Customer Reviews

Microcastle

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since 2001, Deerhunter - co-founded by Bradford Cox and Moses Archuleta - have produced three LPs and four EPs worth of astonishing "ambient punk" (their own description), picking up devotees and different musicians along the way. Their mantra - "To achieve harmony in bad taste is the height of elegance" (Jean Genet) (Fronted by openly gay and occasionally cross-dressing singer Bradford Cox, Deerhunter have earned themselves a formidable reputation for intense live performances in their native Atlanta).
4AD's first involvement with the band was to release Microcastle, their excellent third album. The follow-up to 2006's acclaimed Cryptograms, it was recorded over the course of a week at Rare Book Studios in Brooklyn, New York with Nicolas Verhes and was created as a four-piece, consisting of Bradford Cox, Lockett Pundt, Joshua Fauver and Moses Archuleta. Most tracks feature Cox on lead vocals except "Agoraphobia" and "Neither of Us, Uncertainly" where guitarist Pundt is the main provider and "Saved by Old Times", which includes a vocal collage by Cole Alexander of "The Black Lips".
The sounds on Microcastle form a lush landscape. Ethereal voices blend into battered guitars and a determined rhythm section.
Microcastle has more fully formed songs and vocals, although Cox's narcotic mumble is generally half buried under layers of reverb, feedback and other guitar noise as well as tape loops and electronica. Just don't look for information about who's doing what in the minimal sleeve notes, and forget about analyzing the lyrics, since Cox seems firmly of the words-as-musical-tools school of song writing. Praise Be!
The relatively gentle Agoraphobia (one of two tracks featuring guitarist Lockett Pundt on vocals) could almost be an early Meat Puppets out-take, while "Never Stops" makes scarifying feedback a thing of beauty like "The Jesus And Mary Chain", with the first of several prettily melodic 'ahhhhh' choruses. The title track goes through a long, languid intro before morphing into a pounding rocker, and there are several spacey, reflective interludes before the metronomic "Stereolab-ish" groove of "Nothing Ever Happened". "Twighlight at Carbon Lake" is a twisted, atmospheric closer.
As the title suggests, things get stranger on Weird Era Continued. Highlights include Operation, with its intriguing tempo changes and cryptically disturbing half-heard lyrics, Vox Celeste, which recalls the muffled lo-fi luminosity of The Clean, and the epic, trancey Calvary Scars 11/Aux.Out. Opening and closing with a kind of mushroom-dazed pastoralism, it's a hypnotically pulsing Krautrock treat dipped in sonic glitter.

I liked "Cryptograms" PIL-type assaults better than its bliss-out comedown tracks. This new CD may, therefore, please listeners who favor the softer side, akin more to Bradford Cox's solo project Atlas Sound. Since I love shoegazing, "Microcastles" satisfied me especially in its later tracks on disc one. These built up to thunderous feedback, and like tracks 3 and 5 on the first disc, showed a fuller band sound that appealed more to me than the many songs that, stripped-down and simpler, seemed more like home demos recorded by Cox himself.

The strongest tunes, as on the previous CD, remain those with a full-on wave of mutilation. They can begin softly, tentatively, before cresting, nearly without you realizing it, into giant splashes of sonic boom. This characteristic of Deerhunter's delivery, to me, shows the talent that they're capable of as a forceful unit, instead of anyone expecting only a Cox-led group of back-up players using the older band's name.

My son heard Jesus & Mary Chain here and there; I heard Grandaddy! The range of influences distorted and sensitive, beyond a less overdriven My Bloody Valentine, does account for the intelligence of the songwriter and his bandmates. The experimental confidence on "Cryptograms" isn't as extended as I'd expected on "Microcastle." It's there, but it ebbs and flows. The record's tracking may account for lulls, especially midway, but these must be intentional to offset the amplified tracks; this same distribution of tone and pace for structure can be heard on "Cryptograms."

There's not many bands an older fan (me) and a younger (my son) can share, and this breadth of vision that Deerhunter's been entering holds promise for their career as a band, rather than a more famous musician and his crew. This cohesiveness, heard best in the elaborate, fully instrumental songs, indicates their potential at its best. I look forward to more songs with this louder, faster, thicker attitude. If Atlas Sound can provide Cox an outlet for his delicacy, Deerhunter to me should provoke him towards more aggressive, denser, and more paranoid (but in a good way!) layers of drone and doom.

Let me state a couple of things upfront: (1) I am still catching up on some of the good/great albums from 2008 that I haven't really had a chance to really listen to in depth until recently; and (2) I would not have known about this album but for the good folks at internet-only WOXY (BAM!! The Future of Rock and Roll!), which is the best indie-music station in the country, bar none.

Deerhunter's third album, "Microcastle/Weird Era Continued" (2 CDs; 25 tacks; 83 min.) is obviously a very ambitious studio double-album. On CD1 "Microcastle" (12 tracks; 41 min.), lead singer and songwriter Bradford Cox has become more accessible than ever before. Check out "Never Stops", which could be a radio single, and the outright rocking "Nothing Ever Happened". Not that Deerhunter has lost its "off the beaten track" touch, check out the title track, "Active" and "Calvart Scars", among others. The adventures continue on CD2 "Weird Era Continued" (13 tracks; 42 min.), as "Backspace Century" crashes in. CD2 is more "off the cuff" and at times reminds me of Beck (see "Ghost Outfit", for example). Songs like "Vox Humana" remind me of the Besnard Lakes.

