Deerhunter!

My whole life is a lie! I need to go listen to some Okkervil River leaks.

taking the cure to talk ironically about likes, i like how you latch onto a word that i obviously used without much seriousness and are taking it as a cause to act snarky. i also like how you act like you're taking these things personally, for yourself or on behalf of other people, ignoring that everyone who posts here does so probably to voice their opinion rather than try to convince someone of anything.

i'm just as happy to stop giving this band lip service as you are for me to.

just saying its a lot easier to folks to walk around saying that deerhunter was an amazing live-show, a new, progressive, uncompromising sound without giving it a second, or possibly first, thought when pitchfork writes about them constantly that way (and all their activities) than it would be if say Stylus or any other web publication would

I'd argue the opposite. Pitchfork can definitely create hype (see: Arcade Fire, Shins), but they can also create a backlash (see: Arcade Fire, Shins), once a band gets pegged as a Pitchfork Band. If Pitchfork would've never reviewed Deerhunter, perhaps I wouldn't have to deal with assertions that I only like them because I've been 'brainwashed'. Although, I suppose the truth is that I was primarily brainwashed by Stylus and Dusted Magazine, where I first read about Deerhunter. I only like music that I'm brainwashed into liking.

pitchfork hasn't broken a band in ages, you people are nuts.

http://jasonmystic.net/hypnotist.jpg

errrrr
http://jasonmystic.net/hypnotist.jpg

Also, not all of that hype was particularly positive. When those stories came out on Pitchfork about Deerhunter's blog, it almost seemed as if there was a lot of tension between the two.

honestly, I was kinda surprised/impressed that pitchfork even reviewed Cryptograms, cuz it hadn't really struck me as the kind of that they would normally be into.

*"the kind of thing that" etc etc

So, anyone else heard the new Atlas Sound record? I'm really loving it. I'd almost say it was by far the best thing I've heard all year (mainly electronic, occasional guitars and live drums accompany, keyboards that gravitate between "Zuckerzeit" era Cluster, Talk Talk, I hear a little Seefeel in it too). However, I just downloaded the new EP at the Deerhunter/Atlas Sound blog, and the second song on it, "Activation", sounding remotely unlike anything on either the Deerhunter records or his own full length, blows everything they've ever done out of the water.

The Joe Meek cover at the end is similarly great, with the same sort of spaghetti western produced sound.

I am digging Atlas Sound, we got it at KOPN this week. Proceeding to check out this new ep, too. Thanks for the heads up, Zach.

No problem, Sean.

http://www.gifs.net/Animation11/Animals/Cats/big_cat.gif

You know, delete "Hunting Quail" from that EP's playlist, and it's a pretty consistently great release. Best free thing I've downloaded all year. Dude puts up new songs about every four or five days, steadily. He's like a good Bob Pollard that's nice enough to release all the extra stuff as free, the night of recording, even. New touring band lineup looks goods, too:

B. COX (GUITAR, BASS, VOCALS)
BRIAN FOOTE (SYNTH, SAMPLER, PERCUSSION, VOCALS)
ADAM FORKNER (GUITAR, EFFECTS, LOOPS, DRUMS)
STEPHANIE MACKSEY (DRUMS, GUITAR)
HONEY OWENS (BASS, VOCALS, GUITAR)

Sorry, I don't mean to shout the names out, I just apple-X and apple-T'd it over from the website.

Uh, I apple-V'd it, I mean, not apple-T.

Atlas Sound are all right. Nothing fantastic tho.

the new album is pretty fantastic

You mean the Atlas Sound disc or the forthcoming Deerhunter disc?

yeah the new one is really "pretty"

So less rock-oriented than the debut? Is it more like the soft(er) electronic sounds on Atlas Sounds?

This guy records/releases a lot of music.

yeah daniel the new one is called microcastle

there are some quieter non-ambient moments but they're not electronic perse

just really nice guitar strumming

Do you know which label it's coming out on and (generally) when?

