minutes before they open the gates. There are no bands on for 5 hours or so, but anyone who's been in one of those chalets in December will tell you it's worth getting there early to warm it up before the sun goes down. That and the fact that I'm really going to miss this place, this experience and the feeling of community at these events. So I'm here early and I'm going to luxuriate in this feeling one last time. As I approach the check-in desk the lovely ATP ladies inform me that we are the first chalet to book in and snap a quick photo of my grinning mug. I win!

This Week's Nostalgia (4/30 - 5/6)

The Cranberries / Photo: Jess Baumung

By Trista Hou (Binshu Hou)

Do you still remember who the very first rock bands that enlightened you to start listening to indie music were? Do you still remember that once upon a time, there was an Irish frontwoman named Dolores, and her keening, powerful voice singing classics such as "Zombie,""Linger,"and"Dreams"? Yes, The Cranberries are back. The band even announced they would release their first new studio album, Roses, in over 10 years, which is due for release on May 5. Check them out at Terminal 5 on May 2 and 4 to reminisce, and let us know how many times your eyes well up with tears. 

Finishing her two-weekend journey in the Indio desert of California, Feist comes to town again touring in support of her album Metals, released in 2011. Considering its slow-to-bloom beauty, her live is still worth enjoyment. You can see her at Radio City Music Hall on May 5.

Xiu Xiu and Dirty Beaches are playing together and it only costs you $16 to $18? This is way too good a deal, alright? Xiu Xiu, a San Jose avant-garde group that has been active for the past 10 years, is the brainchild of vocalist Jamie Stewart--often earning a comparison to The Cure's Robert Smith. This is a band that you shouldn't neglect. As for Dirty Beaches, a band I am personally quite fond of, their lo-fi full-length album Badlands was released last year. With Suicide-like drum machines and hypnotic loops, Badlands conjures up images of surrealism, which could possibly drag you into an endless black hole.

Here are the rest of shows you should check out in New York City this week...

FN News Roundup: March 12, 2011

Hi! Have some news.

• (Hopefully not former) Sonic Youth axeman and generally great guy Lee Ranaldo's new album, Between the Times and the Tides, is out next Tuesday (3/20), but you can stream all of its goodness right now over at Rolling Stone. (RS) 
• Legendary Minutemen bassist and also generally great guy Mike Watt is publishing a new memoir this May entitled On And Off Bass. He'll also be celebrating the release of this inevitably awesome book with two parties in NY and LA, the local version of which will take place on May 5 at Le Poisson Rouge and feature him & Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis and Murph performing as Hellride East (Slicing Up Eyeballs)
• Go see Garbage on tour! No, that pun will never get old, but you really ought to see Shirley Manson and the gang when they roll through the East Coast and Canada. The tour will include a stop at Webster Hall on May 22, with ticket info coming soon. (Garbage)
• Remember The Hives? They're back, in Pog form! Or more accurately, with a new album called Les Hives dropping on June 5 - check out its leadoff single "Go Right Ahead." (Stereogum) 
• Those Battles remixes we've been talking about are coming out as a full-on Dross Glop LP on April 17 via Warp. You'll also want to check out Battles drummer John Stanier and Black Moth Super Rainbow throw down a DJ set this Friday at The American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center - grab a ticket! (BrooklynVegan)

fIREHOSE reunited, are touring and releasing anthology collection

We haven't posted any news on the fIREHOSE reunion since it was announced they would be playing Coachella and touring around the two-weekend festival. Shame on us. But now that news comes via Pitchfork that Columbia/Legacy will be releasing a two-disc set entitled lowFLOWS: the Columbia anthology ('91-'93) on April 3, I am taking the opportunity to finally get a post out about the band. Forgive me!

The collection will include the band's 1991 album Flyin' the Flannel, the Live Totem Pole EP and the 1993 album Mr. Machinery Operator, complete with bonus tracks from the era. Check out the complete tracklist below.

In addition to the fIREHOSE reunion, both George Hurley and Mike Watt will be performing songs by the Minutemen at next weekend's All Tomorrow's Parties curated by Jeff Mangum in Minehead, UK. We have arranged to have coverage of the festival, so be sure to check back here for reports on all the great bands performing, including The Magnetic Fields, Joanna Newsom, Thurston Moore, Sebadoh, Low, Scratch Acid, The Raincoats, The Olivia Tremor Control, and of course, Jeff Mangum.

Check out some fIREHOSE videos (including the band's cover of Daniel Johnston's "Walking The Cow"), their tour schedule and more good stuff below...

Watch & Listen To Mike Watt + The Missingmen on KCRW

Mike Watt, the co-founder of the classic So Cal punk band The Minutemen and bassist for such other amazing acts as fIREHOSE and the reunited Stooges, paid a visit to the beloved KCRW radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic with his current trio The Missingmen today. Watt and the crew wasted no time and launched immediately into a live performance of Hyphenated-Man, their latest album / punk opera based on characters from Hieronymus Bosch's painting The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Listen to the full performance and check out a video of "Arrow-Pierced-Egg-Man" below. And below THAT, you can also rock out to our editor-in-chief's favorite Minutemen video featuring oldschool Mike Watt. Enjoy!

Mike Watt & the Missingmen to perform live on WFMU from 3pm-6pm

Ex-Minutemen, ex-fIREHOSE, current-Stooge--Mike Watt will be performing his most recent album with his band the Missingmen on New Jersey’s WFMU today from 3pm-6pm. The album, Hyphenated Man is currently available, and Watt & band are on tour (they recently played Maxwells and Mercury Lounge but I couldn’t make it to either). It’s worth noting that the entirety of the album was written on Minutemen frontman D. Boon’s Fender Telecaster. You can stream the performance here, and I urge you to do so and tell me how it is... they don’t like headphones at my job :(