I’m Sorry, Bradford Cox

I’m going to bat for Bradford and pals. Deerhunter has been good to us. On their blog, bandleader Bradford Cox is pretty great about providing new songs and sneak peeks of forthcoming material. While posting a link to the new Atlas Sound single, via Mediafire, Bradford unwittingly provided a public portal to all of his uploaded material, including two not-yet-released albums, unfinished demos, and the famous Deerhunter “micromixes.” In essence, his diary was discovered. As you can imagine, a free-for-all ensued. Old dude made it over to the At Ease Message Boards and posted all the files. Do you think Captain Yorke and the boys would approve of this, brah?! I’m a blogger too and all, but I’m sorry guys, that was a bitch move on your part, indie dorks. For shame.

This is not nice stuff to hear from one of the few new bands that doesn’t suck:

“It’s stuff like this that made Jeff Mangum stop Neutral Milk Hotel.”

“If you have no respect for my privacy I will no longer be giving music away on this blog… The biggest irony is that those who distribute my demos and unreleased material are stealing from me when I was trying to give away something else for free.”

“I have no idea what people want me to do. I’m not trying to be a cunt to anyone. I will finish the fucking album and stop bitching. I honestly really truly do not want attention from this. Sincerely. I wish none of this shit would have happened. I was just trying to give away another virtual 7″. Now everyone that reads this thing is going to think i’m a fucking lunatic. I just have nothing to do. I guess I’ll go clean my room.”

One of the “discovered” files was a surprise second album to be released with Microcastle called Weird Era Cont. - theorized, for obvious reasons, to be the more noise-oriented, old school Deerhunter response to all of the seemingly poppy new songs. That idea was pretty much stymied. However, most egregious was the leaking of unfinished demos. Something that people who aren’t, or haven’t been, in bands before don’t often understand is that there’s nothing more violating than seeing an unfinished product being heard outside the band and their circle of trust. Though rabid fans will like just about anything you do, no artist wants anyone to hear something that he or she isn’t 100% satisfied with. That’s a cardinal principle. So yeah, I don’t think you’re a lunatic, BC. I think you’re completely justified in being livid.

Stereogum is bringin’ the hate on BC, which I don’t understand. He’s an artist who embraces the Internet fully, constantly giving fans the jump on new material, talks with everyone all entertaining-style on his consistently interesting blog, makes public disses on the Vampire Weekend assclowns just how I like, and always gives you fun interviews to read. The man was trying to post his new 7″ as a convenient download - totally swell thing to do (as he mentioned above)! And this is what he got! Though it was his mistake, I just don’t find this to be an overreaction, especially considering that Bradford (and company) was cool enough to include a free surprise for everyone who purchased Microcastle in lieu of the leak, and not to mention the band’s general generosity toward giving away free jams. This was their property. And you, Gumguys, have the audacity to make fun of him? I know that you have this nice little concluding paragraph saying “all right guys, cut it out,” but anyone with a little perception can see you mocking him, trying to cutely analyze this as an exercise in the five stages of acceptance. And then you re-published his emotionally-based replies to sensationalize the article and make him look like he was acting unreasonable when he wasn’t. Fuck you, Stereogum. Go wank to the new Bloc Party cut or whatever. Mouthbreathers, the lot of ya. I hate music blogs.

Sorry to be all dad-like and call you kids out on your bullshit. Whatever. I’m gonna clean my room, too.

One quick note. The “secret” album, in some ways, wasn’t super secret, as you can see the title in the bottom right-hand corner of the cover art. Regardless, what they were at least aiming to do was pretty rad. Though nothing is as it seems with Deerhunter, so maybe this whole thing was orchestrated all along (but I doubt that):

Yep, thar it is!

UPDATE! ACHTUNG! Looks like D-Hunter’s taking the high road, mixin’ up some lemonade, saying “fuck it,” and is offering the entire Microcastle album for download on iTunes.

Alright… and finally, worth quoting more than the ol’ blog issue is Bradford’s very astute assessments on the My Bloody Valentine assault that is set to occur here in Chicago in… lemme check… one month and eight days. Total damage. Judging solely on the thoughts he publishes and the music he digs, I think I like Bradford. Seems like my kind of dude.

1. Debbie Googe is a badass.

2. Is the cathartic noise-burst at the end (which you’ve all probably read or heard about or perhaps even experienced firsthand) really cathartic since we all know its coming. Does this reduce its impact?

3. My Bloody Valentine are a folk band. Their music transfers experience in broad, ambiguous terms utilizing simple chords and melodies.

4. The sound guy (who also does sound for Mogwai) deserves some kind of huge reward for being a brilliant sonic architect.

5. This is not a point of debate but an observation: During the final 20 minute nihilist noise assault I went from excited to tense to happy to sort of depressed to feeling ill to feeling absolutely nothing. It is the closest I have come to complete meditation or a hypnotic state in a long time. I actually did not think at all for about five minutes.

6. Moses noted that “Belinda had the same facial expression when she was staring at the ground playing guitar that a elementary school teacher has when operating a photocopier.”

7. Whitney who has never heard of MBV and was dragged to the show by the rest of us looked up to me at one point and silently mouthed the words “what the fuuuuuck” to me. She also smiled a lot before her fucking face melted off.

MP3 :::
Deerhunter - Never Stops
Deerhunter - Neither of Us, Uncertainly
(Neither song is from this weekend’s leaks, and you will respectfully NOT find any of that here)