Crib Notes

Bradford Cox has declared that Logos is an “extroverted” album that isn’t about him, but I couldn’t disagree more. The second solo full-length from Deerhunter’s leader is the inward journey of a world-weary voice dealing with the natural order of the universe — all awash in soft-focus, pop tones. Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear) of Animal Collective lends his voice and sampling blueprints to “Walkabout,” and Stereolab’s angelic voice Laetitia Sadier drives “Quick Canal.” These couplings feel like vacations from the Id, Ego, Superego clash commencing beneath the happy exteriors of “Sheila” and “Logos.” Each is bound by fairytale bliss and distress under gorgeous façades. With repeated listens, Logos reveals greater staying power than its predecessor, and though it’s not the catchiest or the most unpredictable album Cox has made, it’s the strongest one so far under the Atlas Sound moniker. (Kranky) 4 stars out of 5

(Photo Courtesy Kranky)

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Remember Deerhunter? Not the Deerhunter, mind you, of Brooklyn Vegan hype or Pitchfork Best New Music fame, and not the Spike Jonze/Trent Reznor-hanging Deerhunter, but Atlanta’s Deerhunter. Remember when they gigged tirelessly, I mean, all the damn time, at the Drunken Unicorn here in town, or at the sweaty, dank Caledonia Lounge over in Athens? Above all, do you remember Turn It Up Faggot? Yeah, the one with a Black Lips’ dick on the cover. Notoriously effusive frontman Bradford Cox would just as soon have you purge it from memory — he’s trashed the band’s grimy, lo-fi debut in interviews, citing, among other apparent pratfalls, the band’s musical immaturity at the time.

While it’s definitely true that the songs on Turn It Up Faggot lack a certain cohesiveness aptly displayed on Deerhunter’s following recordings (say what you will about Cox and his occasionally impish ways, the guy knows how to put an album together), there exists throughout the record a gnarled, raw sort of furor that is nowhere to be found on, say, Cryptograms. Chalk it up to artistic evolution, if you will — obviously, a band must grow, mature, change; if not, you’re Kiss. With all the best groups, though, there’s usually a good deal of intrigue, if not all-out enjoyment, to be found by examining and absorbing their earliest work. In this case, TIUF, ugly scabs and all, contains some revelatory stuff. (more…)

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Clockwise from top: Tommy Chung, Mario Schambon, Jason and Herb Harris (Photo by Carl La Pan)

Atlas Sound fires up the tour machine once again, this time Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox has enlisted the Selmanaires to serve as his backing band for this show of ghostly pop. Stereolab-esque post-rock Brits Broadcast play in support of their latest release, Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate. The Selmanaires pull double duty as they open the show Thursday night, Oct. 14. $15. 8:30 p.m. The Earl. 404-522-3950.

Chad Radford: So what’s up with the Atlas Sound tour; the Selmanaires are the Atlas Sound band for the tour with Broadcast and you’re opening the shows as well?
Tommy Chung: Yes. Bradford has been collaborating with Broadcast for a little while and we were always jealous because Broadcast has been one of our favorite bands pretty much since they became a band. Bradford asked Herb if we wanted to go too, and it was like, ‘let me think about it… Um yeah!’ A week later Bradford said he was sick of being a one-man sampler show and asked how we felt about being the backing band too. It sounded cool so we did one practice with him before a Dirty Projectors show and within the first ten minutes he asked us to play that show. We learned four songs, stretched them out and did like a 10-minute cover of “What Goes On” by the Velvet Underground.

We’ve always had a connection with Deerhunter. Our very first show out was in 2003 with Deerhunter at MJQ before the Drunken Unicorn even existed. It was Deerhunter, Tabitha and we were the openers — back when we were still stand up bass, Wurlitzer and acoustic guitar. After that we pretty much played with Deerhunter every month at Lenny’s. It feels like things have come full-circle now that we’re playing with Atlas Sound.

