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Bradford Cox, concert review, Deerhunter, Entertainment, Music

Concert Review: Deerhunter, Kurt Vile, K-Holes @ Royale (8/13/10)

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Bands: K-Holes/Kurt Vile/Deerhunter
Date:  Friday, August 13, 2010
Venue: Royale (Boston, MA)

Act One– K-Holes – I liked these guys and girls a good amount better this time around than on the Rocks Off NYC cruise concert. Jack Hines and crew rocked out what I now term horror punk. They play with a certain mystique that really comes out when the trumpet is on full blast and when the lady vocalist sings and utilizes the shaker. When Hines sung, I couldn’t help but think of We Did Not Know era Black Lips…like on “Swamp Fires.” Other songs definitely played were “Native Tongues,” “Step N Fetch It,” and “The Gutter.”

Chris– Glen speaks the truth here. K-Holes are Kickass! They have a simple vibe to them, but present themselves in a very solemn, quiet manner that draws you in and never lets you go. Jack Hines’ frenetic guitar playing and Cole-like screaming demonstrate that his Black Lips roots are still evident.

Act Two – Kurt Vile and the Violators – True story: Kurt was boring and musically draggy in July when he headlined at Harpers Ferry. At that time, it seemed like him and the other guitarist were going heavy on the effects and slacking mightily on replicating some of their best recorded songs. This time, with the crucial assistance of a third guitar player, songs like “Freeway” (the best number these guys cranked out) and “Overnite Religion” bordered on greatness. Whatever they didn’t have at the Harpers Ferry gig, they seemed to have at the Royale on this night. They might have even overstayed their welcome…the sound guys at stage left frantically signaled “ONE MORE AND THAT’S IT” after about thirty or forty minutes of playing. I’m pretty much all set with seeing Vile headline for a while (a year, at least), but I wouldn’t be opposed to catching him and crew again as an opener.

Chris– With the “technical difficulties” omitted I began to notice the “Americana” elements of Vile’s music, I had missed before. I did gather some Peter Framptonish vibes. A noisy Frampton comin’ alive, if you will. Still, not exactly my cup of tea, but I did enjoy myself this time around.

Act Three – Deerhunter – Deerhunter fans seem to be a real loyal and passionate bunch. Maybe that’s why Bradford, Lockett, Moses, and Josh keep coming back. Bradford said the band arrived late…which explains their five minute sound-check. As far as sound-checks go, this one was as informative as can be. Bradford explained the origin of the various instruments that compose the drum set while Moses tested them out. Early on in the set there existed some technical difficulties that I couldn’t even notice. The sound guys seemed pretty convinced that something was wrong AND one of them even unplugged Josh’s bass by accident while trying to remedy the situation. Hehe. His bass sounded kind of distorted the entire night which worked well 90% of the time, but at times felt a tidbit random. At any rate, Deerhunter played an excellent set albeit a short one. I’d say they played about ten songs at maximum; quantitatively it felt like an opening act kind of set, but qualitative it had no shortage in glory. Songs that stuck out to me were Microcastle gems “Never Stops” and “Nothing Ever Happened,” Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP tune “Rainwater Cassette Exchange” and, of course, “Fluorescent Grey” from their EP of the same name. It was enjoyable to see the crowd react positively to the band throughout and me and my pals had a fun time ourselves.

Chris: Of course, one of the most mesmerizing bands out there today. I really dug the quiet, mellow nature of their performance and how at any moment a violent jolt of noise could send your head spinning into ambient Heaven. With Deer, there is never a dull moment and so it always feels like the set is shorter than it seems. They played for a good hour and they played a fairly long time before as an opening act, yet at both shows, it felt rushed… well because it was! Not by the band, but time constraints for stupid events that get in the way of my concerts! But, seriously, with most bands like Deerhunter, I would get bored real soon, but these guys keep you amazed and entertained the whole time. My favorite was definitely “Fluorescent Grey.” Overall, I thought it was great, but I feel like I have yet to see that phenominal Deerhunter show that I will one day tell someone else’s grand kids about until I am informed by a copper that I am causing a disturbance and have to be removed from the Little League game. I can’t wait to see them in October, until then, I will have to wait PATIENTLY PATIENTLY…

Set list: From http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/deerhunter/2010/royale-boston-boston-ma-3d59db7.html though I could have sworn they played “Revival” and others.

Hazel St.
Never Stops
Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Wash Off
Fluorescent Grey
Nothing Ever Happened

Grade: A/A-

Bradford Cox, Deerhunter, Entertainment, Music

Deerhunter @ Royale … Again!

