Explosions In My Mind

How do you pick out the highlights from a festival composed of almost nothing but highlights? This year's ATP Explosions in Minehead was an indie rock nerd's dream come true, featuring epic performances from Battles, Animal Collective, Mono, De La Soul, Okkervil River, Beach House, Silver Jews, the Field, Sunset Rubdown, Ghostface, the Constantines, Envy, Iron and Wine, Four Tet, Jens Lekman, Atlas Sound, Stars of the Lid, the National, and of course festival curators Explosions in the Sky, among many more. There really wasn't a dull moment at any point during three days of top-notch sets (but more than a few kids did catch some much needed sleep during post-midnight offerings from ambient masters Stars of the Lid and Lichens).

That said, truly unforgettable experiences included Okkervil River ripping it up with new/temp guitarist Charles Bissell of the Wrens, Saul Williams tearing everyone's faces off, and Broken Social Scene inviting the Constantines, Explosions in the Sky and Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis on stage for some help with Kevin Drew's "Backed out on the Cocks" (video below). I guess BSS's 12 actual members just weren't enough.

The National:

Saul Williams:

Animal Collective:

Broken Social Scene with the Constantines, EITS and J Mascis:



Battles playing "Atlas" on Saturday night:


The National performing "Fake Empire":



Sunset Rubdown - Stadiums and Shrines II
Animal Collective - Grass
Envy - Go Mad and Mark
Stars of the Lid - Another Ballad for Heavy Lids

- a.m.p.m.

thanks to whatkatiedoes for photos