Last week, on the subject of T in the Park, we mentioned that we’re so insatiable for festivals, we’ve taken to having two reviewers at some of our favourites. Our intrepid Live Editor Paul Brown ventured south for Latitude, and is sharing his weekend experiences with you today and tomorrow. You can read Natalie Shaw’s take on the festival here.

Latitude (Photo by Jodie Brown)

 

Thursday

It’s a canny old journey from Gateshead to Suffolk. It’s an even bloody worse journey if your SatNav is making the route up as it goes along, presumably out of spite for you ignoring its instructions when you’re near home and know a better route than it suggests. I swear at one point I thought we were going to end up parked Michael Scott-style in a lake because of the evil electronic bastard. Alas, eventually Mrs Muso’s and I arrive at Latitude on Thursday evening, neatly sidestep any difficulties putting up our shiny new tent, and set about exploring the site on our first visit there. After a wander around to get the lay of the land (and see the multi-coloured sheep), we attempt to take in Guillemots’ improvised live sountdrack to Park Chan Wook’s film Oldboy. Truth be told, as nice as it is too see Guillemots being weird again after Fyfe’s recent pop star adventures, it’s a bit much to take after a six hour journey, so we soon call it a day to regroup for tomorrow’s exertions.

Friday

The day starts pretty early with Braids, whose presence at Latitude is a late announcement, and their hazy synthpop provides a pretty great introduction to the weekend. Sure, there are times when they drift off into aimless noodling, but the majority of their set is a triumph, and it’s lovely to see the Sunrise Arena so packed at 11.30 on the first morning of the festival.

Of course, Latitude’s main USP is its tagline that it’s ‘More than just a music festival’, and a glance over the weekend’s schedule reveals a festival which is probably only rivalled by Glastonbury for diversity. This means that as a mere music writer, there will plenty of performances over the course of the weekend that I’m in no way qualified to critique, but it would be pretty rude to ignore them. Simon Armitage is one such performer. His reading in the poetry tent is massively enjoyable, and you can see precisely why he’s a bit of a national treasure. His warm Northern burr and brilliant wordplay make him hugely likeable.

Following on from Armitage is The Phantom Band, who are tough to describe simply because there basically isn’t another band like them in the UK today. Their restless, rangy jams are brilliant this afternoon, and it makes you wonder why Checkmate Savage and The Wants haven’t shifted absolute megaloads. There’s a darkly funky edge to their sound so pronounced that we’re half expecting rainclouds to have gathered when we depart the Sunrise Arena, but alas the sun is still peeling the bark from the trees. Following The Phantom Band we decide to maintain the tenuous Scottish theme by venturing over to the Obelisk to see Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, who, to be honest, pass us by a little. Their usual blend of pretty and evil is firmly there, but sadly it just drifts away on the breeze from a stage this size.

29 March, 2011

Part 2 of our Deerhunter live double-header:

It’s not entirely unreasonable to think that you’ve probably got the measure of a band’s live act when you’re seeing them for the third time in as many years, and indeed, with tonight’s Deerhunter performance, this is certainly true up to a point (Bradford’s sassy, rambling stage banter has been one of the most reliable constants for this band on the occasions that I’ve caught them). But by going to see a band with such frequency, you can also more meticulously examine their craft, and notice some of their subtler progressions that might otherwise be missed entirely. So whilst it’s largely ear-bleeding business as usual for Deerhunter tonight, there’s still a notable movement – most obviously owing to a new album’s worth of material added to their setlist – from the last time we saw them over here about a year ago.

Deerhunter

For better or worse, Deerhunter have undoubtedly softened their edge over the course of their recorded output, culminating in some of the almost lo-fi sixties pop material on their latest Halcyon Digest. Tonight, however, Deerhunter use their live show to realign themselves as blistering noise merchants. As if in response to the less cluttered textures of their latest record, the band seem to redouble their efforts with their fleet of effects pedals tonight, using any number of sonic manipulations to make their guitars wail, squawk, pulsate, pulverise, mesmerise and whatever else they see fit. Similarly, in contrast to the leaner structures of their recent efforts, Deerhunter rediscover themselves as hyper-proficient extended improvisers (they’ve always been meandering noodlers at heart, to be sure, but tonight they kick it up a notch further).

Of course, it’s of no surprise to see the band locking themselves into the endless arpeggios and competing guitar lines of established codas of tracks like ‘Desire Lines’ and ‘Nothing Ever Happened’. But even the snappy latest single ‘Memory Boy’ gets a whole new midsection, where the band get lost in improvisation and harmonica breakdowns. Almost all of these tracks seem to go on for seven or eight minutes; awash in a haze of swirling, overlapping guitar lines.

