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My editor warned me that All Tomorrow’s Parties – I’ll Be Your Mirror, the revered itinerant indie festival taking place in New York this weekend, would be a little unusual.

“There will be some women there,” she said, “but not many.”

And glancing over the lineup, she had a point. Curated in this edition by Greg Dulli of ’90s garage-rock heroes the Afghan Whigs – past curators include Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum, My Bloody Valentine, Modest Mouse, and even Simpsons creator Matt Groening –  the festival looked heavy on, well, obscure mid-‘90s garage rock.

Scrawl, Lightning Bolt, Godspeed You! Black Emperor – not surprisingly, I expected an audience of bearded men drinking microbrews. I was not disappointed.

It had the makings of a memorable (or insufferable) weekend: a young, eager music writer (I’m 23) watching many bands he’d never heard of, surrounded by old dudes who knew way, way more than me.

Held at Pier 36, a new entertainment complex on the Lower East Side right on the East River, the setup featured two stages: one inside the mammoth, carpeted auditorium, and the other in the parking lot, directly beneath the FDR highway. Friday’s comedians were quick to take note of the location. READ FULL STORY »