This leaked rather quickly. Microcastle doesn’t come out until October, but you can catch some of the tracks floating around the Internet if you act fast. You can also just enjoy the stream on Deerhunter’s MySpace. I’m sad they changed their profile around… right before Cryptograms came out, they posted all the bad press they’ve received up to that point on their “about me” section, which I thought was decidedly excellent.
Though I have mixed feelings about some of the songs, “These Hands” (not to be confused with The Guess Who’s equally righteous “These Eyes”) is everything you would ever want to hear on a Kranky release. LOTS OF TREMOLO, and in the universe that the Decibel Tolls occupies, tremolo is the key to success. It seems Deerhunter might be moving away, slightly, from the deluge of noise found on Cryptograms and Flourescent Grey, toning down the wigouts and bringing the vocals up to the front. However, Microcastle, thus far, still seems to preserve just enough of their renowned spaciness to keep things interstellar. The piano and drone coda of “These Hands” provokes the feeling of an excellent Boards of Canada segue or any given Ghost Box artist.
Though I’m totally stoked to see groups like Deerhunter, Animal Collective, and the like get their dues, I still find it peculiar that these relatively odd groups are getting so popular. Perhaps that’s the power of Pitchfork? Of course, I’m very glad that more people are listening to dronerific jams like Deerhunter, and would rather have our collective tastes pushed toward that end of the spectrum than toward borecore artists like Vampire Weekend. Maybe that’s just me. The world needs to be a stranger place, and Deerhunter is helping to make that happen.
Come see Bradford Cox in a dress at one of these fine shows. They’re supporting Nine Inch Nails for most of these dates, which is totally weird:
07/31 Charleston, SC: The Map Room
08/01 Norfolk, VA: The Boot
08/05 Toronto, ON: Air Canada Centre
08/06 Buffalo, NY: Big Orbit’s Soundlab
08/07 Uncasville, CT: Mohegan Sun Arena
08/08 Worchester, MA: DCU Center
08/10 Pittsburg, PA: Garfield Artworks
08/11 Morgantown, WV: 123 Pleasant Street
08/12 Knoxville, TN: Knoxville Civic Coliseum
08/13 Atlanta, GA: Gwinnett Arena
09/02 Morrison, CO: Red Rock Pavillion
09/03 Salt Lake City, UT: E Center
09/05 Oakland, CA: Oracle Arena
09/06 Inglewood, CA: The Forum
MP3 :::
Deerhunter – These Hands