This is all well and good, because this is where Deerhunter find themselves in their element. By constructing a simplistic groundwork of just two chords or even just one pulsating bass note, it’s always a marvel to hear them layer themselves upwards and upward, battering sounds out of their guitars that you’ve never heard the likes of before (Bradford’s solo in ‘Helicopter’ plays with tone and delay in a truly breathtaking manner tonight). But, the thing is, if you have no taste for this sort of psychedelic freak-out, these lengthy jams can really test your patience. Deerhunter make a real gamble on the attention span of their audience, and it’s one which doesn’t pay off for everyone (“Get on with it”, I can read on the faces of some people around me on occasion). It’s a performance (and I don’t mean this as a criticism) which is probably more enjoyable while drunk or high, when you’re more willing to fully immerse yourself in their hallucinogenic and hypnotic repetition. Stone cold sober, you can see how their sound might be alienating to some.

But they remain fully commanding so far as I’m concerned. While they’re sharpening and refining their hook based verse-chorus songwriting in the studio, Deerhunter have found methods of bringing this into contact with the abrasive playfulness of their earlier, looser material. It’s a great conflation, and one that allows the band to remain a powerful – and fucking loud – live force for willing audiences to become fully engaged with.

March 31, 2011

Part 1 of our 2 part coverage of Deerhunter’s live shows this week:

Deerhunter and Lower Dens are both bands that made significant breakthroughs last year, though they find themselves at quite different stages of their career. Deerhunter have been steadily building a following in the UK since they first emerged properly online with their phenomenal second record Cryptograms and its accompanying EP Fluorescent Grey. 2010’s Halcyon Digest funnelled their less abrasive tendencies into their most reflective, musically adventurous and accessible LP yet. Lower Dens, meanwhile, impressed with their atmospheric debut Twin Hand Movement, skilfully differentiating themselves from a host of bands mining guitar music of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s for inspiration.

Lower Dens

The first thing that becomes apparent about Lower Dens in a live setting is their ability to lock into a particularly tight krauty groove and build their songs from there – their tempos vary subtly and the noise builds and falls in an exceptionally well-paced set. This can mean the focus shifts away from melody at times, but it also helps make the moments when vocals return more prominent. Jana Hunter’s voice in particular is striking, and sounds like it weaves in and out of the hypnotic basslines and washes of noise effortlessly.

Overall, you get a sense that it’s doing Lower Dens a disservice to lump them in with other, obviously revivalist bands, as there’s so much more going on here under the surface. There are elements of Stereolab in their approach to composition (another Bradford Cox favourite), hints at Hunter’s folk past in the melodies and atmospherics, Can rhythms, as well as more obvious debts to bands like Slowdive. It’s exciting to hear where they go next, as they’ve already crafted a sonic palette that hints at so many different possibilities.

Headliners Deerhunter once had the same sense of potential as Lower Dens – though Bradford Cox and co’s early live shows were far more thrilling, unpredictable affairs that could excite and disappoint in equal measure. I found myself reminding myself of their earlier shows as their set got off to a particularly odd start – a new song (albeit a rather fine one) opened the set, and a fantastic cover of Magazine’s ‘The Light Pours Out Of Me’ was thrown in too, early on. ‘Desire Lines’ came second, and was muddied by poor sound. The more casual fans didn’t seem particularly animated, though this could well have been a case of a London crowd being difficult to warm up – hardly a surprise.

Deerhunter

It turns out, I needn’t have worried – Deerhunter knew what they were doing. Microcastle’s ‘Little Kids’ started pleasantly enough, but built into a phenomenal beast of a song; ‘Rainwater Casette Exchane’, a little underwhelming on record, became prettier and fuller in a live setting too. Then came ‘Nothing Ever Happened’ – a fantastic song in its own right, and one the band are always likely to play, but it was stretched beyond its usual limits in its second half, particularly by the band’s more underrated members, Josh Fauver on bass and Moses Archuleta on drums.

As the song took off, Cox added the lyrics from Patti Smith’s ‘Land’. It was a great touch – all the best bands wow you before pointing back to their influences from the past, like an all-knowing older sibling. You get a real sense with Bradford Cox that he completely understands the importance and power of musical lineages for fans – he’s a music obsessive himself of course, unhealthily so – and he’s constantly allowing these extra reference points to filter through his music (partly because he can’t help it) into the ears and heads of his fans. At the same time, he also knows exactly what you want – so ending, either side of the encore, with songs like ‘Helicopter’, ‘Agoraphobia’, ‘He Would Have Laughed’ and ‘Octet’ was bound to send everyone home happy.

