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Jay-Z Announces 2010 Tour Dates. Chicago Not On List.
What do you do when an album you've recorded gets leaked online just after it's mastered and three months before it's scheduled to hit the shelves? Most bands would either move the release date up or just say "fuck it" and hope touring revenue makes up for any lost sales. Or, if you're Deerhunter's leader Bradford Cox, you head back in the studio and bang out a second disc to release along with the original album when it's finally publicly released.
The result is splintered, with the original album Microcastle shimmering beautifully while its hastily recorded appendix, Weird Era Cont., is raw, rough, and winningly self-indulgent. Obviously both discs were created by the same band, but if you didn't know it you might think they were recorded years apart. For this reason let's center on Microcastle and its success, and just accept Weird Era Cont. as a pleasant bonus experiment that's enjoyable but pales in comparison.
Microcastle is a mini-masterwork though. Before proceeding, read that last sentence and realize that we have pretty much hated all of Deerhunter's previous work. So let that sink in for a sec. Microcastle is a nigh perfect blend of indie pop with a tinge of prog-rock noodlery ... just enough to keep things interesting but not too much that you would want to start flinging hackey-sacks at the band. Some have thrown out comparisons to the Flaming Lips or Mercury Rev, but we're hearing WAY more Elephant 6 on this disc. Cox has managed to rein in and redirect some of his more obstuse tendencies to create an album that grows in stature upon repeated listens.
Does all of that read like gobbledygook to you? Well then here's the ten cent translation: the album is really, really good ... and you should go see the band when they play Metro tomorrow night because we can only imagine how much better these songs must be when they're living and breathing on stage.
Deerhunter plays tomorrow, November 15 at Metro, 3730 N Clark, 7 p.m., $17, all ages
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I actually like Weird Era Cont a little more than Microcastle, but both discs are candidates for my favorite album of the year. Weird Era Cont reminds me a lot of Unwound's Leaves Turn Inside You, which is one of my all-time faves.
Too bad I've been planning on seeing The Sea & Cake that night - I'm sure it will be a good show.
actually, weird era was leaked this summer too.
and microcastle isnt that great. their best release is clearly the fluorescent gray e.p. from spring '07.
microcastle has its moments but generally speaking the record is boring and could have easily been the follow-up to the atlas sound record.
As a deerhunter fan since their cryptograms tour, I miss the old weird psychedelic sound of deerhunter and cringe at the nearly-generic indie sound that they have taken lately.
fluorescent gray has yet to be topped.
microcastle is a very good album, but I also miss thee sound from their previous work. I wish I didn't have plans already or else I would go their concert. I really liked them when I saw them.
Deerhunter is just one of those bands that constantly changes its sound.
Turn it Up Faggot doesnt sound like anything else. Just like Cryptograms doesnt sound like anything else. All of the releases (and blog mp3s) totally sound like different bands. The closest has been fluorescent gray & cryptograms if you were to cut out the ambient noise of the latter. And Microcastle absolutely does not sound like earlier material whatsoever - it's much less experimental and much more straight forward and indie sounding - almost cliche hooks. There are gems on the new record for sure, but they are hidden by the songs that are cringe-worthy ("little kids" and "saved by old times" - so terrible).
Sonic Youth is like that. I hated Rather Ripped and A Thousand Leaves. Fuck that. I'd rather listen to Sister or Evol.