Whither Festivus: All Tomorrow's Parties 2009

This past weekend, a select group of awesome bands and lucky patrons gathered in the Catskills for a weekend of music, drinking, music, and quite possibly slightly more drinking. You may recall, I was fortunate enough to attend the festivities last September, and my heavens was it sensational. I swore to myself I would attend in 2009, and sure enough the good folks of ATP put together one hell of a lineup. But sadly, this is not a review. The times, they are just too tight to find the cash needed to cough up for ATP09. O, how I wish I could have gone. If you didn't go either, you'll probably wish you had been up there in New York State, too.

Did you see the lineup???

To begin with, the Flaming Lips were curators. Imagine it. The Flaming Lips, in a small, wacky concert hall (with super fabulous shiny houndstooth wallpaper), probably one of the most appropriate locations to ever see them in live. For some, the Lips would have been enough. But wait, there was more. Animal Collective. Iron and Wine. Panda Bear. Crystal Castles. Suicide. Black Dice. Deerhunter. Sufjan Stevens. Dead Meadow. And many more. Two of the bands present are definitely LET favorites: Hopewell and the one and only Super Furry Animals. Having seen both bands several times, I can safely say they both fit the ATP aesthetic to a tee, lovably oddball and endearingly madcap. Hopewell takes more of the dreamy, thoughtfully out-there route, while the Furries constantly go where no man has gone before, pushing sonic limits and having a damn good time doing it. And who doesn't love it when they sing in Welsh?

I'm going to go back to moping about not having gone and working out a budget for next year's festival. I recommend you do the same. But in the meantime, here's some tunage. For those of us who didn't get to partake in the awesome...

mp3: Hopewell - Stranger

mp3: Super Furry Animals - Frisbee