Here’s your first batch for the week – numbers 40-31 of the albums of 2010, as chosen by our writers. Enjoy! Check back tomorrow for 30-21.

Baths - Cerulean

40 Baths Cerulean

“Will Wiesenfeld’s Baths project emerged from the fertile scene in LA halfway through 2010 with little fanfare and quickly charmed anyone who heard it. Cerulean, for a debut, is surprisingly fully formed, but then Wiesenfeld is a classically trained musician who’s been playing in bands for years. He moulds pop songs, beats, ambient passages and field recordings into a quite personal record that still sounds free and organic, like the watery motifs that flow through it. He shifts between post-Dilla hip-hop on ‘Maximalist’ to the touchingly-honest almost-ballad of ‘Plea’, all the while maintaining a wide-eyed optimism that never seems forced and is instead infectious – few records in 2010 sounded as much like the extension of someone’s personality.” Greg Salter

39 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Before Today

“I’ll admit I was suspicious of Ariel Pink before this album. Just like when Cut Copy sing ‘lights and music on my mind/be my baby, one more time’, I always had the sneaking suspicion that he was somehow satirising the type of music he was creating, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I personally had trouble getting my head around it. It’s hard to maintain these suspicions when an album as good as Before Today comes out though. Particularly in the first half, Ariel Rosenberg channels the ghosts of music past, but manages to make songs that would stand up amongst whichever particular era or band he is choosing to emulate. ‘Round and Round’ is the example that will always get put forward to demonstrate this, but songs like ‘Fright Night’ also manage a very specific, slightly strange and off-kilter atmosphere at the same time as being simply good songs.” Joe Bates

Actress - Splazsh

38 Actress Splazsh

“Splazsh is an unsteady, heady combination of propulsive beats that seem to always change, to be constantly on the move. In a year when the original humans-as-robots returned with an underwhelming soundtrack, Darren Cunningham, a.k.a. Actress, was quietly combining brutal, formalist IDM beats with more melodic hints of UKG, dubstep and hip-hop. Human voices rise to the surface or lie fractured in amongst the constructed carnage. Splazsh is sonically thrilling and immersive – difficult to escape from.” Greg Salter

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

37 Deerhunter Halcyon Digest

“It’s easy to take Bradford Cox’s Deerhunter for granted – since 2007’s breakthrough Cryptograms they’ve given us a double album, a couple of top quality EPs and now the understated Halcyon Digest. If it doesn’t have the immediate thrill of their last two LPs, it might just be that Cox knows he has our attention now – he has begun to feed ambient atmospherics back over and under his melodic hooks and has started experimenting with different lyrical masks. ‘Desire Lines’ and ‘Helicopter’ shimmer with a new strange beauty and you sense that this is the start of whole new chapter”. Greg Salter

Frightened Rabbit - The Winter Of Mixed Drinks

36 Frightened Rabbit The Winter of Mixed Drinks

“Frightened Rabbit’s most recent record is much less immediate than Sing The Greys or Midnight Organ Fight but much more loved than either of those records, and far more grandiose. Brave and rewarding.” Christopher Panks

Sean Clothier noted the change in mood on this album in his review earlier this year: “Leonard Cohen said on his recent tour that despite “studying deeply in the philosophies and religions…cheerfulness kept breaking through”. Well cheerfulness has not only broken through here, it has completely eviscerated the melancholy that the band previously wielded like a hammer to the chest”.

Vampire Weekend - Contra

35 Vampire Weekend Contra

“Vampire Weekend have the tendency to irk people, with their Ivy League credentials combined with their world-music aping approach understandably not being everyone’s cup of tea. It’s a shame, because on their sophomore LP, they came into their own, combining the songwriting chops they showcased on their first album with an increased tendency towards experimentation. Incredibly consistent, Contra shines from start-to-finish and is an incredibly mature record from a band who look like they’d still have trouble buying alcohol without ID, particularly in America.” Joe Bates

Summer Camp - Young EP

34 Summer Camp Young EP

“Summer Camp’s songs all sound as if they’re straight from a John Hughes storyline, and I bloody love John Hughes. ‘Ghost Train’ is one of the sweetest songs ever, nearly everyone’s been to a party straight out of ‘Veronica Sawyer’, and ‘Jake Ryan’ is made for the dreamy moments lying on your bed annoyed about love and that. Summer Camp were one of the bands that started the dreaded chillwave thing, but there songs run much deeper than a faddy genre, and Young is full of songs that deserve to become classics, just like the films that inspired them.” Holly Arrowsmith

Field Music (Measure)

33 Field Music Field Music (Measure)

Natalie Shaw probably put it best in her review of Field Music’s third record way back in January: “Fascinated with what it takes to be an illogical human, the 20 tracks showcase people setting themselves limits and taking chances from their measure, their default. As unstructured as it feels, after repeated listens it’s hard to imagine sequenced any other way. That combined with the frenetic end-section are examples of how expertly Field Music (Measure) is crafted, and just how much thought and obsession has gone into it.”

