Fest Bests: ATP I'll Be Your Mirror 2012.

Following on from last year's inconceivably wonderful, inaugural London leg of All Tomorrow's Parties' city-dwelling sibling I'll Be Your Mirror, the show this month rolls on as Glaswegian guitar heroes Mogwai team up with Barry Hogan & co. for what look set to be three days of aural devastation (look no further than Slayer churning out seminal '86 LP Reign in Blood in its entirety on the Friday) and slightly more dainty sonic delights (ATP Recordings' very own Tennis and the Tall Firs for instance, both playing Sunday). Taking place within Alexandra Palace atop remote north London mound, here's who we'd insistently advise on experiencing, having of course already implored the acquisition of entrance...

The Afghan Whigs
Who: The aspirational, stadium-styled alt. rock band it's not only OK but advised to adore, Greg Dulli's The Afghan Whigs fly into the capital for a UK exclusive.
Why: Now or never. Maybe... Irrespective, when news broke of Guided By Voices' retraction from rundown it hit pretty hard although arguably nowhere near as heartily as the soulful swagger of Gentlemen should do come Sunday. Stream below and indulge daydreams of hearing the thing resound around the salubrious environs of the Great Hall. Then dread the drudge back to reality come Monday.
When: Sunday, 9.30pm, West Hall.



Antoni Maiovvi
Who: The latest pseudonym of barking Bristol resident Anton Maiof, expect Italo-disco propensities sprinkled with a touch of abrasion thieved from this intrepid sonic adventurer's noise rock past.
Why: Depending on emotion and level of intoxication, Maiof may split off into yet another personality in the randy, rampaging, whisky-swilling and veritably Hydian 'Detective Maiovviwitz'. Something surely worth witnessing, no?
When: Saturday, 3.45pm, Panorama Room.



Codeine
Who: Soporific NYC slowcore stalwarts appositely named after the narcotic never not close at hand to, nor buried in the handbag of any clandestine over-the-counter addict it's an intensely numbing pleasure to have them back. When I See The Sun – the remastered discography – is sounding loose and yet more lucid than ever before too.
Why: Absent for longer than they were ever active, this could well be the Once in a Lifetime you may find yourself in a beautiful hall, with this stupefying band...
When: Saturday, 5.30pm, West Hall.



Demdike Stare
Who: So-called 'hauntologists' Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty combine to compute Demdike Stare whose brisk and bone-tingling techno obscurantism is intensely stimulating without ever overindulging nor elaborating much beyond ratchet clanks and the evoking of an ominously industrial gloaming.
Why: The titanic feat of taking to the dimmed surrounds of Union Chapel was affronted with a satanic sense of lingering menace as much as it was with divine minimalism. Lord only knows how they'll sound in the cavernous surrounds of Ally Pally...
When: Sunday, 3.00pm, West Hall.



Dirty Three
Who: Antipodean instrumental gurus fronted by the inimitable, stag-limbed Warren Ellis.
Why: Latest full-length Toward the Low Sun proved staggering and, representative of perhaps their finest work to date, only serves to accentuate their quasi-folkloric status. Indeed such impression bleeds through into the trio's reputation within a live context and in amongst the copious amounts of material sure to be aired from the reissues and remasters of their temporary contemporaries, it may well stand out as the festival's most enlightening showing.
When: Saturday, 8.00pm, West Hall.




Melvins
Who: They of haywire barnet and unkempt doom punk, Buzz Osborne's reconfigured Melvins turn thirty next year.
Why: Back and set to bludgeon with stuff from the sludgy grunge-fest that is and was their latest EP The Bulls & The Bees, anticipate a show that'll surely bang, clunk and splutter like James Hetfield's Hot Rod knocking back its one final tank of Castrol.
When: Friday, 6.30pm, Great Hall.



Sleep
Who: Yet more doomy stoner drones to finish things up in a puff of inebriating stuff, it'll this time originate from the authors of exceptional '93 'LP' Dopesmoker. Comprising one solitary song – an exhausting 63 minute ode to marijuana – it was a mind-mangling, game-changing recording that's thankfully to be reissued next Monday (May 7th).
Why: The thought of drifting in and out of relative consciousness to that track in its entirety on a balmy Friday evening takes some beating. And even if it's truncated or trimmed out of setlist altogether, rest assured the hefty barrage will still brutalise any body and everybody in attendance.
When: Friday, 8.15pm, Great Hall.


Further info on this month's ATP I'll Be Your Mirror (May 25th-27th) may be found here, whilst a limited array of ticket options are available here.