http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2012/02/live_review_22512_atlas_sounds.php

Above is a link to one of the best live reviews I have read in a while and I am extremely grateful I stumbled upon it. The blog is called SF Weekly and with his review of Atlas Sound @ Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco on February 25, writer Nathan Mattise has documented a great rock and roll moment between Bradford Cox and a thirteen year old fan in the audience (CLICK TO WATCH):
“There’s an extended break after “My Angel Is Broken” as Cox waits for his acoustic to be restrung. Someone shouts, “We want to live, Bradford!” He responds, telling us playfully he’s not here to hurt us while strumming softly. “I won’t hurt you. I won’t hurt you…

“Anyone know that one?”

I sure as hell didn’t; assumed it was a made-up riff with some jokey lyrics. But someone in front of the stage quietly responded with exactly what Cox was looking for. Not only the correct band — The West Coast Experimental Pop Art Band, by the way — but from the absolute right place: a thin 13-year-old boy with shaggy brown hair and a nondescript hoodie. Cox initially offered his mystery responder the beer from his lips before pausing when he finally saw him.

“How old are you?”
“Thirteen.”

He later called what happened next “a transcendental fucking journey.” Cox invited the boy on stage to play maracas as a more parental-guardian-friendly prize, but stopped in his tracks immediately when the kid hit the stage. Fuck. The boy stood there awkwardly, Cox paced around frantically covering his mouth. “Can’t you see it? I saw that face everyday when I brushed my teeth.”

Bradford Cox had just met Bradford Cox, the spitting image of his 13-year-old self at least, in front of a live audience. No matter that when his guitar was properly restrung, we weren’t getting another song quickly.

This moment lasted 20 minutes. During this exchange, the boy forever became Matt Doppelgänger to those in attendance. Cox spent several seconds simply searching for words to describe what he was experiencing. Ultimately, he sat Matt down and offered life advice both genuine (“Spend more time with your parents”) and slightly less than (“Avoid heterosexuals”). There was a hug; there were awkward jokes about masturbating. When Matt Doppelgänger said he knew the song because he saw Thee Oh Sees cover it, Cox flipped. Naturally, he too knew it because Cox saw Stereolab cover it when he was 13. Eventually, the two regrouped to finish the night with a duet of “Terra Incognita,” with Doppelgänger instructed to guest on percussion “whenever it feels right.” It was genuinely moving.”

Wow, if you’re 13 and you listen to Atlas Sound and Thee Oh Sees, you are the coolest kid on the planet! Way to go Matt, way to go Bradford.

Atlas Sound will be hitting up the Paradise Rock Club on Thursday, March 8. Can’t wait!