32 Allo Darlin’ Allo Darlin’

“A heartwarming indie pop album that begs to be listened to on repeat. Ukuleles, twee guitar melodies and touching lyrics only add to their wistful charm. Allo Darlin’ invoke the spirit of Hefner and hopefully they’ll go on to achieve the sort of fan base that The Wave Pictures enjoy.” Andrew Seaton

“This album is basically just lovely. It’s ever-so-slightly twee, but in a way that makes you sigh happily rather than stick Motorhead on really loud to offset the saccharine. Singer Elizabeth’s voice is full of whist, and with its backing track of ukeleles, plonky pianos and guitar riffs that make you shake your hips, it’s brilliantly fun to bounce along to. ‘Dreaming’ is one of my songs of the summer, and will bring back fond memories of too much cider and broken sunglasses for a while.” Holly Arrowsmith

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

31 Flying Lotus Cosmogramma

“The scope of Flying Lotus’ post-Dilla hip-hop meets future jazz masterpiece is such that the best part of a year on, most of us are still trying to get our heads around it. Flying Lotus, meanwhile, is already onto the next step of human evolution.” Jim Merrett

“…jazz is now the primary driver of Flying Lotus’ music – more so even than the electronic hip-hop of his past, which remains unavoidably tied to a certain degree of sequenced rigidity. By introducing live instrumentation and doing impossibly skilled things with a computer, Ellison has managed to craft an album that matches his seventies jazz forebears in its ambition and quest for free exploration. Cosmogramma may lack the immediacy of its predecessor, but with it Flying Lotus has managed to tap into a headspace several levels deeper.” Rory Gibb (from his original review)

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

You wonder how Deerhunter find the hours in the day. After releasing not-one-but-two stunning albums in 2008, Bradford Cox and Lockett Pundt both found the time to put out accomplished solo albums before releasing this year’s new Deerhunter record – all without so much as a dent to their heroic touring schedule. If you’re a cynic waiting for a drop-off in quality, Halcyon Digest isn’t it.

The last time we heard from Deerhunter was 2009’s Rainwater Cassette Exchange (oh, did I not mention? They found time to put together a great stopgap EP too) which saw the band sounding more accessible, tightly focussed and downright poppy than ever before. Halcyon Digest doesn’t exactly move further in that direction (nor indeed does it sound especially like its direct predecessor) but it does paddle in similar waters.

Almost every song on offer here features at least one immediate, hooky refrain; channelling sixties doo-wop pop more substantially than the mere flirtations previously displayed by Cox. Gone are the baffling, ambient mysteries found on Weird Era Cont or Cryptograms. This is Deerhunter at their most obvious and instantly gratifying. Being the band that they are, Halcyon Digest is by no means an album of ‘Nothing Ever Happened’ retreads of course, but choruses to songs like ‘Memory Boy’ and ‘Desire Lines’ do flirt with the outright sing-along like that number did.

With last year’s Atlas Sound album, Bradford Cox became fully immersed in loops, samples, electronics and various other sonic manipulations. By direct contrast, it would seem that Cox is using Halcyon Digest to re-establish Deerhunter as a bread-and-butter guitar band. Employing simple and clean guitar tones (with a few modest touches of fuzz here and there), Deerhunter are plainly a humble four-piece on this record – largely choosing to shun their fleet of sound-expanding effects pedals. Rather than the band’s usual towering onslaughts of sound, we get verses supported by intricate guitar lines given space to breathe by minimal, shuffling drum work.

The downside of this more organic production is that the album suffers slightly from lack of dynamic or interesting textural shifts; two things that the band employed so well on previous releases. The shimmering ‘Helicopter’ is perhaps the only track here which employs Deerhunter’s usual build and release to any meaningful degree; Cox’s delicate refrains positively ache to slide out from under the ever swelling layers of guitars that build between verses – a rare oasis of gloriously shifting textures.

