At the tail end of last month I was lucky enough to witness self-described ‘ambient punk‘ band Deerhunter performing live at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Famous for its use of eclectic genres vacillating between shoegaze, psych-pop, post punk, ‘ambient punk’ is definitely the best way to categorise the band. Indeed, the atmosphere that they create live is exceptional, close to a ‘religious experience’ as Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ Karen O once stated.
Seeing them live, the first words that came to my mind were eerie, magical, hypnotic, to the point where the enthusiastic crowd seems to gently turn into a trance. Furthermore, Deerhunter is unquestionably punk, with the rawness of their guitars and frontman Bradford Cox‘s pale and scrawny figure that vaguely resembles a young Thurston Moore.
Founded in 2001, the four-piece is well established as one of today’s leading indie bands, but what distinguishes them from others is their unique style and singular use of pain as the essence to their music. Having suffered the loss of a member in 2001 and with Cox‘s illness, Deerhunter is one those bands that manages to turn negative experiences and emotions, into lyrical, powerful and endearing music without ever becoming melodramatic.
The band mostly performed songs from their three biggest albums, ‘Microcastle‘, ‘Cryptograms‘ and the more recent ‘Halcyon Digest‘. The show began with the sorcerous ‘60 Cycle Hum‘ where the guitars slightly resembles those of Joy Division‘s ‘Transmission‘. To the great pleasure of the audience, the band then followed with ‘Desire Lines‘, surely one of their biggest hit, which definitely made us want to “come with [them], far away, everyday”. A few songs later, the band performed a prodigious version of ‘The Light Pours Out of Me‘ by British post-punk band Magazine, confirming where their roots lie.
The most striking aspect of the concert was probably the undeniable mastering of rhythm the members displayed. Seeing Deerhunter live means rediscovering classic songs such as ‘Agoraphobia‘, ‘Helicopter‘ or ‘Fluorescent Grey‘ with a different ear. A personal highlight was when they performed an absolutely breathtaking rendition of Patti Smith‘s ‘Horses‘, probably one of the most powerful and complex songs ever made. These guys absolutely mastered this iconic song and I was extremely pleased to find that same tense anxiety that is present in the original version.
By the end of the show, the crowd had been pummelled into submission. It seems that whatever Bradford Cox creates, he succeeds. His solo project as Atlas Sound is a masterpiece of both delicacy and ingeniosity. The man is from a different planet, with its own sounds, own rhythms, own rules and own feelings/ Every new album makes us leap a little bit more into this magical and bewitching world.
How do you follow up an album that is so distinct and brilliant in its amalgamation of “world music” and modern rock that it instantly became timeless? This was the question Yeasayer were facing when recording the follow up to 2007’s ‘All Hour Cymbals’. And the answer? Well in short you don’t…
Instead the band sought new horizons. By design ‘Odd Blood’ often veers into chart friendly territory yet crucially maintains a fiercely individualistic streak. A will to get people moving appears to be at the core of this more accessible direction, not too unlike recent efforts by fellow New YorkersTV On The Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
‘Odd Blood’ truly succeeds because tracks like ‘O.N.E.’, ‘Madder Red’,‘Ambling Alp’ and ‘Mondegreen’ work just as well when heard within the album as a whole as they do individually. The album is littered with subtle allusion to 80s sounds confronted with most modern recording techniques to achieve a blend of beats, melodies, keys and shamanistic chanting.
There are few bands around who sound like Yeasayer and even when attempting their version of a so-called accessible album the Brooklynites come out with a sonic mishmash that seduces you into repeat listens. In my mind this is futuristic music from the past.
I have been sat with the latest offering ‘Kaleide‘ by the quirky Leeds based mob Sky Larkin for bout 6 weeks now. I’ve listened to it countless times and although the band broadly fit in the “Indie Pop” bracket, I feel there is a little more going on here and so deservedly warrants a little more attention.
To this reviewers ears, we have quite the spectrum of influence seeping through the 3 pieces relatively humble “Guitar, Bass, Drums” approach to theaforementioned Indie Pop bucket. It sounds like a guitar led Mates of State on sherbert, via a warbly splash of primus and tripping daisy, fastforwarded through a valve driven telecaster, all spit polished with an early 90s sub pop wax. Oh and some hand claps!
The record kicks off with the undeniably catchy single ‘Still Windmills’ which has hankerings towards a Wombats-esque melody, wrapped up in spiky guitars and driving drums and bass. In fact, the majority of the record keeps up the resoundingly happy & positive driving vibe, but with a few curve balls thrown in to keep things interesting.
The warbly dirt of the title track has a real head bobbing groove to it with another killer hook, whereas the “negative creep lite” angular riffage of spooktacular keeps the listener wondering where this might all end up. Well wonder no more, the back end takes one through a few tracks with a more synth inflected angle which makes for another welcome change of tone.
