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Deerhunter- Microcastle [2008]

Started by actwithoutwords, June 19, 2008, 06:35:15 PM

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actwithoutwords

I have been meaning to do a thread on this for weeks. The new Deerhunter record leaked at the start of June, in advance of its release at the end of October. The end of fucking October I tell you. Which is quite a leak lead time. (Bradford Cox was understandably not happy, possibly because he was planning to give it away for free in advance anyway). Unfortunately, I couldn't resist downloading anyway, and it's fucking brilliant.

It's a lot more song-oriented than Cryptograms, it's closer to the second half of that than the first for example. It's also a lot poppier in many places. There's a couple of songs that have a doleful classic reverby guitar and voice sound quite like the 50s-ish tune that James performs in Twin Peaks to Maddy and Donna, only put through a bit of a Bradford Cox weird filter.

The first proper song on the album Agoraphobia is possibly my favourite. A really unexpected way to start the album. It's just so bright and warm. I want to wrap myself up in a ball with it everytime I hear the beginning.

Agoraphobia

In heavy competition for the number one slot though is Nothing Ever Happened. Fucking brilliant bass-driven first part, and then one of the most enjoyable extended outros I've heard in years. It's no Archives of Pain, but it's fucking great.

Nothing Ever Happened

This was absolutely blistering when I saw it live last month. In fact, if they haven't gone home already, they are really worth seeing live. I only knew two of the songs when I saw them but it was fucking brilliant. Cox is really quite endearing, and they have a hot new guitarist.

Also worth pointing out is their blog: http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com/
where Bradford posts constant live videos and free EPs, both by Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, his excellent side project. He put up a bunch of mixes done by the various members of Animal Collective there recently as well.
Posted on: June 19, 2008, 06:21:57 PM
whoops

Neil

Was it you who mentioned this to me in the chatroom the other night?  Was excited to hear about it, as I LOVED their last one.  Must try and find this now.

Anon

Yeah, got hold of the leak a week ago - there's some very good tracks on it (you've already pointed out the definite highlight in Nothing Ever Happened, but Twilight at Carbon Lake and Little Kids have grown on me as well), but I'm still a little underwhelmed by it.  I think in trying to make a pure song record, they've not really played to their strengths.  Bradford's a good songwriter, but there's moments on this record where the arrangements seem just a bit too straightforward and plain.  It's still a good album, and it may well grow on me, but it's not quite the masterpiece I was hoping for after the Fluorescent Grey EP and the Atlas Sound album.

Schnapple

Yes, this is an absolutely superb album, even better than Cryptograms and notably more 'instant' in it's effect.

As an aside, I saw them supporting Liars tonight in Manchester, they put on a brilliant show, blistering at times.  At the end of the set, they had a superb noise breakdown (I can now understand why Trent Razonor personally chose them for NIN support later this year), in which the bassist handed his guitar to an audience member to interpret his own chords.  Superb!

But most notably, I had a good ten minute chat with Brandon Cox, who is just lovely, and also condones the downloading of Microcastle, which isn't officially released till' October.  He's no Metallica seemingly, so fire away!

Schnapple

Quote from: Schnapple on June 20, 2008, 12:15:06 AM
Yes, this is an absolutely superb album, even better than Cryptograms and notably more 'instant' in it's effect.

As an aside, I saw them supporting Liars tonight in Manchester, they put on a brilliant show, blistering at times.  At the end of the set, they had a superb noise breakdown (I can now understand why Trent Razonor personally chose them for NIN support later this year), in which the bassist handed his guitar to an audience member to interpret his own chords.  Superb!

But most notably, I had a good ten minute chat with Braford Cox, who is just lovely, let me leaf through his iPod and dedicated a song to me, but also condones the downloading of Microcastle, which isn't officially released till' October.  He's no Metallica seemingly, so fire away!

Looknorth

Quote from: Schnapple on June 20, 2008, 12:15:06 AM
Yes, this is an absolutely superb album, even better than Cryptograms and notably more 'instant' in it's effect.


From what I've heard so far, there's some nice Guillemots style experimentation with gentle sounds and very Fall in places, especially with the voice and syncopation. They're quite spiritual in feel too.

actwithoutwords

Bumpity.

This has been available on iTunes for a while now, and is getting a physical release in a few weeks.

Turns out there is a full album's worth of bonus material, called Weird Era Cont, that will come with the album. Unfortunately, what they had intended as a surprise to make up for the fact that Microcastle leaked so long ago, was ruined when Bradford accidentally posted a link to a mediafire folder he didn't even realise he had on his blog. By the time he realised his mistake, the unmastered Weird Era Cont, plus an unfinished version of a new Atlas Sound record, Logos, was all over atease and various other places. He was understandably upset and wrote a series of vituperative posts on the blog, including a really quite funny photo of him flipping the bird to his own fans. All deleted now though, and replaced with a more sober reaction. This all happened in August actually, but I only noticed this week. He's taken an awful lot of shit from people for it, which is pretty harsh. He fucked up, people took advantage, and he got upset that 2 full albums' worth of material he thought was private was suddenly out in public. Hardly surprising.
Anyway, stereogum, possibly harshly, reprinted some of his rants here: http://stereogum.com/archives/so-much-drama-on-deerhunters-blog_015211.html
Internet is serious business, etc etc. It's all a bit embarrassing and unseemly all round really.
On the bright side, a full album's worth of new material to come with the already excellent Microcastle is very exciting indeed.

actwithoutwords

No-one's having this at all?
My vinyl copy of this finally arrived today, almost 6 months after the leak. It remains probably my album of the year so far. A 9.2 from pitchfork, and 84 from metacritic. And there's some great stuff on Weird Era Cont. the bonus disc. Backspace Century, Operation and the extended version of Calvary Scars are all great.

Cack Hen

yeah i mean it leaked so long ago i can hardly believe it's only just coming out. i actually think the second disc is a better album, although it doesn't have twilight at carbon lake on it which is AMAZING.

I listened to the first three tracks in bed this morning. Really good catchy stuff. I've never heard anything else by Deerhunter, presumably as I always confused them with Deerhoof, a band which fails to do anything for me (a band which I fail to get, if you prefer).

Hmm, that's pretty much me done.

actwithoutwords

The 4th excellent Deerhunter-related record in the last 12 months has surfaced, guitarist Lockett Pundt's solo project Lotus Plaza. Lots of looping and layering. Lovely mix of the more abstract ends of Deerhunter, bits of Panda Bear and the odd flash of Slowdive. Really nice stuff. Great ear for melody too.