Even more outstanding is the album’s closing track, a piece so inventive and colourful that it casts all which came before it in grey shadow. As if he couldn’t hold it back any longer, Cox surrenders himself entirely to his more experimental tendencies on ‘He Would Have Laughed’: looped acoustic guitars, a complex bed of percussion, and a more stream-of-consciousness song structure all combine to create the album’s most entrancing moment – a glittering example of what can happen when this band really lets themselves loose.

Of course, it’s Deerhunter’s prerogative if they want to use this record to remind us that they’re essentially a rock band playing pop songs – and in setting out to achieve this aim, it’s frequently brilliant. But it’s nonetheless frustrating (and a downright tease) to conclude the album by giving us a glimpse of what such modest aims have been standing in the way of. It’s a Deerhunter album, so it’s ultimately an excellent album, of course – but Halcyon Digest’s fleeting displays of raw capability leave the listener anticipating their next release, rather than fully appreciating this one.

Tensnake

Our weekly look into the blogosphere where we talk about six tracks we found out about in the previous Wednesday-to-Wednesday seven-day period.

Track of the week: ‘Need Your Lovin’ by Tensnake (Dub mix)

I’m kind of bummed out I’m going to miss Tensnake when they play after Hercules and Love Affair in Amsterdam (it’s a train thing, don’t ask). Ever since a friend of mine put this band forward I’ve been liking their output, and this one is no exception. Nice rhythm lines here with the synth (I think, I’m horrible with deducing which instrument is which!), and you can definitely dance to this in a club. I don’t think the vocals are the greatest, and the “I need ya, I want ya, I need ya lovin’” aren’t the most innovative lyrics in the world. I know it’s kind of not the point with this type of music, but how hard can it be to at least not use four of the most used words in the English language as your key lines? However, it is easy to playback along to, though it does get a bit repetitive after a while. It’s still a fun tune to put on though.

http://hypem.com/track/1089581/Tensnake+-+Need+Your+Lovin+Dub+Mix+

‘Stay Here’ by Friendly Fires & Azari III

So yeah, probably I should start by saying which part is Friendly Fires and which part is Azari III and how they came together. However, I forgot, and I’m writing this on the commute sans internet, so my apologies. It starts with some deep sounds, but soon that more poppy Friendly Fires vibe starts coming in, which especially becomes clear after the minute mark when it starts getting a sort of beach party vibe and a kind of sound similar to the debut album of Friendly Fires. They start by singing “It’s a cold world out there, so let’s stay in”. Sure, it’s not the most poetic stuff, but I do think it’s better than Tensnake’s ‘I need ya, I want ya, I need ya lovin’” as it at least tries to say something else. It kind of goes from that party pop mode of Friendly Fires to the more deep house sound of Azari III (so I guess I don’t have to look it up after all). And it is a pretty nice mix I think. The mix between the two styles prevents it from getting monotonous, but it isn’t that sharp a divide that it doesn’t mesh.

http://hypem.com/track/1200583/Friendly+Fires+and+Azari+III+-+Stay+Here

‘Static on the Wire’ by Holy Ghost! (RAC remix)

You know we love Holy Ghost! (see our interview with the lads in the interview section), and if you are a regular reader of this column then you know RAC is pretty high on the list of my favourite remixers. They produce smooth, disco-ey remixes, and this one is no difference. They give the song just a bit more speed and make it a bit easier to dance to, as the original had a bit of a slower disco vibe to it than this remix. And a smooth remix which makes a track easier to dance to, now who doesn’t want that? And the lovely guys in the Holy Ghost! team sent this track for us to just give away as well! How nice is that? I love it when, for example around 2:30, they start a new part of the song and give that start just that bit more oomph instrumentally, that’s always a sure way to get the dance floor going even more I find (it works for me at least). It is a fun and catchy remix, easy on the ear like is always the case with the boys from RAC, so it has my backing.

http://drp.ly/1FRi4T

‘Psychic Chasms’ by Neon Indian (Anoraak remix)

So him from Neon Indian is going to be mad busy the coming time with a new Neon Indian album and the VEGA debut to be recorded, and to be honest I’m looking forward to the latter even more. I’m not sure about how well the vocals work with this track. I loved the opening, this slow, deep piano thingy, but then the voice just doesn’t work particularly well with that in my opinion. Perhaps you, the reader, will feel otherwise. It still has a bit of a dreamy vibe going on. I actually like the sounds Anoraak is producing on this a whole bunch, I’m just not sure it mixes all that well with the original Neon Indian bits, which I guess still is the goal of a remix.

