So, is
All Tomorrow's Parties 1.1
a reference to the
William Gibson
novel,
the Velvet Underground
, or a comment on futurist technology and its placement in musical culture? Probably all the above. When it comes down to it, though,
ATP 1.1
is a delectably moody compilation of fringe musical heroes curated by default leader,
Sonic Youth
-- and their fingerprints are all over this thing. Created initially to accompany the
All Tomorrow's Parties
events held in Los Angeles and England, the end result stands alone as a fine document of artists that generally do not receive mass culture support. The tracks are all previously unreleased gems from such names as
Stereolab
,
Bardo Pond
Stephen Malkmus
Cannibal Ox
, and of course
-- their song kicks
off in low drive.
"Fauxhemians"
is a quirky
instrumental
that clangs and bops along with the
sense of music on the verge of derailment. Then
Unwound
presents
"Behold the Salt,"
a thick, dark
which drops into a mid-paced
tune.
's
"Old Lungs"
takes the cake though. This track blows away anything that was on their fine
Sound Dust
LP of 2001 with a space-age
funk
that could go on for days without tire. The breadth of this comp reads quite a bit like a
ideal world. From the searching
instrumentals
to the
noise
barrage that fulfills the last third of
, their established ascetics are well represented. Moreover, the
ATP
series is starting to leave behind the flavor of the times on disc and for posterity much in the way the
Just Say Yo
series of the late '80s/early '90s did. ~ Sam Samuelson