The Selmanaires “Resonance Alright” mp3

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Tues., Oct. 13.
When not singing and playing guitar for critical darlings TV on the Radio, Kyp Malone is a perennial songwriter whose work – as a solo artist and with the band Iran – has remained a sleeper. Malone’s latest, self-titled offering under the name RAIN MACHINE finds him spilling a mixed bag of jazz, bluegrass, funk and sometimes subdued, sometimes blistering guitar excursions. Naturally, this swan dive into free-form musical strumming lands on the personal, self-indulgent, humdrum side, but if you’re patient, his eclectic palette and sobering voice and rhythms are rich with anti-pop depth. Neo-folk songstress Sharon Van Etten opens. The Earl $15-$17. 8:30 p.m. , 488 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-522-3950.

Rain Machine, “Smiling Black Faces” mp3

Wed., Oct. 14
Super Soul Party w/ the Soulphonics & Ruby Velle. No cover before 10 p.m. $5 after. The Star Bar. 437 Moreland Ave. 404-681-9018.

(Thee Oh Sees photo courtesy 230 Publicity)

Wed., Oct. 14
With his latest In The Red-released LP, Help, San Francisco guitarist/auteur John Dwyer fronts Thee Oh Sees to summon the demons of West Coast psychedelia circa ‘68, then swan-dives into scorched ether, melody and distortion.Mobile, Alabama resident doom wave rockers Wizard Sleeve and Indiana post-punks TV Ghost open. $8 (adv). $10 (door). 8:30 p.m. The Earl. 404-522-3950.

(Atlas Sound photo by Lockett Pundt)

Thurs., Oct. 15
ATLAS SOUND, BROADCAST, SELMANAIRES Atlas Sound fires up the tour machine once again, this time Deerhunter frontman Brandford Cox has enlisted the Selmanaires to serve as his backing band for this show of ghostly pop drones. Stereolab-esque post-rock Brits Broadcast play in support of their latest release, Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate. The Selmanaires pull double duty as they open the show. $15. 8:30 p.m. The Earl. 404-522-3950.

Atlas Sound feat. Noah Lennox “Walkabout” mp3

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Wha… ?

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Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt is making his live solo debut this Tues. night when Lotus Plaza opens for the Books at Eyedrum.

Chad Radford:  Tell me about how the Lotus Plaza album, The Floodlight Collective came together and what you had in mind as you going in to it?
Lockett Pundt: I didn’t really have a whole lot in mind when I sat down to write the songs on the album. I have a hard time getting things done when I have something specific in mind in regards to song writing. Most of them were just a simple idea that sort of blossomed into a song. They all sort of have their own environment. I would go into a song with a guitar loop or drum track and it would either take off, or nothing would come of it. I think the only song in which I had a very clear view of how I wanted it to sound was “Antoine.” I had a Joe Meek sample that I played at a few different speeds creating this crazy out of phase percussive thing and I heard the song from the beginning. Other than that, I just had fun writing songs and had enough to put together an album.

Did you write the songs on the album on your own or was it a group effort that involved anyone else?
I did everything myself. Brad [Cox] plays drums on “Different Mirrors.” He thought it might sound better adding drums over the drum loop in the song and he added it on the first take. I thought it sounded great.

How did you approach it differently from a Deerhunter record?
I write a lot more lyrics myself, which I don’t do all that much in Deerhunter. I tend to write more personal I suppose. I never really try to write a song either way, I think it just sort of happens that one is a better Deerhunter song than one I would use personally. In my songs, I definitely like the parts and instrumentation to remain as how they are, but with songs that are introduced to Deerhunter, I like the guys to write their own parts or do them how they would. That’s the main difference in the approach to me.

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Bradford Cox of Deerhunter/Atlas Sound will appear on Fox News’ Red Eye talk show tonight/tomorrow morning. The show airs at 3 a.m.

(Photo courtesy Kranky Records)

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Some time ago, I was invited over to Bradford Cox’s house to do an interview for Signal To Noise magazine when his debut Atlas Sound full-length, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, was about to be released.

