ATP New York 2010: the DiS review

The New York incarnation of ATP may only come around once a year, but few folks who have braved the charmingly decrepit surroundings of Kutshers Country Club can resist its lure. Most of the lineup this time around is made up of 40-something musicians who are lifers at this game, working every shitty day job imaginable to support themselves, playing notorious flea pits all over the globe, and finding a home of sorts in the shape of multiple ATP festivals. Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch is on board as a curator, porn star Ron Jeremy is stalking the corridors, Bill Murray is rumoured to be in attendance (false, sadly), and Thurston Moore is talking about hummus at a Q&A. Just another vintage weekend in the Catskills for what is hopefully now an annual trans-Atlantic jaunt for the ATP organisation.

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ATP and the New Festival Experience

The music world has ushered in some radical innovations this decade. The preeminence of iTunes, the iPod, and MP3 files has caused us to fundamentally alter the way we listen to music. But this has also been the decade when the music festival grew up and branched out into previously uncharted territories. A typical scene from a ‘90s festival featured concertgoers caked in mud, sword-swallowers and jugglers, and unhappy camping experiences for all concerned. The lineups had certainly improved, with forward-thinking festivals such as Reading in the U.K. and Lollapalooza in the U.S. mostly shedding the hippie jam-band ethos that had prevailed, instead bringing in alternative rock and indie acts to entertain the masses.

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