Music Dissolves Water: Deerhunter

Showing posts with label Deerhunter. Show all posts

Sunday, April 10, 2016

This Week's Shows (4/11 - 4/17)

Here's a something-for-everyone week of music in Atlanta: on one hand, we have a two-night stand by Mumford & Son at a hockey rink in Gwinnett County, pop royalty Elle King at Variety Playhouse, and MTV heroes Duran Duran at a downtown basketball arena, while on the other hand, we have the Atlanta debut (as far as I know) of Dan Boeckner's new project, Operators, the reconstructed Mr. Twin Sister, and the first Sunset Session at Park Tavern of the season, with lots in between as you'll see below.

As always, please keep in mind that musicians and night-club proprietors lead complicated lives and I'm prone to errors, mistakes, typos, and fubars; it's advisable to confirm any of the information below on your own before making plans.

MONDAY APRIL 11

Deerhunter, The Subsonics, Bitchin Bajas (Variety Playhouse)

Deerhunter are an experimental noise rock band from Atlanta, fronted by Bradford Cox. Cox's vocal style blends vocal experimentation along the lines of Meredith Monk or Yoko Ono with a more direct and punky howl inspired by the Fall's Mark E. Smith, while his bandmates churn out an aggressive mix of industrial-grind guitars and fractured dance rhythms that often recalls earlier Georgia art punks like the Method Actors and Pylon. 2015's Fading Frontier is arguably Deerhunter's best effort yet, and if you missed their previous sold-out show at the Playhouse, here's your chance to make up for it.

Deerhunter at Bumbershoot 2013

Lissie, Skrizzly Adams (Terminal West)

Lissie Maurus draws on her blue-collar Midwestern origins to create her own form of indie folk music. The granddaughter of an international barbershop quartet champion, she grew up singing in theater productions, eventually picking up the guitar and playing her own songs at local coffee shops as a teenager. Thrown out of high school during her senior year, she spent a brief period at Colorado State University, relocated to Paris for a semester, and eventually ditched college altogether to pursue her music career. Returning to the U.S., Lissie headed west and settled in Los Angeles, where she became a fixture on the local venue circuit.

Lissie at Bumbershoot 2013

Mumford & Sons (Duluth Infinite Energy Arena)

First of a two-night stand by the British folk-rock superstars.

TUESDAY APRIL 12

The Cult, Holy White Hounds (Variety Playhouse)

One of England's leading heavy metal revivalists, The Cult picked up the pseudo-mysticism and Native American obsessions of the Doors, the guitar orchestrations of Led Zeppelin, and the three-chord crunch of AC/DC, while adding touches of post-punk goth rock. The Cult gained a dedicated following in their native Britain with mid-'80s singles like She Sells Sanctuary before breaking into the American metal market in the late '80s. However, the band was plagued with off-stage tensions and problems that prevented them from retaining their popularity and split in 1995 following a pair of unsuccessful records, but return on an occasional basis for new records.

Mumford & Sons (Duluth Infinite Energy Arena)

Second of the two-night stand by the British folk-rock superstars.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 13

Elle King (Variety Playhouse)

Pop singer, songwriter, and occasional actor Elle King is the daughter of London King and Rob Schneider of Saturday Night Live fame. Her music mostly exists at some amorphous intersection of blues, country, rock, soul, and big-budget pop and she sings about such time-honored topics as bad men, worse behavior, and bouncing back from both.

Eyehategod, Fight Amp, Cloak (The Earl)

Heavily influenced by Black Sabbath, Black Flag, and the Melvins, New Orleans' misanthropic sludge metal outfit Eyehategod was formed in 1988 and became an important part of a Southern sludgecore scene. Eyehategod went on an unofficial hiatus in 1993. In 1996, Eyehategod briefly reconvened; however, the band fell largely silent for some time afterward, with occasional recordings and intermittent tours afterwards.

THURSDAY APRIL 14

Roadkill Ghost Choir, Polyenso, Walker Lukens (The Earl)

If, for whatever reason, you can't make this show, Americana shoegaze band Roadkill Ghost Choir will be playing The Earl again on April 21, so no worries.

Roadkill Ghost Choir performing in the rain, Shaky Knees, 2013

FRIDAY APRIL 15

Duran Duran, Chic (Philips Arena)

Duran Duran's Paper Gods Tour comes to Philips Arena. Paper Gods was a guest-filled album released last year that sought to re-capture the sleek pop pizzazz of Rio and earlier efforts, but let’s face it, most people just want to hear the ’80s MTV hits like Planet Earth, Hungry Like the Wolf and Save a Prayer. Paper Gods, like most of Duran Duran's post-millennium output, has by and large failed to set the world afire, mostly owing to the fact that it will never be 1982 again. Chic, featuring Nile Rodgers, opens.