(I'm asking because if it's on Kranky, it should appear on eMusic).

i'm pretty sure they're still on kranky but i don't think this has a date yet

I've listened to this three times through. It's not bad at all. I'd rate it at about Cryptograms level of quality, which is decent, but after the awesome awesomeness of Fluorescent Grey, the Atlas Sound LP, and some of the random free tracks that get uploaded at deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com ("Activation", "Cloves" and "Sea Burial", specificially), I can't help but feel pretty disappointed.

That "trick" I was talking about upthread, busting into the MBV/Pixies/Nirvana chorus - I miss it, I can't lie. I think I remember reading somewhere that they went into the recording process with the intent to not use their various loop stations that they use in the live show, or at least not RELY on them. I miss the loop stations. Fluorescent Grey and the Atlas Sound LP are night time, woozy hazy records. The new one is sobering.

the new one is like summer backyard drinking jamz at least like half of it is (compared to atlas sound, cryptograms/floursecent grey)

sounds horrible.

Yeah, I've had the same thought a few times as I listen to it. I'm going to give it one more go, tonight, in "fuzzy" mode. I'm rooting for some sort of personal breakthrough with this. (plz post this in ILX posters casually mentioning ilicit or dangerous hobbies they engage in in an attempt to sound cool thread thanks)

i saw them in concert last night in paris, and cox made some girl from the audience read into the microphone the description of him in in the program, which included the phrase, 'anorexic giant.' he wanted the journalist that wrote it to come down to the stage so he could pee on him. 'this festival can suck my big american dick.'

i did my best to make that sound not amusing, because it wasn't.

he was quite amusing at Primavera. he regaled us with a little tale of witnessing a woman getting "finger banged" in a castle in Malaga.

the music was good though!

i am starting to hear the doowoop- Everly bros connection on certain songs, on others not so much. it's a record where he's not really moving forward, but sideways, whether that's a good or bad thing, i still can't tell.

alos, it's weird how his voice sounds different from record to record, sometimes from song to song. the thing about this band i've noticed is that about half of their records (flourescent grey excepted) are really great, the other half are sonically pleasant but not very engaging, boderline boring I would say.

does atlas sound deserve its own thread?

wow, that Atlas Sound EP is pretty good. can't believe I hadn't listened to it until now. mega bonus points to the Joe Meek cover, and even more bonus points for the intro reminding me of "Pueblo Domain", one of those awesome Pavement songs I always forget exists.

Er, sorry dudez I'm finally coming around on this. "Nothing Ever Happened" finally clicked for me tonight. What a striking structure! The chorus, perfect, only comes around once. You spend the whole rest of the song waiting for it to come back around, but instead you get pitchbending keyboard leads all the way home. I don't know what this record is, what mood it's for, if I'll come back to it later. It's confounding. YES.

does atlas sound deserve its own thread?

If he puts out another release as good as the last one, yes. Either way, an Atlas Sound thread won't happen for another 3-4 years (if the internet is still around then (if the WORLD is still around then ahahaha)).

they'll never do anything as good as Flourescent Grey again though, I think

i think cryptograms is awful and up until bradford tuned his schtick down i actively hated this band, but microcastle is a minor miracle imo. just completely chill, great drum sound, haunting if you want it to be but also relaxing and warm if you want it to be that. "nothing ever happened" is already a classic and the album starts and ends really well.

bradford was great at pfork too

I just finished listening to cryptograms like 15 minutes ago. I think it's a great album.

So a girl I used to know apparently joined this band recently. I guess I should check them out, what should I expect? All I got from Wikipedia was that they have "antics" of some sort and that they have an album called "Turn It Up, Faggot" which doesn't really inspire me...but they're good?

i dig 'em.
get the fluorescent grey ep.

seriously who woulda thought they could lock into a groove like the one on "nothing ever happened"

yea, i'm not a huge fan of cryptograms, but microcastle is doing it for me. 'twilight at carbon lake' kicking my ass

i think cryptograms is awful and up until bradford tuned his schtick down i actively hated this band

Sort of surprised you feel this way, Jordan. A lot of Cryptograms washes over me and I can't recall specific tunes, but it has a great vibe, and a dangerous edge that's sometimes sorely lacking in indie. But I'm glad to hear you like the new disc.

get the fluorescent grey ep.

