Friday is for wide-eyed exploration of the festival's unique locale: hitching a chairlift ride just metres away from the main stage's massive sound system is exhilarating. We bear witness to Bill Callahan as Smog, accomplished blues artist James 'Blood' Ulmer at the Ampitheatre and five Kim Gordons masquerading as Beaches - a compliment, make no mistake. Not-so-secret mystery act Grinderman squint into the afternoon sunlight and pound out a powerful set of masculine depravity, which provides stark contrast to the restrained brilliance of improvisational maestros The Necks.

Dirty Three greet the night with an edited performance of Ocean Songs, while The Saints re-enact 2007's Pig City performance with striking accuracy and largely without passion. Guitarist Ed Kuepper is much more comfortable fronting the reformed Laughing Clowns on Saturday, who turn in an enrapturing performance of their jazz-affected post-punk and conclude with the towering saxophone melody and festival highlight of Eternally Yours.

The aging faces of Silver Apples and Harmonia are visually anachronistic and aurally futuristic, yet this doesn't stop the buoyant crowd from engaging with the pioneering electronic sounds of either act. This open-mindedness rates among the most attractive trait displayed by festival-goers; though, perhaps this willingness to trial uncharted sounds is more indicative of our trust in the curators' judgement, which remains impeccable across two days.

The earth-shattering electronic distortion of British pair Fuck Buttons is sonically distant from the cute thrash-pop of Japanese girl duo Afrirampo, yet both acts win legions of new fans following outstanding performances. Greek lyre-playing wonder Psarandonis inspires mass-gypsy dancing as light fades on Saturday evening, before Spiritualized conquer the main stage with their powerful, gospel-inspired noise rock. Fourteen arms and fourteen legs comprise festival curators Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who see off a memorable weekend in their affecting, incomparably badass style.

While failing to reach venue capacity, All Tomorrow's Parties organisers succeed in ensuring that the inaugural ATP Australian festival is smoothly-run and highly memorable. It's heartening that this boutique event can cater for the more discerning music fan; the overwhelmingly positive consensus among attendees leads one to believe that the market for future events is only going to increase.