Crib Notes

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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>>The recent meltdown of lead singer Nathan Williams of Wavves continues to gather commentary from everyone. To refresh your memory, Ohmpark gives an interesting chronicle of the event and aftermath.

A few weeks ago, Wavves had a meltdown on stage at a big music festival in Spain which Pitchfork called “the most epic onstage meltdown a band of their small size could conjure”

>>Last year Matador teamed up with True Panther Sounds record label to help put out Girls’ debut 7″. The band is back at it again with a target release of September 22.

We are proud to announce the September 22 release of the debut full-length from Girls, entitled Album. The record will be released by True Panther Sounds, the label that released Girls’ debut 7?, “Lust For Life,” last year, in conjunction with Matador.

>>Shining Path, the Balkans and the Trashcans show is still creating quite the buzz amongst fans. 7″ Atlanta does a good job describing the show and an even better job of making you feel guilty for missing out.

The Trashcans shared the bill Friday at the Watch Yr Head House with a couple of awesome young bands.

The house is located off Memorial and has a basement in which the bands play and a barn-style garage for chilling in between sets.

>>If I had the money, I still wouldn’t carry a Gucci man-purse — no matter what Crunk and Disorderly says:

Titty Boi and Dolla Boy [collectivly known as Playaz Circle] were two of the more fashionable acts to perform at Birthday Bash this past weekend. And yes, that’s a fork dangling on Dolla’s chest. Tell mama the first thing that comes to your mind.

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Per Jayson Greene’s Pitchfork review of “Sideways” from Decatur-bred Playboy Tre’s Liquor Store Mascot mixtape:

“Sometimes I wake up and be like, ‘Man, fuck you even wake up for?’” Playboy Tre grumbles at the beginning of “Sideways”. To call this sentiment “vintage Playboy Tre” would be disorienting to the 90% of the world that has never heard of him, so introductions are in order: Tre is a 30-something Atlanta vet with a history of almost-made-its in his past (ran with Bohagon when he was a Lil Jon signee; writes occasional hooks for T.I. and others) and a penchant for the kind of grown-ass-man introspection that almost nobody outside of Scarface bothers with anymore.

Read in full and listen to “Sideways” at Pitchfork.

Download the whole thang (Liquor Store Mascot) at 2dopeboyz.

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Starting this Friday, director Matthew Robison’s Atlanta music documentary We Fun will be playing on Pitchfork.TV for one week and one week only. Inside sources tell us that this will be a slightly edited version from what screened last month as part of the Atlanta Film Festival.

To get specific about it, the much ballyhooed flaming vagina scene has been trimmed considerably.

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Could this be the beginnings of a buddy-cop flick?

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has put his own spin on a song from DOOM (formerly known as MF Doom), the Atlanta-based underground MC with the cult-following.

The original version of the song titled “Gazzillion Ear” is scheduled to appear on DOOM’s March 24 release, Born Like This. The remix will be included as a bonus track on the iTunes downloaded version of the album.

Listen to a snippet at Pitchfork.com. Stay tuned for CL’s upcoming feature on DOOM.

(Photo of DOOM courtesy Valery Lovely)

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This weekend Pitchfork posted a short video documentary that features Brann Dailor and Troy Sanders from Mastodon discussing the ins and outs of life on the road and their forthcoming album, Crack the Skye. The video ends with a  short video of their Halloween show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London.

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Hard to believe that it hasn’t even been two full years since Deerhunter unleashed Cryptograms into the world. The ensuing Pitchfork obsession, constant touring and Bradford Cox’s Atlas Sound adventure have all left indelible marks on the group.

All of these things read like an impressionist’s diary entries lingering between every note, reverberating strum, and coo heard throughout the group’s third full-length, Microcastle (Kranky). From the epic, melancholy wail and fading guitar arch that opens the album in “Cover Me (Slowly),” it’s plain to see that this is not the same Deerhunter once personified by Cox masquerading in a dress.

Whereas Cryptograms propelled the group into the blogosphere with a full and confident stride, Microcastle is a world-weary album that’s somewhat damaged but not disheartened by experience. The album finds the group shedding the shoe-gazer fuzz and aggression of the past, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t come armed with some incredibly catchy pop hooks.

“Never Stops” and “Saved by Old Times” are bound by a sense of classic pop simplicity so uncomplicated that the subtleties and repeating cyclical structures of each song become addictive. Every second of the album is shrouded in a hue of ghostly and psychedelic fog, but Microcastle is not about sensory overload. It’s about nostalgia, reflection and growing up.

With its Stereolab-esque bouts of rhythms and droning, distorted harmonies, “Nothing Ever Happened” is the catchiest song on the record. It’s also the album’s most complex chapter that bridges the gap between Cryptograms and the here and now.

Despite the simplicities, the songs on Microcastle are rhythmically complex and therefore require patience. As such, the album isn’t the best place for Deehunter newcomers to start. But Microcastle is without a doubt a five-star record, and the departure from the avant-garde pop grind of Cryptograms serves the group well.

Deerhunter plays with Jay Reatard, Times New Viking and Pylon. $16. 8 p.m. Fri., Oct. 31. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave. 404-524-7354.

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Yesterday afternoon Pitchfork posted some photos from the Stereolab / Atlas Sound show that took place at The 40 Watt Club over the weekend. Check them out here.

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This morning Pitchfork posted a long overdue review of Gentleman Jesse’s debut album on DoucheMaster Records (whom, by the way received a CL Best Of Atlanta award this week for critic’s pick for best local record label).

Unlike the pukey face review that Vice gave him this month, Pitchfork likes Gentleman Jesse so much that they bestowed upon him an empowering 8.1 rating.

Read the review 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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