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Deerhunter can’t get enough of Boston!

Just days after playing a fantastic show (of which a review will be posted within DAYZ) at the Royale, a listing on the Royale website shows Deerhunter playing October 16, 2010 (Saturday)! Well, well, well, I kid you not! By that time around I’m hoping to know Halcyon Digest in and out.

Opening, of course, is Real Estate. You see, after a while of going to shows and stuff, you notice certain bands always in the fold. What do Real Estate, Deerhunter, Kurt Vile, and K-Holes have in common? You should know.

Bradford Cox, Classic CD Review, Deerhunter, Entertainment, Music

Classic Review: Cryptograms [2007]

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Band: Deerhunter
Album: Cryptograms
Label: Kranky Records

1. “Intro” – (B-) – Reminds me of an atmospheric No Age number.
2. “Cryptograms” – (B+) – Not really my kind of Deerhunter tune, although it does have a lot of little hints of catchiness.
3. “White Ink” – (C) – Relaxing and probably great under the influence of some kind of drug, but as a stand alone track…boring.
4. “Lake Somerset” – (B) – Too chaotic for my liking, but still decent enough. If pure noise and subliminal hooks are your kind of thangs then God bless you.
5. “Providence” – (C) – See “White Ink” for this.
6. “Octet” – (B-) – Too long, but has a decent drumbeat.
7. “Red Ink” – (D) – Really, really, really pointless. Top of the line pointlessness.
8. “Spring Hall Convert” – (B+) – Mellow rock. Perhaps veers too much in the ambient direction.
9. “Strange Lights” – (B) – Similar in quality to the track before it.
10. “Hazel Street” – (A-) – Down to earth (woo hoo!). A fun adventure.
11. “Tape Hiss Orchid” – (D) – See, “Red Ink.” Thanks.
12. “Heatherwood” – (B+) – Pretty neat. Not a great closer, but it’s fun.

Final Comments: If you are sucker for ambiance and I mean AMBIANCE, this record is for you! If you like rock and roll and I mean ROCK AND ROLL, this record is probably not for you. For those suckers who like a delicate mix, it will probably be like flipping a quarter. TAILS, you like it. HEADS, you hate it. For me, unfortunately, this would probably fall somewhere in the middle or lower end of my favorite albums of a given year. In other words, this record isn’t very notable in Deerhunter’s discography let alone music. Period. I feel like I might be too harsh to a certain degree…I mean this isn’t an aimless record. Deerhunter is better than that.

Grade: B- (80)

Entertainment, Music, News

Deerhunter @ Royale

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From the people who do “Bowery Presents” shows in New York at venues like Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, and Terminal 5 comes the Royale Nightclub, formerly known as The Roxy. I’ve never been to the venue, but from what I’ve read and seen, it seems to be somewhere in between The Paradise and the House of Blues in terms of size and capacity.

And none other than Deerhunter is coming! August 13 is the date. It’s a Friday. I’m pretty sure the tour hasn’t been announced officially, but this is real talk.

Art, Entertainment, humor, Music, Video

Just Now…

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Listened to The Fall for the first time after hearing their name dropped frequently as an influence, innovator, etc. for like the past 3-4 years. I mean me personally, of course, they have been seen as an influence for decades. So, youtubed this. I like it, I’ll have to check out more. Mr. Bradford Cox humorously introduced Deerhunter as The Fall, when we saw him live. Gotta love Him!

Chris

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Concert Review: Spoon, Deerhunter, Strange Boys @ House Of Blues (3/27/10)

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Artist(s): Spoon, Deerhunter, Strange Boys
Venue: House of Blues, Boston, MA
Date: Saturday, March 27, 2010

Note: Glen and I basically came to see the Strange Boys and Deerhunter, the opening acts and some of our current favorites, not to discredit Spoon in any way, but this was most likley different from other concertgoers.