During that interview he gave me a preview of some new stuff that he had been working on that was to take shape as his next full-length, Logos. I am duty bound not to reveal any details related to anything about the album, but I can say that it is an absolute monster.

The bottom-end on some of the songs was so powerful that it literally rattled books and CDs off of the shelf when he played it.

When some rough versions of the album’s songs were leaked last year, I worried that the project would be scrapped. But last week news went public that the album is being released in the States via Kranky on Oct. 20. It seems that a host of other musicians have come on-board to contribute to the album as well, including Panda Bear from Animal Collective, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab and Sasha Vine of Sian Alice Group.

News of the album’s release came with a note from Cox:

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. This was also the case Deerhunter’s ‘Microcastle’ LP, which was written during the same period.

I started recording December of 2007. I recorded the first version of the album, which was not intended for release. Due to some unfortunate mistakes on my part, this “sketch” of the album was leaked. Many of the songs where simply “placeholders,” songs I created quickly to help design the “arc” of the album.

I did not react well to the leak, in retrospect. It became the kind of internet-fueled drama that I was quickly learning to despise. I had always desired to speak through music, not blog posts and interviews, etc. I considered abandoning the project.

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This Sat., March 21 Cameli’s Pizza in the Kroger plaza on Ponce de Leon Avenue is celebrating 13 years of serving gourmet pies with an anniversary show.

Such lauded local art-punk, shoegazer and otherwise experimental bands Atlas Sound, Abby and Go Go and Facehugger are all lined-up to perform.

The party takes place in the space directly underneath Cameli’s at 699 Ponce de Leon Ave., which used to be Inavox several years back.

Cover charge is $8. Music starts at 9 p.m.

… and the best part, there will be free pizza served all night long.

(Photo by Hisham Bharoocha)

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Deerhunter posted a video for the song “White Ink” over the weekend. The video was directed by Justin Gaar and is a gorgeous accompaniment to the instrumental number taken from the group’s second album, Cryptograms.

Deerhunter – White Ink from justin gaar on Vimeo.

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This week NylonMag.com posted a short “Mixtape” piece on Deerhunter. the post is all about a mixtape that Deerhunter drummer Moses Archuleta “made for his girlfriend, but gave to [Nylon] instead.”

Moses says…

“So, I tried really hard to come up with a mixtape, but to no avail. I’m usually pretty good at it, if I may say so myself. I had all these lofty ideas for different themed playlists (winter weather, van music, industrial, percussion favorites). I love doing it and it’s usually so easy. Maybe it was the impending mega-tour or overwhelming indecisiveness or who knows what, but I froze up and was unable to produce anything.

But I’m in DC right now on Election Day and it’s raining today and that was actually the jumping point for the last mixtape I put together. So, I leave you with a mixtape I made for my girlfriend a few weeks ago. (Ewwwww gross/Awwwww cute, etc.)”

Vague Fall 2008 theme. 60 minute cassette format. Enjoy.

Side A)
Scott Walker – “It’s Raining Today”
Dislocation Dance – “Tyrannies Of Fun”
Quickspace – “The Flat Moon Society”
Unwound – “Demons Sing Love Songs”
Crystal Stilts – “Crystal Stilts”
My Bloody Valentine – “Thorn”
The Feelies – “Let’s Go”
Billy Bragg & Wilco – “California Stars”

Side B)
Eluvium – “Area 41″
Scott Walker – “Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Stalinist Regime)”
Faust – “Jennifer”
Elvis Presley – “Blue Moon”
T. Rex – “Mystic Lady”
Electric Light Orchestra – “Livin’ Thing”
Love – “Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale”
Moondog – “Maybe”
Tom Waits – “Innocent When You Dream (78)”

(Photo by Erik Ian)

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Longtime Atlanta music scene fixture Adam Bruneau has created videos for two songs from Deerhunter’s third full-length, Microcastle.