Elsewhere ‘ATM‘ proves to be truly mesmerizing. Halfway through it slows right down for a few bars, then the guitar kicks in and the vocals pick back prompting a haze of head banging and toe tapping. After all the havoc you share the same head pounding that you do after mixing a bunch of red wines. And thats just one track.
Approaching the end the BBC remarks that with ‘Smarts‘ the band ‘hit their peak and arguably fulfil what they’re capable of for the first time in two albums‘. This Yeah Yeah Yeahs-esque number may well be the most considered track on the album and one you will be returning to frequently.
Despite pulling in all of these influences from around the way, Sky Larkin manage to pull it off with a confident, slightly erratic charm. Definitely worth checking out if you like the more original end of the Indie pop spectrum.
Legendary Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O has a very special place in my Cougar heart so when I found out she has taken on the Jackass theme tune I knew I was going to love it.
Her version of ‘If You’re Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough‘ sounds like it wouldnt be out of place on the next Karen O and The Kids outing and the fun feeling that ecompases the recording is positively infectious.
The MashMaticians is the name Messrs DJ Zesty and Gudda Gallin have been going under since 2009. The Princeton students’ output is unequivocally on the pop side of things often taking rap vocals and mashing them with a dance or R&B foundations. When it clicks it works really well.
Their debut album is entitled ‘The MashoChist’. In their own words: “MashoChist is someone who enjoys mash ups, or who derives pleasure from listening to them”.
Hands Up Who Cares, our monthly club night, is back next friday (21st of May) at The Library in Islington.
We’ll be spinning tunes by Crystal Castles, TV on the Radio, WHY?, Foals, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Two Door Cinema Club, The XX and loads more Cougar favourites.
Entry is free to everybody registered as ‘attending’ on the Facebook event page and £1 to all others. Hope to see you there!
This weekend I sat down to plan my gig calendar for the next few months. I can’t believe its already February and already there are some classic events coming up. Before we even notice it will be festival season again.
Still, this year will have to deliver very highly considering the quality of shows I witnessed in 2009. My highlights were as follows:
There is something primordial about watching a crowd of 19’000 go mental watching The Prodigy on the outskirts of Paris. The fact that the festival also offered up classic performances from Birdy Nam Nam, MGMT, Metric, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was an added bonus.
As far as rock legends go you could do much worse than seeing either Shakey and The Boss live. The fact that I saw them play back to back at Hyde Park this summer was Epic. Both lived up to their legendary status and my I concluded my weekend as a very happy man.
I have already said several times on these pages that Tim Kusher is a songwriting hero of mine. Back in July I finally saw him live fronting Cursive at the intimate Camden venue. The fact that they picked and mixed discography and the relative closeness to the stage made this a night to remember and led Kenny to drunkenly label it “a religious experience for the atheist“.
Good luck with living up to that 2010
TRACKS:
The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die ? Liam H Re-amped Version
Yeah Yeah Yeahsflirtation with synth-pop was one of the talking points of 2009. Seemingly everyone (with the possible exception of the Pope) praised the bands metamorphosis from angry art-rockers to dance floor conquerors.
It is hard to disagree with this assessment as ‘It’s Blitz‘ is superb. The decision to sacrifice Nick Zinner‘s guitars in favour of a catalogue of synth sounds has not meant abandoning the emotional strengths of their music. Rather, the occasions the guitar does make an appearance are always measured and powerful.
Karen O offers up cool as fuck attitude exorcising her inner Rizzo; complete with a leather coat emblazoned with the legendary KO initials. The lack of the habitual jangly guitars means it is up to her to create the sparks and she seems to cherish the opportunity. One minute she is intimately crooning and the next she is screaming like a banshee yet at no point are her theatrics at the expense of the tracks.
Perhaps the true strong point of this release is how well it works as an album. There is no denying that tracks like ‘Zero‘ and ‘Heads Will Roll‘ have “single material” written all over them but It’s Blitz is best enjoyed as a meandering collection of sparsely interlinked tracks, paced ideally to enjoy its numerous highlights.
Consider this a major statement of intent from a band who were willing to try a new direction and were rewarded for their cojones.
I have to mention the soundtrack for ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ considering Karen O And The Kids featured Brian Chase and Nick Zinner side by side yet again with the enigmatic singer. These songs sound like songs written by children for adults and then performed by adults for children.
The album’s fairytale exuberance is infectious and and Karen O may well have penned one of the last great releases of the last decade.
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If you like any of the tracks, please go buy the albums and help finance the artists producing this great music.
If there are any issues with the tracks featured do not hesitate to contact: "team (AT) Cougar Microbes (DOT) com and we will happily oblige.
At the tail end of last month I was lucky enough to witness self-described ‘ambient punk‘ band Deerhunter performing live at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Famous for its use of eclectic genres vacillating between shoegaze, psych-pop, post punk, ‘ambient punk’ is definitely the best way to categorise the band. Indeed, the atmosphere that they create live is exceptional, close to a ‘religious experience’ as Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ Karen O once stated.