~~Cullen Omari~~, Living Hour, Man Up Yancey, Joshua Loner (The Earl)
Former Smith Western Cullen Omari had to cancel this date, which is unfortunate as his debut LP, New Misery, is excellent, but the show must go on. Living Hours, a psychedelic dreampop band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, will play instead.

Wreckless Eric, Gentleman Jesse (Mammal Gallery)
Wreckless Eric is Eric Goulden. He was given the name to hide behind, but after awhile realized he was stuck with it. Onstage, he hides behind nothing, he tells the truth with big open chords, squalls of feedback, lilting enchantment, bizarre stories and backchat. Joining Eric is Atlanta legend Gentleman Jesse. The leader of Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Jesse Smith also comes out to play a rare solo set.

The Coathangers, Paint Fumes, Bad Spell, Paralyzer (Star Community Bar)
The Coathangers are an punk rock band from Atlanta that formed in 2006 as a joke. After playing a house show, they were asked to open for The Hiss on the strength of their performance. Their playfulness continues into their songs, with titles such as Don’t Touch My Shit, Nestle In My Boobies and Shut the Fuck Up. Over the years, however, they've grown in their abilities and are now a respected band that headlines nationally.

SATURDAY, APRIL 16

Little Green Cars, John Mark Nelson (Vinyl)
Dublin's Little Green Cars play in the amiable rural rock style of the Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, and First Aid Kit. Offering an Irish take on Americana, they employ generous five-part harmonies over a bed of R.E.M. Fleetwood Mac, and Woody Guthrie-inspired country-folk-pop. In 2016, they released their second album, Ephemera, named after a poem by Irish poet W. B. Yeats about slowly fading love.

Mr. Twin Sister, Hellier Ulysses, Pop Weirdos (Drunken Unicorn)
After the release of their debut album In Heaven, Long Island, New York-based indie pop quintet Twin Sister responded to hardships, including a near-devastating car accident while on tour, by completely transforming themselves. Rechristened Mr Twin Sister, their self-released, self-titled second album is so different from their previous music that it feels like a true debut. Mr. Twin Sister is miles away from In Heaven's bubbly indie pop. Reflecting its genesis, Mr. Twin Sister celebrates music's transformative powers, combining house, industrial, R&B, trip-hop, and more into sultry, glamorous electro-pop.

Andrea Estella with Twin Sister at The Earl, January 25, 2012

Parker Millsap, City Mouse (The Earl)
Parker Millsap is a singer-songwriter from Purcell, Oklahoma playing a blend of blues, country, alt-country/Americaca, and folk music. Parker garnered attention with his popular song Truck Stop Gospel, and plays with childhood friend Michael Rose on bass and Daniel Foulks on the fiddle. Parker's guitar style has drawn comparisons to Elvis, and he also plays the harmonica and slide guitar.

SUNDAY, APRIL 17

Operators, Bogan Via (The Earl)

Dan Boeckner is having a busy year. Not only has he reunited Wolf Parade, his other band Operators released their debut album, Blue Wave, on April 1. The single Cold Light sounds a little like New Order and a little like The Cure, but is unmistakably a Boeckner original.

Neon Indian (Park Tavern)

Neon Indian is an electronic music band from Denton, Texas, fronted by Mexican-born Alan Palomo. This show is the season debut of Park Tavern's free Sunset Sessions series that run from 7:00 to 11:00 pm.

Acoustic Hot Tuna (Variety Playhouse)

Begun as an acoustic spinoff of the Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna eventually became the full-time focus of founding members Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, emerging as a popular touring act of the 1970s. The two are lifelong friends, growing up together in Washington, D.C., and together they helped lead Jefferson Airplane to massive success during the late '60s.

Darlingside, David Wax Museum, Haroula Rose (Eddie's Attic)

Indie folk band Darlingside formed in 2009 at Williams College in western Massachusetts. A group of string players combining classical, folk, and rock, Darlingside boasted a strong vocal presence from the very start, layering their songs with lush, multi-part group harmonies. Coining their sound "string rock," they quickly established themselves as a dynamic live act, reinventing themselves as a richly layered string band with a crafty pop sound. Tourmates David Wax Museum will provide their unique Mexo-Americana folk rock. First of a two-night stand, which continues on Monday of next week.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Deerhunter

Deerhunter's January 9 show at Athens' Georgia Theater, brought to you by the good folks at Southern Shelter.

