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First up, breaking with tradition, this year's curators Autechre WON'T be playing live. Such an appearance, they say, would merely interrupt their party. So for maximum raving potential, Sean and Rob will join their Gescom crew to close Friday April 4th's proceedings on Stage 2 - the deck action starts at 3am.
Now DiS would never suggest you use anything less than legal to keep you awake until the wee hours of ATP, so best stock up on coffee and matchsticks to avoid missing the twin DJ delights of Aphex Twin and Venetian Snares. Aphex acid hits Stage 1 at the unearthly time of 2.30am on Saturday April 5th, but the pioneer of drill n bass may just meet his match in the unhinged antics of towering Canadian madman VSnares and his trademark dark electronic onslaught (Stage 2, 3.30am on Sunday April 6th).
It should be worth arriving early on Friday incidentally, as legendary weirdo Julian Cope is due to accompany pronunciation-challenging sluggers Sunn 0))) on Stage 1 at 2.45pm, and the oldies are out in force later the same day on the same stage. Ramshackle Manchester journeymen The Fall (or 'Mark E Smith and the session musicians' to the rest of us) stumble on at 9pm, followed, rather fantastically, by hip-hop trailblazers Public Enemy at 10.30pm. Over on Stage 2, get your asses down to glitching Skam Records live action from Team Doyobi at 2am, just before Gescom.
Saturday's highlights are dominated by a dual attack of quality hip-hop and electronica. Stage 1 should be packed for El-P at 5.15pm, who by comparison to the next man up, Kool Keith (6.45pm), is very much a nu-rap kid. Old hand Kool returns to show pretenders how it's done and he rarely disappoints.
However, all that goes before will be made to look like the Spice Girls when laptop maniac Russell Haswell destroys Stage 1 at midnight, using only minidiscs, some carefully chosen software, a microphone and his bare hands. Approach with extreme caution.
If you can still stand up by Sunday, there's thrills aplenty, both old and new. Just don't go watching Jim O'Rourke (Stage 1, 5pm) expecting him to strum into his fabulously misanthropic Americana back catalogue. Instead, the now full-time Sonic Youth man will be booting up his laptop and wowing with material from his releases on the Mego label. And as ATP's promoters themselves correctly note, "whatever Jim does it will be lush all the same".
It shouldn't be overlooked that many chalet-dwellers this year may have a slightly, ahem, matured look about them. It could be related to an appearance from veteran nasty noise terrorists Coil (Stage 1, 6.15pm). More likely, it'll be because Captain Beefheart's Magic Band (Stage 1, 9.15pm) are staging their live resurrection, 20 years on, although minus clan leader Beefheart himself. God knows what to expect, just be there, OK?
For anyone allergic to music created before 1980 (and, in most cases, rightly so), don't panic - divine Warp Records ambient temptress Mira Calix teams up with fellow experimentalist Andrea Parker (Stage 1, 12.15am), while earlier on Stage 2, old skool electro-heads LFO - who remarkably even troubled the upper reaches of the charts in the early '90s - take control of the decks (6.30pm).
The full line-up, in its extensive glory, can be found on the ATP site here. Enjoy. And try not to end up flat on your back in the middle of the dance floor at 3am while Aphex Twin DJs - it's not big, it's not clever, and it's already been done...
