Deerhunter @ Triple Rock

By: Steve Hogan

There were some damn good tunes being played at the at the Triple Rock last Monday, as Atlanta’s favorite blissed-out shoegazers, Deerhunter, hit the stage riding high off the release of their critically-acclaimed third effort, Microcastle. “There was no sound” crooned front man Bradford Cox through the soupy, sonic haze of, ironically, a LOT of sound on their thumping opener, “Crypotograms.”

 To say that Deerhunter use a lot of reverb is a supreme understatement. Hell, here I am 48 hours later, and their fuzzy brand of ambience is still echoing throughout the enclaves of my skull. Don’t get me wrong though, I fucking loved it – I came for the psychedelia and left a very happy man. It fascinates me how they manage to effortlessly weave such tightly-crafted pop melodies in and out of their foggy sea of auditory bombast. Cox’s distant, reverb-soaked, and often unintelligible vocals were haunting, yet strangely comforting.  Their rhythm section was a menacing force to be reckoned with, as bassist Josh Fauver’s guttural, galloping lines rumbled and churned deep within my loins, while Moses Archuleta’s beats were like a musical defibulator, pounding steadily away at my chest with no mercy, as if my life would fade if it stopped.

Unfortunately, the band’s stage performance was beyond lackluster. With the exception of Cox, they barely moved, and Fauver even had his back turned to the audience for the majority of the show, which amazed me because his booming lines were so strong and present (albeit this could be due to the stomach flu, which apparently has stuck the band as of late and forced their fifth member, Whitney Petty, to skip the show). Nonetheless, the music spoke for itself. The band whipped through rousing renditions of not-so-old favorites from 2007’s Cryptograms, including the trance-inducing “Octet”, the subtle glow of “White Ink”, and the feel-good pop anthem, “Hazel Street.” The new stuff, which came off to me as less “noisy” and more focused in terms of songwriting, kicked ass as well- highlights included the rousing “Nothing Ever Happened”, the playful “Never Stops”, and the warm, toe-tapping slo-core of “Dr. Glass.”

Opening trio Times New Viking was bad ass as well. Raw, visceral, and rowdy, they sounded like the Mates of State, only after being slapped in the face a few times and forced to gobble up some acid. Vocal duo Adam Elliott and Beth Murphy’s frantic yelps meshed seamlessly with guitarist Jared Phillip’s fuzzy, Hendrix-esque squalor. I dug em’.

Thus, it was a grand evening. The verdict: Check out Deerhunter. Check out Times New Viking. Check them out now!

-Steve Hogan