Meanwhile, like some redneck homeowner who's left his Xmas lights up way too long, I've left the list of Bands Seen In 2015 up on the right banner for nearly a full month after the year ended. I'll take it down, but for posterity, here's the list.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Deerhunter

Deerhunter at Bumbershoot, 2013

Deerhunter will be performing at Variety Playhouse on January 8, 2016.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Jenny Hval

Norway's Jenny Hval, who appears to have difficulty using basic gym equipment properly, will be performing at Raleigh's Hopscotch Festival on Thursday, September 10, following earlier performances by Deerhunter and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

I look forward to hearing her complex and interesting songs live, and the day promises to be all-around epic.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Bumbershoot: Day Three Retrospective

Day Three of Bumbershoot was, as always, on Labor Day, so someone apparently had to go to the top of the Space Needle and hoist an American flag. Jobs I'm glad that I don't have to take. . .

Here's another. This jackass was protesting, or testifying or witnessing or something, in front of the main gate. I'm not even sure of his point - is he saying that covetousness is idolatry, as is materialism, pornography, etc.? In other words, is covetousness his only complaint, or is he listing all of the things he doesn't like? Anyway, the front of the Bumbershoot main gate may not be the best place to win converts away from music. "Well, I was going to go listen to rock music, but now that I see your sign, I've changed my mind," said no one, anywhere.

But to his point, the festival was overrun all weekend with zombies. I had forgotten to mention that up to this point.

But on to the music. The first band of the day was a jazzy afro-pop group called Cascadia '10 performing at the Fisher Pavilion. They were scheduled to play Bumbershoot last year, and I had even gone to their stage to see them, but they had to cancel at the last minute due to some mishap, and instead another afro-pop group, The Jefferson Rose Band (I think) filled in for them. In any event, it was nice to finally see Cascadia '10 themselves, and sunny afro-pop is always a good way to start a day.

Meanwhile, over at the Fountain Lawn, BellaMaine, an indie-pop band from Anacortes, Washington, were playing. The sunny, happy mood continued.

Even the zombies seemed happy.

I had three passes to the KEXP Music Lounge for the day, and for the first time, they weren't for the opening, noontime performance, nor were they all together. The first Music Lounge performance for me on Day Three was the North Carolina band Superchunk, performing at 1:15 pm.

Superchunk played a tight, ass-kicking set, but founding bassist Laura Ballance was notably absent. Reportedly, she's not touring due to hyperacusis, a hearing condition, and in her place was touring bassist Jason Narducy.

After the kick in the pants from Superchunk, I went over to the Fountain Lawn to really get my ass kicked, this time by Brooklyn's The Men. If I had waned to see the band Alt-J, this would have been my chance. However, the line to get into Key Arena was staggeringly long - I probably would have had to get in line sometime around noon if I had really wanted to get in. But I have tickets to see them Sept. 23 back home in Atlanta, and anyway, I didn't want my whole day devoted to seeing one band (and in an indoor basketball arena at that), so The Men seemed like the better option. They were loud, aggressive, raw, and near perfect, rendering yesterday's debate about who was more punk, FIDLAR or Broncho, moot. They have no one specific frontman and everybody takes turns at lead vocals, but it doesn't matter, because you can't hear the vocals over the guitars and walls of Marshall amps, anyway.

I knew The Men would be playing in Portland's relatively small club Dante's, and I shuddered to imagine how their loud volume would sound in that little space.

Meanwhile, back in the audience, zombies were devouring Miss Seattle.

I wasn't sure what the transition from The Men to Lissie was going to be like, as I wasn't sure is she was a pop singer or a rocker. But over at the Starbucks Stage, I was relieved to find that she was a rocker, shredding on guitar when she needed to as she belted out her songs. It was actually a nice way to come back down to earth after The Men.

My second Music Lounge set was at 3:45 by the acoustic bluegrass band Trampled By Turtles. They played superbly and the vocals were soothing, but after all of the adrenaline and excitement of the previous acts, I almost fell asleep in the dark, cool Music Lounge. I heard several people, folks close to my own age, tell me that the Turtles' set was the high point of the festival for them, and I might have been inclined to agree but for my mood that day. As it was, the set was a nice little opportunity to recharge myself for a final push through the last day.

Outside, it was still zombies. I got something to eat (not brains), and went back to the Music Lounge for a decidedly more energetic set.

We've seen The Joy Formidable before, during MFNW 2011 at the Wonder Ballroom, at Music Midtown that same year, and this year at Atlanta's inaugural Shaky Knees festival. But we've never seen them this close or in as intimate a setting as the KEXP Music Lounge.