Yeah, it's much poppier than Cryptograms. And the first song on it -- Fluorescent Grey -- is where all the experimenting and fusing of drone and ambient and rock really pay off. The song is swirling and driving and has great texture and a real edge to it.

i still think their best moment 'like new.'

im not into ambience really, and things that i let wash over me are usually happy/sunny stuff (something like the ruby suns maybe) so if i just thought cryptograms was really boring. couldn't grasp any of it, but it's not my type of music either so it's not so much an indictment of the album as something larger i guess.

i don't like when bands like this try on "pop", it just never clicks with me. the songs on here that i love, "agoraphobia"/"never stops"/"nothing ever happened" are really propulsive even in a back-porch/relaxed type way

which makes the ambient stuff here way more special imo

Ah. I was just about to ask whether the new songs are less ambient/droning and more pop-oriented.

get the fluorescent grey ep.

Can't be said enough, really.

i know there was an interview on pitchfork with bradford (done by marc hogan i think) that's not this one http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/43085-interview-deerhunter

id like to read it but the current incarnation of pfork's search feature is the worst on the internet i think and i'm tired of filtering through google results

help

this is fine. i feel like all their albums after Halcyon have been a bit samey though and thisi isn't an exception.

Keeping my fingers crossed that snow either doesn't fall here tomorrow or is light because DEERHUNTER ARE COMING TO BMORE

BMore show sold out before I could get tix . Live in DC area but couldn’t make DC gig the night before that I heard was good but deafeningly loud.

It was amazing. Sorry you weren't able to get tickets.

JFC

https://www.stereogum.com/2051988/deerhunter-bradford-cox-heckler-cultural-appropriation/video/

Uhh..

“During the set, Bradford Cox started a dialogue with a heckler accusing him of cultural appropriation because he said he’s a huge fan of Twin Peaks, and he said was planning on staying in North Bend at the Salish Lodge that night so that he could explore Snoqualmie the next day.”

I fail to see how this is cultural appropriation...?

Exactly.

i'm not sure what thread to bump for this, and i haven't listened enough to start a new thread and proselytize, but i've been listening to a lot of Ulrika Spacek recently (just their album Modern English Decoration - haven't even gotten to their other stuff) and it's very good. there's an early deerhunter-y vibe to some of the songs and i feel confident throwing a RIYL deerhunter tag on there, even though there are other strong influences as well

which*

realized it's way past time I put together mixes for my two favorite bands (Girlpool next), figured I'd share

1. Game of Diamonds
2. Futurism
3. Duplex Planet
4. Memory Boy
5. Microcastle
6. Vox Celeste
7. Strange Lights
8. Dream Captain
9. Revival
10. River Card
11. Pensacola
12. Eveningness

13. Like New
14. Parallax
15. Helicopter
16. Nothing Ever Happened
17. The Missing
18. Criminals
19. Take Care
20. What Happens to People?
21. Doldrums
22. Cover Me (Slowly)
23. Agoraphobia

felt incomplete without some (4) Atlas Sound & a (1) Lotus Plaza. an earlier version (that I've already road tripped with, therefore official?) had "Mona Lisa" instead of "Parallax," there's no good way to not overrepresent that album

i was thinking of deerhunter/bradford cox today, and how it's been a minute since i heard anything from them. i did some light searching, found speculation on reddit that cox is just kind of taking it easy/doesn't feel like playing music lately (the spoon guy suggested as much in an interview a while back). but also, he returned earlier this year for an improv experimental set in athens:

https://www.stereogum.com/2230238/bradford-cox-performs-for-the-first-time-in-years-at-vintage-market-in-athens-ga/news/

Covid considered, they are not too much behind their typical album cycle. I’m friendly with Lockett and the last time I saw him he said they are still planning to continue being a band. Bradford has always had health problems, so I think it might just be a pause.