http://hypem.com/track/1201668/Neon+Indian+-+Psychic+Chasms+Anoraak+remix+

‘Superstar’ by Aeroplane (The Krays remix)

I like the start, which is kind of African drums like and rhythm based, but this is soon thrown out of the window in favour of a more hard hitting sound. I do like the bass in the beginning, but it seems as if the mix just gets cruder and cruder and is very much aimed for the club. And it might work there, but I wouldn’t put it on just to amuse myself at home. I’d much rather listen to the original, one I think I actually positively admired in this column a few weeks ago. Sometimes the original is better than the remix, go figure.

http://hypem.com/track/1205917/Aeroplane+-+Superstar+The+Krays+remix+

‘Helicopter’ by Deerhunter

Okay, so lets immediately admit that I’m not the biggest Deerhunter fan. So if you like Deerhunter, don’t put too much stock in my opinion. There’s just something about the aesthetic of the whole band and its sound that just doesn’t do it for me. This I do find kind of appealing though. I like the sound effects, though I would like them more if they were produced a bit smoother. Because it sounds to me like dropping water or something, and the effect I would want it to have (especially in light of the pace of this song) is tranquillizing, but because it is produced just slightly ramshackle like it doesn’t really push the right buttons for me. Which is too bad, because I do think how they use those sounds and the build-up of it is pretty nicely done. Or well, on paper it would like terribly nice to me anyway, but it is just in the way the band executes it, aye, there lies the rub. But I guess that Deerhunter and I always be at odds with that, so that didn’t really come as a surprise to me. Regardless of that, they should just cut the last thirty seconds of the song anyway.

http://hypem.com/track/1206359/Deerhunter+-+Helicopter

Kanye West

Forgive me if this feels like I’m already straightening out 2010’s picture frames, pushing its chairs under its tables and hurrying you out of the door marked ‘2011’ when we’re only halfway through August. The trouble is music release schedules operate several months ahead of real time so, as someone who is informed about music releases on a daily basis whether I like it or not, I’m currently existing in a parallel universe where it’s late October/early November.

Luckily, from my position in this imagined future (all release dates are of course subject to change), this autumn looks like continuing what was already been a strong year for new records. 2010 has seen many of the previous decade’s primary acts return in some form or another, to varying degrees of success, such as The National, LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, Big Boi and Broken Social Scene. At the same time, newer acts have continued to hone their sound (Wavves, Best Coast) or seemingly burst out fully formed (Wild Nothing, Male Bonding, Baths). When looking ahead, it’s always the big names that stand out then – but don’t rule out a few surprises along the way.

Big names don’t come much bigger than recent Twitter convert Kanye West, who revealed in his recent surreal, hilarious, and even endearing Ustream monologue that his still untitled new record will finally be released in November. Leaked track ‘Power’ sees him return to rapping after 808s and Heartbreak (and already has its own Kanye-as-Roman-God trailer – he’s beyond simple music videos now) and if he can retain this song’s intensity and energy over a whole record, he could be approaching a career best.

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

Bradford Cox rivalled Kanye (at least on particular sections of the Internet) in the questionable blog post stakes for a while, and Deerhunter will return in September with Halcyon Digest. Free (so far) of the leak controversies that have dogged his last couple of releases, early previews have been positive. ‘Revival’ further demonstrates the malleability of Deerhunter’s sound, and there are reports that the record includes synth touches, more acoustic guitars and even an oboe solo. Who’d have laid out this path for this band after Cryptograms?

If Deerhunter continue to carve out their own distinctive body of work, two artists are looking to further expand on their own in the coming months. Nick Cave and a few of his Bad Seeds reconvene as Grinderman for their second album in September. If you needed further proof that this is a vehicle for them to flex their musical muscles in new ways while also having a laugh (in a terrifying sort of way) then look no further than the video for ‘Heathen Child’. It turns out the gods are just dirty old men. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see how Corin Tucker’s first record since the Sleater Kinney (hopefully) hiatus shapes up – 1000 Years track ‘Doubt’ only lets up for the sound of waves crashing on the beach.

We’ve also recently had a taste of the new record by Antony and the Johnsons – Swanlights is due in October and lead single ‘Thank You For Your Love’ is Antony at his loosest and most at ease than ever before. Whether this is a good thing or not is up for debate – I Am A Bird Now and The Crying Light both worked due to their atmospheric restraint that set Antony’s tremendous voice apart. However, The Crying Light’s songs sounded odd taken out of an album context, so the wait for Swanlight continues. Speaking of restraint, one band knows when to open up and when to hold back is The Walkmen. Their forthcoming album Lisbon will please those who fell for You & Me – ‘Angela Surf City’ and ‘Blue As Your Blood’ pack the same punch as ‘I Lost You’, and the album closes with a set of their best ballads yet. Gone are the days of ‘The Rat’, when they’d throw everything at you from the off and, surprisingly, they’re all the better for it.

Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 2

Another band who appear to be settling into their sound is No Age. Their forthcoming record Everything In Between anchors their ferocious two-pronged noise attack with ambience and electronics and appears to be the summation of their sound that Nouns was claimed to be at the time of its release. Lyrically, the songs address the mundane ups and downs of life, which gives their otherworldly noise a human touch. Robyn has always been adept at zoning in on fragile, human moments in her pop songs, and Body Talk Pt. 2 arrives in September. With ‘Hang With Me’ as its emotional centre, it’s difficult to see how she can fail and with Body Talk Pt. 3 also due by the end of the year, she could be about to pull off a quite astonishing run.

Finally, although the die hards haven’t had an Animal Collective album this year, the band’s members haven’t exactly been slacking off. There’s ODDSAC, a collaboration with Danny Perez that sounds like it’s aimed at fans of acid flashbacks rather than fans of ‘My Girls’. And then there’s the solo projects – Avey Tare’s first solo record Down There will be released in October and apparently has a lot to do with crocodiles. Meanwhile, Panda Bear will follow up Person Pitch (which arguably spawned chillwave) with Tomboy. Expect many ecstatic reviews followed by disappointing and/or confusing live shows.

What’s left? Interpol’s new line up have a self-titled record due soon; The Clientele, despite threatening otherwise, have new material on the horizon; The Thermals will release Personal Life in September; expect Calories to fly the flag for British DIY in September with the expansive Basic Nature; and Royksopp follow last year’s bright Junior with the sombre Senior.

So, should we care more about Interpol? Should we care less about Robyn? As ever though, it’s often the records you aren’t expecting that have the most impact – are there any hidden gems that have yet to catch our eye?

Crystal Antlers

August 24 2009

Monday’s show at Koko saw three American bands, all at various, early stages of their careers, coming together for a special one-off show. Deerhunter’s last two records are strong, flowing ‘albums’ in the old-fashioned sense of the word, and these well-paced, detailed recordings stand in stark contrast to their tendency to fall into the odd controversy every now and again. HEALTH, meanwhile, have been toeing the line between noise and dance for a couple of years now, and often produce something that sounds like neither of those thins rather than a combination of the two. Before all that though, come Crystal Antlers. No strangers to a bit of hype themselves, the band have made numerous trips over to the UK this year in support of their debut album, Tentacles. I caught their headline show at The Lexington a few months back and the six-piece seemed a little contained, both by the small stage and the venue’s sound system. However, in the bigger, ornate setting of Koko, they shine.

Backed by a huge screen that showed projections throughout the show (at one point during the set the band actually soundtrack a film of the Hindenburg disaster, which seemed oddly fitting), Crystal Antlers tore through an intense set, barely letting up and winning over a fair few of the early gig-goers. Prominent in the mix was Cora Foxx’s organ, which meant that the band sounded like White Light/White Heat era The Velvet Underground abducted from New York and dropped in California’s sun scorched landscape. Vocalist Jonny Bell led from the front, his lone voice riding the noise effectively and with undeniable power.

HEALTH followed, with the venue noticeably filling up – their first record was something of a sleeper hit, helped along by their remix record DISCO, and many people have high hopes for their forthcoming second album, Get Color. They played its lead single, ‘Die Slow’, early on, which remains their most successful attempt at blending the noise, shoegaze and dance genres together – in fact it was probably the highlight of the evening.

The band played with unrelenting energy, flinging themselves around the stage – swinging guitars, wielding drum sticks, wrestling robotic noises from pedals. The set swung from passages of seemingly formless noise to sudden burst of melody, and back again. It wasn’t always easy to listen to, but you get the impression that with another album under their belt they’ll continue to make strides and build on what is already an impressive fanbase for such an experimental outfit.

Finally came the much-anticipated headline set from Deerhunter, opening with Cryptograms’ ‘Intro’ and title track. On record, this is as a ferocious start to an album as you’re likely to hear, but this wasn’t the case here – rather than building on the opening bands’ energy, they sounded a little tired. It wasn’t until ‘Nothing Ever Happened’, a few songs later, that things began to pick up, and even then they squandered some of their momentum by extending the song’s outro.

