Various - All Tomorrow's Parties 3.0

This release could be described as the "Original Sound Track" to one of the most mind shattering and life changing experiences I've yet had. Like the other ATP compilations it features tracks from artists who performed at an All Tomorrow's Parties event - in this case the third ATP event in the UK, which took place during April 2003 with Autechre acting as curator. That weekend, co-ordinated so brilliantly by Autechre, was like the musical equivalent of being "born again" for me - when I realised that a lot of the electronic music I'd already been listening to for well over a decade did in fact belong in a club/rave environment and not just in the living room. It might not all be bang-bang techno, but it doesn't matter - when it works, it works very well, and I'm forever grateful to Autechre for choosing a line-up and arranging the event in a way that showed me the light in this way. I'd never have thought that my ideas about the presentation of electronic music could have been so effectively shaken up after following it for so long.

The compilation itself has various styles to it, as did the festival. The experimental guitar based noise of Earth overlaps with NYC hip-hop from Kool Keith and the Masters Of Illusion, alongside funky Detroit techno from Shake, a taste of the UK from Stasis, Broom and Ford and a track from Autechre themselves that skips along strangely. The CD version contains extra tracks that broaden the picture somewhat, but fortunately the best of them all, Push Button Objects' "ATP Track" appears on this format too. I suppose, given the title of the track, that it was intended purely for the festival. Such a sweet sounding track, it gets my eyes watering every time, not least because of the memories it evokes, but also because of the amazing little melody that drops a couple of times throughout the piece.

As a release it's a decent enough package, although it could never convey the impact that the festival had on my friends and I. The D-side tracks are not really my thing, but overall the quality is high.

Of course, all pieces of music here are excellent productions in their own way, but after hearing the whole LP some times again everytime I stopped to this one: "Push Button Objects / ATP Track" (A3). I guess the fact that the track is made so simple is really a part of the secret why there is so much sensitive deepness in there without beeing dull! So I Repeat & repeat it all my freetime, I can't get enough. What kind of emotions must be in you as a producer to be able to make such wonderful deep & melancholy music...