Caught Live: ATP Concerts Presents... Nightmare Before Christmas, Day Two (Curated by Battles) @ Butlins, Minehead

Saturday at ATP tells me this: Minehead does not possess a single mobile phone shop, or anywhere that might repair your car after midday at weekends. It does, however, have a lot of charity shops, as well as a vast Wetherspoons i had hoped was called The Duke of Ellington, only for it to disappoint me with its additional 'W'.

Day two curators Battles tell me they are hung over and have been sick before going onstage. The New Yorkers nonetheless play a pounding, bubbling, maybe even occasionally purring set of great tunes as only Battles can. Proof (if it were needed) that when their tech is working they can be a superb, invigorating live proposition. An air hockey tournament quickly finds me wanting, and then Walls are just monumentally boring over at Reds. For all their critical cachet, the Kompakt-signed duo deliver a disappointingly dull and lifeless set that suddenly increases the urge to head over to the quiet pub on the far side of the site. Let's do that...

***Minor festival complaint #3: while Walls were playing there was nothing else on at all. Crazy Horse was shut, there were no other bands performing and even the cinema was closed. If you're going to put on something as yawn-inducing as Walls, ATP, then please be so kind as to offer us a fallback***

Upon returning to Reds, we find the cerebral, pulsating techno of Walls' labelmates The Field much more involving: Alex Willner and co. mine an assortment of rich, deep sounds that resonate long and luxurious. Unfortunately, though, the Swedes are clashing with Gary Numan at Centre Stage...

Oh dear. Numan appears to be attempting an impression of Trent Reznor, and has seemingly started a very poor industrial metal band. Why? It sounds awful. Oh no, wait a sec... Maybe it's no so bad. He's playing 'Cars' now. Or at least it sounds as if Limp Bizkit are playing 'Cars'. And he's miming too? Can we leave the old man alone with his new (nu-)metal friends now? Nu metal. Ha! Rubbish.

Moving swiftly on, we decide to check out Baltimore trio Thank You over at Crazy Horse. This is their last ever gig, and yet they seem to have a tonne of intros but no songs. Maybe that's why they're giving up... Thankfully The Psychic Paramount soon put the stoppers on a bad run with a barrage of massive, crunching Swans-like awesomeness. They absolutely crush the minds of all in attendance at Reds with one of the most forceful, fierce, clenched-teeth-and-fists sets of the whole weekend. A dark, desperate trip.

Back at Centre, L.A.'s Flying Lotus drops the bass bomb with a set of the most danceable beats, booming tunes and a seemingly genuine enthusiasm for both being here and his interactions with the crowd. He never stops smiling throughout, and neither does anyone else as the Brainfeeder don's inventive, inspired technical mastery delivers hot, soulful dance.

Over on the Crazy Horse stage, meanwhile, Dead Rider are sadly living up to their name by playing to practically no one. Playing angular, faux-sexy, half-cabaret mindfuck jazz pop to practically no one, to be exact. Groups of punters arrive and swiftly leave again in quick succession, presumably having been slightly alienated by the purposely obtuse and somewhat eerie vibe of this all-kinds-of-wrong Tom Waits fucking show. I like it. The wonderfully-monikered Bitch Magnet then bring some heavy, tuneful beauties on a post-hardcore tip to Reds, the recently-reformed cult legends delighting both old-school fans and nodding teens alike. November's triple-set of BM reissues is all winning, by the way.

As day two draws to a close, Stuart off of that Mogwai DJs a stunning (and properly 'up') set inside a packed Irish Bar that manages to run me out of the last of my Saturday fuel.

***Minor festival complaint #4: Hey, Battles! For your late set: if you have a couple of Gloss Drop's guest vocalists present in person over the weekend, maybe you could actually use them instead of the pre-programmed screens for a change. Just a thought.***

Flying Lotus photo courtesy of Mike Winship

Go here to read day one of Michael's ATP NBC diary, and click here for his thoughts on the closing day's proceedings.