Some tracks, however, benefited from this kind of approach – an extended ambient intro set the tone for the poignant title track from last year’s Microcastle, for instance. Weird Era Cont.’s ‘Operation’ was another highlight, its shifting tempo and odd structure bringing the band to life. The encore summed the evening up – with the band returning, ready to leap into Microcastle’s opening duo of ‘Cover Me (Slowly)’ and ‘Agoraphobia’, bassist Josh Fauver’s guitar broke, leaving frontman Bradford Cox to add lib with the crowd for five minutes.

This was a shame – Deerhunter’s last two records are noisy, at times poignant, ruminations on mortality and sexuality, but the band clearly weren’t firing on all cylinders here – a quick visit to youtube confirms that they’re capable of crafting a weirdly intense live experience. While for most bands a mixed set like this might be excusable, the knowledge that Deerhunter are capable of much more means that this was a little bit of a disappointing climax to what was largely a pretty special evening.

Atlas Sound

‘Walkabout’ is the first track to emerge from the second album from Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox’s solo project Atlas Sound. Logos, initially leaked in demo form nearly a year ago, has been re-recorded and developed in the meantime and will finally be released in October. ‘Walkabout’ suggests that Cox has married the summery, brighter pop moments of Deerhunter’s Microcastle from last year with the ambient, looping soundscapes of his first Atlas Sound record, Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel.

Atlas Sound devotees will know it’s not quite that simple – Cox has been putting out Atlas Sound tracks and EPs on his blog since 2007, and this wealth of material stretches from the three track, ambient Weekend EP to the blissed-out pop of the Orange Ohms Glow EP. So, to hear Cox attempting to blend melody with experimentation once again isn’t much of a surprise, but ‘Walkabout’ is perhaps one of his most successful attempts yet.

The track is a collaboration between Cox and Animal Collective member Noah Lennox, a.k.a. Panda Bear. Bearing in mind the increasing popularity of both artist’s bands in the last year or so, their coming together on ‘Walkabout’ is significant – it’s a bit like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey for bloggers. The track came about after Cox and Lennox listened to ‘What Am I Going to Do’ by The Dovers while touring Europe together. Cox has said, ‘I was amazed at the hook– a weird organ thing with drums and electric bass. I mentioned to Noah that someone should really sample that riff. He agreed and he taught me a little about sampling and matching up beats’.

Propelled by glitchy beats and the glorious hook from The Dovers, ‘Walkabout’ does indeed sound like a halfway point between Atlas Sound and Lennox’s own Beach Boys-esque Person Pitch record from 2007. Both artists have dwelled on the theme of childhood in their work before, and this is where they meet; Cox sings ‘What did you want to see?/What did you want to be when you grew up?’ over the looping melody, eventually being swallowed up in ambience and reverb. Their voices match up well and interlink, both favouring repetition in melody and lyrics that creates the hypnotic effect that will by now be familiar to fans.

At the same time, there’s also an attention to detail, a texturing of sound, that rewards repeated listens – there’s a depth to the recording that stretches beyond the initial summery sheen of the melody. It’s a promising introduction to Logos, suggesting that Cox has attempted to further expand his sonic palette.

Atlas Sound

The second album by Deerhunter’s frontman Bradford Cox’s solo project, Atlas Sound, will finally be released in October on Kranky. Entitled Logos, the album has been in the works for over a year and was leaked late last year in an unmastered state after the contents of Cox’s mediafire folder became accessible via the Deerhunter blog.

In the meantime, Cox has re-worked the record and recruited some exciting guest musicians – namely Laetitia Sadier from Stereolab and Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, from Animal Collective. Cox has consistently discussed the influence of these two bands on his own music in interviews and in his blog, and now they’re on his album- the lucky fellow!

In a press release, Cox has described how Logos differs from his previous work, particularly 2008′s Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel:

“My last album was a bedroom laptop type thing. Very introverted. Logos is an album that was recorded all over the world. It’s not about me. There are collaborations with other musicians. The lyrics are not autobiographical. The view is a lot more panoramic and less close-up. I became bored with introspection… Almost everything you hear on the album is a first take. This makes it almost like a ‘live album’ where a band sets up in a studio and just rolls tape. There are songs on here I don’t even remember recording.”

The tracklist for Logos is below. Atlas Sound currently have no scheduled tour date, though Cox will continue to tour the world with Deerhunter throughout August.

01 The Light That Failed
02 An Orchid
03 Walkabout [ft. Noah Lennox (Panda Bear)]
04 Criminals
05 Attic Lights
06 Shelia
07 Quick Canal [ft. Laetitia Sadier]
08 My Halo
09 Kid Klimax
10 Washington School
11 Logos