This set was a warm-up of sorts for their later performance at the Fisher Pavilion, but they still held nothing back for this late afternoon set.

More damn zombies.

Despite the presence of the undead, it was time to prepare for the final 1-2-3 punch of the Bumbershoot schedule. To get a good position in the crowd for the first of the last three performance, I went over to the Plaza Stage early and enjoyed the slightly gothic, country-rock sounds of Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands.

I got the rail for Seattle's Ivan & Alyosha, but wound up giving it up to a younger and far shorter fan. Still, I had a great, unobstructed view for their uplifting set of folk-pop songs.

They closed their set with their popular song, Be Your Man.

Ivan and Alyosha were the 1 of the 1-2-3 finale. Number 2 was Atlanta's own Deerhunter, playing at the Fountain Lawn. Despite the large crowd and my late arrival a mere couple minutes before the set began, I still managed to get a reasonably good position in the audience.

Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox was as confrontational as ever. He wore a similar wig to the one he wore on his infamous Jimmy Fallon performance, and after one particular song, he told the laid-back Seattle audience, “I'd heard Seattle crowds are crazy, but this is something else." He went on, sarcastically mimicking Mick Jagger pleading with the Altamont audience to calm down. "I'm not going to sing on this next song," he declared. "I don't want to be singing when the world ends in a whimper and not a bang.” Guitarist Locket Pundt wound up handling the vocals on Desire Lines.

After Blue Agent, Cox thanked the audience for their "polite applause,” and announced “Here's a polite song,” launching into The Missing.

But in the end, he delivered the goods, using several of the songs as launching pads for extended psych-rock excursions and experiments in feedback and pedal effects, particularly at the end of Nothing Ever Happens. At the end of Monomania, his vocals were looped over and over on top of themselves, building up into a wall of sound. Cox and the band then unceremoniously left the stage without announcement even as the instruments still squealed. It seemed like an encore might be possible as the stage remained lit and the feedback showed no signs of stopping, but those of us who saw him leave the Fallon stage knew he was not coming back (he didn't).

There was a huge crowd in front of the Fisher Pavilion stage to see The Joy Formidable for the final set of the night. However, I had learned a neat trick over the past three days - instead of standing at the back of the crowd hoping to press forward for a better view (like I had for Crystal Castles), I walked all the way around the crowd and down a stairway that marks one edge of the audience space, which put me near the front of the crowd, although at an extreme angle to the stage. However, people don't seem to mind when someone works their way sideways through a crowd and even back a little nearly as much as they resent someone who tries to move forward, and soon I was standing near stage right about six rows of people back from the stage. It wasn't as good a view as in the Music Lounge, but it was better than about 90% of the rest of the audience.

But then a funny thing happened: The Joy Formidable was playing their set when the drum mics suddenly failed. Lead singer/guitarist Ritzy Bryan seemed at a loss of what to say, and blamed the drummer for always having something “explode” at their shows. She soon ran out of stage banter and told everyone that the band was going to go backstage for a few minutes while the crew fixed the problem.

A good amount of time passed and The Joy Formidable still hadn’t come back out. The crowd began to get impatient, and calls for the band's return started turning to taunts. This wasn't going well, but after about 10 minutes, the band finally reappeared on stage and completed their set.

Fortunately for everybody, both the redemptive qualities of rock 'n' roll and the audience's capacity for forgiveness overcome the earlier awkwardness, and the band got huge applause and a call for an encore at the end of their set.

And that, then, was the end of Bumbershoot 2013, the best Bumbershoot in my limited experience (three consecutive years). The final 1-2-3 punch of Ivan and Alyosha, Deerhunter, and The Joy Formidable was every bit as satisfying as expected, despite Cox' taunting and the Formidable mishap. In addition to that 1-2-3 finale, highlights included the wild and crazy Beats Antique show, !!!, and the chance to watch Thao twice in one day (Joy Formidable, too). In fact, all of the Music Lounge sets were great, and everything was run with perfect timing.

A short walk back to my hotel, past the KEXP studio, and finally a chance to rest my feet and get some sleep before starting MFNW in Portland the next day.

Note:

Do you remember Chris Rock's routine about that one guy you always see in the club who's waaaay too old to be there? That probably applies to me, but music has been an important part of my life from the day my parents sat me down in front of the t.v. for The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and I've continually listened to new music ever since that fateful night in 1964. This blog (Music Dissolves Water) is a continuation of the now-defunct Live Journal blog Water Dissolves Water . . . Live, sister blog to the long-running Water Dissolves Water, and the new upstart sports blog, Sweat Dissolves Water.