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August 24, 2007
Reading the Deerhunter Blog For You
The Deerhunter blog is a bizarre and wondrous thing. With a band whose sound is so thick and evocative, you'd think that demystifying it with day to day ramblings would be detrimental. But the site has gone so far past demystification that it has almost thickened the mystery. From keeping a journal of band members' bowel movements to posting lengthy diatribes on homoerotic fantasies, from posting exhaustive lyrical explanations and guitar tabs to elegies for deceased band members and well remembered acid trips, the level of intimacy allowed to the group's fans is flatly unprecedented and really quite strange. You're never quite sure if you're getting 100% honesty or performance art, or whether there is any distinction between the two at all.
Though I understand the turn off for those who can't be bothered to follow this stuff so closely, the blog has been posting original material at the rate of a well updated mp3 blog. In typically odd and uncomfortable fashion, singer Bradford Cox has attributed his prolificacy to an antidepressant that has rendered his unable to jerk off, and with literally alot of time on his hands. Though quickly "tossed off" (sorry), much of the posted material is quite good.
Song highlights to date:
The strongest original composition from Cox's solo Atlas Sound project to be given away so far is the warped, dreamy "Monochromatic." As the Atlas Sound MySpace page has already posted the tracklist for next year's expected Atlas Sound full-length Let the Blind Lead Those Who See But Cannot Feel, it's a sound assumption that this sub three minute gem has seen its moment in the sun. With cymbals steady shaking, Cox intones again and again, "we cut their throats, we cut their throats." The mantra like repetition matched with some sweetly melted psychedelic guitar lines places this very closely in quality and style to Deerhunter's excellent Fluorescent Grey EP released earlier this year to near universal acclaim.
"Solar Ropes" has a faster tempo than most of the other song sketches, letting an off kilter loop take center stage while Bradford multi tracks himself into oblivion over the top. Structurally, this wouldn't rate in the top percentage of his compositions by any means, but the textural oddity in conjunction with a tone that's more spritely and playful than usual makes it an interesting listen.
Atlas Sound - "So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)"
In addition to giving himself challenges like recording a full EP in a single evening, Cox has taken to performing and producing cover versions as fast as readers can suggest them. While haunted takes on Liars, Neil Young, and the Velvet Underground were all worth a listen, this gorgeously eerie cover of the Everly Brothers' 1960 top ten smash is in another class entirely. His singing style and guitar strumming is surprisingly reverential, but the mind bending production gives the words an different color altogether.
the Wet Dreams - "Circuit Breaker"
The blog is also a clearing house for material from forgotten Atlanta side projects that never got anywhere near Deerhunter's level of attention. Such a group were the Wet Dreams, a garage punk three piece in which Cox played drums. Their sound is closer to the fast and raw sixties dominated songs of the band's close friends and fellow Georgians, the Black Lips. But there's something on the edges of this sloppy girl fronted track, an odd disconnected white noise that floats to the surface in between rushed drum beats and bratty harmonies. There's a connective tissue here linking it to the new and extemporaneous material that the site so regularly delivers.
Lockett Pundt - "Glass Snake Rendered"
Though posting with nowhere near the frequency (I was going to say "or intimacy" but then I remembered the poop journal) as his Deerhunter band mate, guitarist and possible complicated Madden Football play Lockett Pundt occasionally offers an original recording or cover of his own. His version of the Amps semi-forgotten "Bragging Party" was pretty swell, but this song is the jewel among his contributions to date. With his main band's signature ambience, some constantly creeping electronics, and a surprisingly sweet yet muffled singing voice, "Glass Snake Rendered" might be the most nuanced and fully developed track yet discarded through the site.
Keep checking in for yourself if you can bear to. Though it can sometimes resemble a slow moving train wreck, it more often resembles a slow motion box set. A logical and groundbreaking move to keep up fervent attention in an ADD digital age.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at August 24, 2007 04:18 PM
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Comments
thanks for this. Deerhunters Blog always loses bandwith, therefore losing its archived mp3's, so this is a useful post.
Posted by: jeff at September 18, 2007 06:24 PM
