Deerhunter are probably my favourite band in the whole land and have been ever since I got my hands on Cryptograms last year. So I was pretty damn excited about seeing them live for the first time…… I wasn’t disappointed either but first the support acts. CHOPS, well god knows what they were like as my train didn’t get in on time to check them out, but they seemed pretty good at packing up their stuff.
High Places did a wonderful set of tropical sounding shoegaze that sounded a little like the lion king filmed underwater maybe it should be called ‘Aqua-Tropicana’? The drumming was all digital yet live and sexy just as it should be. The sweet female vocals sawed through the room and brought a woozy feel to the tropical beat styling of the tunes. A few of the tunes sounded like Aphex twin’s Donkey Rhubarb but more organic and sleepy. Hypnotic stuff from this brilliant new band. I completely forgot to pick up a CD they had for sale too, bummer.
Deerhunter did a brilliant set starting off with some tunes from the Florescent Grey EP, building from mellow moments to walls of pure fuzzy noise. The sound engulfed you in a fuzzy blanket, the loudest group I have seen in a little while. Bradford started proceedings with a bit of banter to telling us he was going to blow the fucking roof off so come to the front of the stage, he is a charismatic fellow. Deerhunter have so much good material the set was full of hits for a fan like me. They played a lot of Microcastle and the rest was from Florescent Grey and Cryptograms as far as I could tell anyway. The beats where tight as hell and the rhythm really propelled the tunes brilliantly throughout the entire set. They seemed to be enjoying it too, there was a bit of joking around and some riffing from Whitney on one of the guitars. It was interesting to see how they make all that beautiful noise from the albums right in front of your very eyes. The layers and layers of guitars where played awesomely I especially like the new stuff and the Eno style of playing in parts. Whitney made some excellent noise with her harmonica. I also loved her rock’n’roll leather trousers.
I can’t get enough of their tunes, each one was a killer, with hooks a plenty and just down right beauty all round. My favourite tracks of the night where Florescent Grey, Dr Glass, Like New, Wash Off (So that’s all of the EP then hey), Lake Somerset, Octet, Strange Lights, Hazel St, Never Stops, Activa, Calvary Scares, Saved By Old Times, Microcastle, Twilight At Carbon Lake and Nothing Ever Happened. I’m sure there was a lot more played my mind is as fuzzy as my ears right now though, oh and I have got the order extremely wrong too. The only songs I’m a little disappointed they didn’t play are Spring Hall Convert and Agrophobia but they more than made up for it with what they played. Easily one of the best live shows I have seen in a while.
Right at the end on the encore Bradford even passed me his guitar to play while he stuck it through some mad effects peddles and all that good stuff. I tried playing the Dr. Who theme on it but failed at that as it was so many effects it wasn’t very recognisable, ah well you got to give it a go haven’t you. I made quite a racket, as the bassist also gave his instrument away to an audience member beside me. Bradford said my playing was good at the end, which was nice of him, I bet he says that to all his audiences the flirt…
Deerhunter still my favourite band and you can bet I will try see them again. I can’t wait to get my hands on Microcastle too it sounds so good I can’t wait to spin the CD. Right now Bradford Cox has made as either part of Deerhunter or as his solo project Atlas Sounds two of the albums of the year, talented fella I take my hat off to him, if I had a hat, I don’t but you know…
Check out the ace new EP type thing from Atlas Sounds here. It’s full of mellow sleepy sounds, its beautiful, and made on tour just before hitting the UK in Amsterdam, amongst other brilliant nuggets form the Deerhunter/Atlas Sound camp.
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