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Deerhunter

A A A Comments By John Payne Thursday, Nov 27 2008

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On the face of it, Atlanta's Deerhunter are another bunch of smart kids who've decided to be an arty band that kinda rocks or thumps funkily, and in so doing have thrown the usual avant-garage essentials into their punky electronicized mess. At least, that's the way things sounded on their 2007 disc, Cryptograms(Kranky). For whatever reason, though, they've segued into something so plain beautiful on their recent Microcastle (Kranky), an assortment of vocal and instrumental tracks loosely aligned texturally with the old shoegazer school, recorded as a four-piece consisting of Bradford Cox, Lockett Pundt, Joshua Fauver and Moses Archuleta, with guest Cole Alexander of the Black Lips. There's some kind of magic encoded within these well-constructed new tracks, and it's interesting while intensely atmospheric, none of the songs on initial listen sounds radically unique, yet by the album's end all reverberate like tunes you've loved your entire life.
Wed., Dec. 3, 2008