Bruneau has served in the local music community performing as an auxiliary member of dozens of local groups, including a short stint with Deerhunter, the Kiwis and Phonepunk; although it’s been a few years since Phonepunk made any appearances… Sadly.

The videos, for “Microcastle” and “Cover Me (slowly)” are posted on Adam’s blog, Rabbits Full of Magic.

Deerhunter – Cover Me Slowly from Adam Bruneau on Vimeo.

These are videos for songs from Deerhunter’s new album Microcastle, which has just come out on Kranky and 4AD records, and which is flawless and wonderful. I had talked to Bradford about doing some video and I knew this was a fall/winter record, so upon finding myself going up Borestone mountain in Maine in the middle of October at peak season for color-changing leaves, I captured the footage that ended up in these videos. Cover Me (Slowly) kept making me think of the beginning of Twin Peaks so when I found a waterfall at the foothills of the mountain I knew it was meant to be. I changed the tint to match some of the cover art, a pink picture of someone with a skull in their eye. I played with how the video synced to the audio a number of different ways before trying random alignments and finding parts in the original unedited footage that would line up with cues in the music. I find this to be a much more natural way of scoring video to audio and usually you end up with something nice you wouldn’t have thought of consciously. I really like Agoraphobia but didn’t want to make a video to that unless the band members were included in it.

Deerhunter – Microcastle from Adam Bruneau on Vimeo.

I was in the back seat of my aunt’s car going up Borestone mountain and riding to the spot where you get out before you hike up it, and playing with the video camera as it was zoomed in really far into the trees, which gave me the idea for the Microcastle video. The speed and variety of colors flying by reminded me of the rush you get at the end of this song, which is a soaring coda after a very peaceful and reserved verse section. For the beginning I wanted some kind of fall still life that shimmered with the sound of the song. The shimmering effect was pulled off by syncing the audio amplitude directly to the opacity of the image, and I ended up using footage from the top of the mountain. Climbing Mount Borestone was like a standard hike until the last couple hundred feet, which was pretty much a vertical climb up the face of the mountain and felt like an epic task. So once we got to the very top, and you could see all over Maine, everything got very still and quiet, and I found a little pool of water with a few plants growing around it. When I went through my footage to pick out what to use for Microcastle, it felt perfect; on top of that mountain on a bright fall day, it was a timeless, concrete, physical manifestation of the song.

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Hot on the heels of a September/October North American tour stint opening up for Stereolab, Atlas Sound (a.k.a. Bradford Cox of Deerhunter) has perpetrated a cool and crystalline remix of “Neonbeanbag” from Stereolab’s latest full-length Chemical Chords.

The so-called “Southern Baptist Remix” isn’t a huge departure from the song’s original version. The tweaks and vibrant textures that Cox adds to the song are used more to flesh out the parts of the song that already exists, rather than turn it into something new.

To listen to Atlas Sound’s remix of Stereolab’s “Neon Beanbag” click here.

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Pitchfork Media has posted a three-part video segment of Daytripping hosted by Bradford Cox of Deerhutner.

Throughout his Daytrip to the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago Bradford talks to Health, Jay Reatard, King Khan, Apples in Stereo, High Places and many more.

Click here to watch part 1.

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Over the weekend Deerhunter unveiled that it was taking on a new guitarist, a young lady by the name of Whitney Petty from Marietta, GA, to round-out the five-piece lineup for the group’s forthcoming tour. Details are still coming in, but you can read more about the story here.

In the meantime there’s a video of Bradford Cox, Lockett Pundt and Petty playing an acoustic version of the song, “Winter Never Stops” on Deerhunter’s blog.

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SOLO DEERHUNTER: Bradford Cox does his thing at his Atlas Sound CD release performance, Tues., Feb. 19.

Click here to read Mosi Reeves’ story on Cox and his new release.

(All photos by Alan Friedman)

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It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since Lenny’s Bar moved into its more spacious new location. On Aug. 25, Atlanta’s best dive bar will be celebrating the one-year anniversary of its move with a night of local bands and DJs. Snowden, Psychic Hearts and Atlas Sound (Bradford Cox of Deerhunter) will bring the rock. KISS Atlanta party-starter Preston Craig will fill the floor with a DJ set. This anniversary party looks to be the best end-of-summer blowout in Atlanta, so be there.