In all, this is a terrific album, even though at 80+ min. it is quite a lot to take in. I have not had the opportunity yet to see these guys in concert, but hopefully 2009 will give me the opportunity to finally do so. Looking forward to that! Meanwhile, this ambitious album is highly recommended!

Deerhunter's new album "Microcastle" is quite a departure from its predecessor "Cryptograms." The reason that this album is a departure is because it is a lot more immediate than their previous works. The album starts off with ambient sounds on "Cover Me Slowly" before abruptly shifting into full band mode on "Agoraphobia." Current single, "Never Stops" sounds like something the Pixies might have forgotten to include on "Surfer Rosa," which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Little Kids" is a perfect slab of dream pop with just the right amount of sweeping distortion. The title track, "Microcastle" begins with a chorus-laden guitar and watery vocals before transitioning into a full Jesus and Mary Chain styled melody. Deerhunter preserve their ambient style with several songs before returning to the rock fold of "Nothing Ever Happened."

On this album, there's even room for an acoustic number, "Saved By Old Times" which references the sound collages and experiments in the lyrics. Album closers "Neither Of Us, Uncertainly" and "Twilight At Carbon Lake" shimmer appropriately in a spacey kind of way.

With this album, the bleeps and bloops that inhabit Deerhunter's songs are no longer the main focus. Deerhunter is less abstract than they were before but experimental elements still creep into their approach to song writing. Deerhunter sounds more like a band now than an experiment in sound, and I think that's a step in the right direction.

High Recommendation.

Pitchfork gushed over this album, and while there are some tremendous cuts, Bradford Cox meanders along too many lulls and psychedelic paths. There are middle stretches that just don't rock. All is not lost, however. The track "Nothing Ever Happened" is an incredibly rocking song and is worth the price of this double album. It's amazing that in Pitchfork's list of 2008's 100 Best Tracks that it finished behind the Fleet Foxes, "White Winter Hymnal". It's 5+ minutes of bliss and should have been the best indie track of 2008. Oh well, at least Pitchfork recognized its greatness and placed it in their top 10. If only Deerhunter had made some of the middle cuts more rocking, this would have been a stellar album. If Cox had minimized some of the meandering & condensed the album from a double into a single album, the consistency would have been better. Tracks like "Backspace Century", "Operation", "Dot Gain" & "VHS Dream" from Weird Era would have upped the rockability quotient of Microcastle's standouts like, "Cover Me", "Agoraphobia", "Nothing Ever Happened" & "Saved by Old Times".

Wow, this album is so amazing. What I love about Deerhunter's Microcastle is the fluidity. As opposed to Cryptograms (which don't get me wrong, I do like it), Microcastle seems like it has a purpose and a smoother transition of songs. DH seem to have found their niche in the noise-rock genre. Their psychedelia has greatly improved just by listening to the bonus disc Weird Era Continued. It is a worthy piece of ambiance and distortion that is even better than Cryptograms. Microcastle is a classic album that is worthwhile listening for any indie rock fan.

This is by far one of my favorite albums of all time. It takes a listen or two to really digest this before it latches onto you and doesn't let up. The songs are emotional and infectious and the result of some major musical talent. I saw them live after this release came out and they were incredible. This is a stunner, don't pass it up.

Countless times, I have listened to a album that either instantly hooks me or takes me awhile to get into.
Those few artists that I do listen to are the ones that were referred by websites like last.fm or such that would say "If you like _____, then try out _____." In this case, I was just getting into Halcyon Digest, I saw the artwork for Microcastle.
Seeing as I was flashbacking to when i saw the album art before but thought nothing else about it, after putting 2 and 2, i immediately purchased it.
After the opening track, "Cover Me", I knew that I was in for something. Listening with headphones is a must, in my opinion, to those who want to hear how sonic the songs are. by the time it gets 40% in, the tone really slows down and the subtleties really start to become what really stands out.
The best things about growers is that when they grow on you, after venturing on to other musical endeavors, you remember how one particular album essentially became a part of your life. I guess there's a correlation between the time in which life goes by and the time in which you really start to fall in love with a album. My point is Microcastle is one of those albums.

I heard the song "Nothing ever happened" and bought the album only to be initially disappointed that the other songs were not as easily appreciated. Now that I've listened to these songs a few times, it's like a light went off in my head. Like the time I first appreciated Radiohead, I wanted to kick myself for not buying this sooner. This comes with a bonus disc "Weird Era" so you're really getting 2 cd's for the price of one.

Listen to this on headphones while under the influence of whatever, and you're likely to have the response of "Jesus!"...

I lucked out and heard this at a record store the other day. glad I asked who it was. this is what newer groups should be doing. great new music. shoegaze in a way, but not shoegaze in the classic sense. this is a great album. glad to have found it. get it.