Act I: Strange Boys– These garage rockers, for lack of a better face, excuse me, word, were one of the tightest bands I have ever seen live. Considering, their garage label, one would think they were sloppy and what have you like the Black Lips (not an insult!). But, in fact, quite the opposite, the band actually resembled their recordings pretty damn well. I suppose this is kind of a weakness, because live performances are naturally better when they are different from their recorded counterparts. But, then again, the boys were rather entertaining. They played several classic dittties, such as “Woe Is You and Me,” (my favorite SB tune!) “Should Have Shot Paul,” “Be Brave,” “A Walk On the Beach,” and others. ‘Woe’ was nearly perfect; the vocals were astonishingly accurate (if you know what I mean) and the guitars roared in unisen as we all know and love it. ‘Walk’ showcased SB soft side; seriously no fucking up the vocals or anything! and the crew exceptionally erupted into the heavy part of the song. Unfortunately, it seems like most kiddies and oldies in attendence were unaware of SB existence and during the soft part of the latter number, you could hear some creeps chi chi chi chatting away. Boring fucks! Looking back, the group did a great job, that I did not fully appreciate immediately due to their somewhat short set, under 30 minutes (at least through a fan’s point of view) and the fact that they did not play as many of my favorites as I expected them to. Overall, it was great and they are now amongst the kickass artists I have seen live.

Glen: Exactly what Chris said. Also, I can’t wait to see them headline someday (or open again).

Act II: Deerhunter– LOUD! and when I mean loud, I mean reverberate through your mind, body and soul and shake real low inside the lowest drums of your ears. Seriously, loudest band I’ve ever seen! and this time, unlike Dinosaur Jr, I was standing right next to the speakers lol. It was an incredible audio assault, real gorgeous, sonically and visually. The lights were fantastic and nicely complemented the bizarre music/performance, which, by the way, was easily the most technically sophisticated performance I have seen live, with Sonic Youth as the only contender. Singer/guitarist, Bradford Cox, the “nicest guy in Rock and Roll,” as Glen calls him, demonstrated some serious skill in the field of showmanship. This included, direct eye contact, hiding behing his guitar, then pretending to gobble it up, whilst posing for the cameras, and don’t forget that he loves Boston! as he proclaimed numerous times. Musically, Cox and crew played some Cryptograms tracks, but mostly Microcastle songs including “Never Stops,” “Nothing Ever Happened,” and the title track. Unfortunately, they didn’t play many of my favorites and they played nothing from their last release, the EP, Rainwater Cassette Exchange. The Atlanta rockers finished their exqusite set with the classic, dance track, “Operation.” Deerhunter was definitely my favorite from the night, no surprise. I can’t wait to experience their Supreme Genius again.

Glen: Loudest for sure. Bradford was the man. All members of the band were. Drummer Moses Archuleta really pounded hard and with fine precision. My favorite two songs were “Nothing Ever Happened” and “Operation.” “Nothing Ever Happened” was awesome because it was loud and featured an extended jam. “Operation” was just pure dance-rock or dance-punk. It’s way better live than on record.

Act III: Spoon– Not being a fan of Spoon (actually never listening to them prior to the show), I don’t have much to say here. I enjoyed their performance very much and I thought they were quite entertaining and displayed the right chops as a great Rock act. I could tell the crowd was really engaged with their performance and the musicians were equally interactive with their audience. Usually, with most bands I see live that I don’t know well, I lose interest, but with Spoon, I appreciated what I was seeing/hearing and greatly admired their performance.

Glen: I agree with Chris. I was really only vaguely familiar with Spoon prior to this show. I feel like it’s a must for me to research their earlier discography because there were definitely some songs that connected with me during this show. Even the new stuff off Transference, which was a decent at best studio album, sounded much much better live. Songs that stuck out to me (ones that I knew from before and/or caught my attention) were “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb,” “Got Nuffin’,” “Don’t Make Me A Target,” “Written in Reverse,” “Don’t You Evah,” “Who Makes Your Money?,” “I Turn My Camera On,” and opener “Before Destruction.”

Set-List:

    1. Before Destruction
    2. Nobody Gets Me But You
    3. Rhythm & Soul
    4. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
    5. They Never Got You
    6. Stay Don’t Go
    7. Vittorio E
    8. Got Nuffin’
    9. Metal School
    10. Don’t Make Me A Target 
    11. Written In Reverse
    12. The Beast And Dragon, Adored
    13. Don’t You Evah 
    14. Who Makes Your Money
    15. I Summon You Play Video
    16. Trouble Comes Running 
    17. I Turn My Camera On
    18. The Underdog
    19. Encore:
    20. Is Love Forever
    21. Finer Feelings

Grade: A, definitely this will go down in my top ten favorite concerts! A night of three highly diverse, exciting, independent artists, what more can you ask for?

the Black Lips! but we saw them two days earlier suckas!!!

Glen: I haven’t figured it out yet, but this is definitely a top show. In the A/A- range.

Chris