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Band blogs are a dime a dozen. I’m sick of reading about your top five favorite twee pop songs at the moment or what you had for breakfast while touring Oregon. Bands should be thinking about new, creative ways to approach their blogs. That’s why I’d like to take a minute to praise Atlanta’s Deerhunter for going out on a limb and taking a chance with its online journal.

Deerhunter’s blog has barely been up a week, and yet it’s stirred up more controversy in the indie world than Animal Collective’s recent album leak. It all started when the band announced the creation of a “poop journal” in which they would offer photos and descriptions of their daily BMs. Online indie tastemaker PitchforkMedia.com jumped on the story, poking fun at the band’s antics.

On Wednesday, Deerhunter singer Bradford Cox pushed the blog’s boundaries a bit further by making a borderline-pornographic post about his top five fantasy boyfriends. The post was complete with lurid details and nude pictures of the young men he described. Although it was obviously in jest — Huckleberry Finn was No. 3 on the list — dozens of readers were outraged. Consequently, the blog was bombarded with scathing comments from “fans.”

As usual, Pitchfork hopped on the bandwagon, calling the band’s blog one of the “seediest corners” of the Internet and accusing Cox of posting child pornography — an accusation Cox vehemently denies. The controversial entry was promptly taken down from Deerhunter’s blog and replaced with a “fuck you” letter from Cox.

Sure, the poop journal and the fantasy top five list are cringe-worthy features to most of us, but at least they’re not boring. In any case, the band isn’t going to let the naysayers ruin its fun. In his response letter, Cox tells all of his detractors that they “can eat the shit [they’ll] be seeing photos and journal entries about.” I guess that means the poop journal’s still on. Sweet.

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By the time I reached the Earl, signs reading “TONIGHT’S SHOW IS SOLD OUT” were plastered all over the front door. This was bad news for my dumb-ass friends who refused to buy tickets before the show. While they stood outside, devising convoluted plots to infiltrate the venue, I slipped inside, ticket in hand.

The crowd seemed pretty atypical for a Fiery Furnaces show. It was all cargo shorts and sandals. I couldn’t figure out whether the place was packed because of the Fiery Furnaces or the hometown heroes, Deerhunter. Deerhunter took the stage looking like a ragtag gang of world-weary high schoolers (the singer later joked about the guitarist being 12). Under blue lights, the band built up a fog of ambient noise before launching into “Cryptograms,” the title track of its last LP.

The sheer volume of the music sent hoards of cargo shorts retreating back to the bar. The scene reminded me of My Bloody Valentine’s practice of weeding out dilettantes by maxing out the PA. Once the dilettantes were weeded out, the Atlanta natives tore through all of the Fluorescent Grey EP and most of their LP, Cryptograms. The band was able to move from ambient tranquility to freak-out attack mode and vice versa with startling fluidity. The bassist laid down thick, bouncy grooves, while the singer looped and layered his vocals, causing them to swell and dissipate in waves.

By the time my friends had snuck in, vocalist Bradford Cox was dedicating a song to an audience member who claimed it was his birthday. He then proceeded to sing “Flourescent Gray” to the birthday boy, while mimicking Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dance. The Fiery Furnaces may have been headlining, but the show belonged to Deerhunter.

The brother/sister duo of the Fiery Furnaces was accompanied by a guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist. The extra percussion gave their tunes a funky, jungle-boogie vibe. The set started with a polyrhythmic version of “In My Little Thatched Hut” and continued in the same energetic vein for about an hour. The highlight was a psych-doo-wop version of their sunny pop song, “Here Comes the Summer.” My only complaint was that the band never gave the audience a chance to catch its breath. By the time the band returned for its encore, most of the crowd was gone. Maybe they were there for Deerhunter.

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