Album Review: Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

Listening to Deerhunter's discography in chronological order is like watching the growth of a child with each album representing a milestone in maturing and development. The intuitive listener can enjoy a warm wave of nostalgia not unlike that photo album reminder of special moments that come rushing back from distant memories. The earlier Deerhunter albums are easy to identify on this faux timeline. Turn It Up Faggot is a bloody, raging birth that has no other directive than demanding to be heard. Cryptograms is that softer yet raw toddler that in it's best moments can amaze with each word it properly articulates and each confident step it takes toward getting someplace meaningful. Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. is a strong willed child beginning to form it's own ideas, thoughts and emotions and gains knowledge and poise with each small achievement and vote of encouragement. In 2010, occurring just like clockwork around two years after their previous album and following an EP release of unofficial studio exercises (as well as one from Bradford Cox's solo project Atlas Sound), Deerhunter offers the public Halcyon Digest. Will it be a restless, temperamental juvenile full of exploratory "experimentation"? A lovelorn, pubescent teenager unleashing aching, penciled poetry from a spiral notebook? Those may have been possible results if this now emboldened band had been impatient to "grow up" and attempted something that they were not "mature enough" to accomplish. As far as where it resides on this developmental thematic construct, that is to be debated. In brief, Halycon Digest is simply their most assured album to date and a testament to Deerhunter's dogged pursuit of exploration, details, clarity and perfection in their music.

This newly calculated approach on Halcyon Digest begins with the opening track. "Earthquake" sounds like anything but a Earth-shaking event; rather it is a removed observation of a planet-splitting event taking place in distant outer space. The track is intense and emotion-filled, building to a meaningful studio-modified crescendo while decidedly restrained, opting for beauty over dissonance. This commitment to loveliness is strung throughout the album connected by the best examples in the two early releases. From the mandolin plucks on "Revival" to the harpsichord plinks on "Helicopter", the painstaking attention to the instrumentation delivers these melodies in just the right manner that ties the whole album together. It is on "Helicopter" where Cox delivers his strongest vocal performance to date, a longing opining on drugs and their eventual diminishment. His voice is moving, hitting each tender note as the warmth rolls through, giving an emotive lift to the listener while each band member's pride is reflected in the song's performance.

Another noteworthy difference in Halcyon Digest is the interspersed quiet moments spread throughout the album. A song about loneliness, "Sailing" drifts along on sparse production featuring not much more than guitar and vocals over a subtle rhythm. However, the machine-like trickle of ambiance underneath is what makes the moment transcendent. Toward the end, when Cox bays for no one to hear, it is that sound of nothing that makes the track so powerful. "Basement Scene" is creepily inviting for a song about being stuck between the frivolity of youth and the perils of aging. Sounding like the darkest of Everly Brothers classics, the track creaks along on a hazy hum and a ticking clock via drumstick tap. Deerhunter influences are more obvious than ever on Halcyon as they reach into previously unexplored arenas. This is most notable on the Lockett Pundt-fronted tracks where the annals of alternative rock are on full display. One might have to check their Jesus and Mary Chain collection to make sure that "Fountain Stairs" is not a cover song. The lyrics even feature the word "Head". (If you don't know what I am talking about, don't worry. JAMC fans do.) "Desire Lines" has the insistent energy of a shoegazer classic that stretches out for over six minutes and finishes like the Pixies song "No. 13 Baby" where the interlocked riff and rhythm are so good that there is no other choice but to keep it going as long as possible. Finishing of the album is "He Would Have Laughed" with Cox back on vocals. The quirky beat and synth back and forth feel like a sunny Caribou track. It begins hopeful and resonant until the acoustic guitar and lyrics move to the front and the whole thing becomes oft-kilter up until the eerily abrupt ending.

Going back to the album as developmental signpost theory, Halcyon Digest seems to have skipped over its awkward teenage years, revealing a mature, full-fledged graduate with honors. Often when a band takes such a bold step forward into a more mature sound there is a eventual backlash and longing for more songs "like the old stuff". For me, there is no regret, only the joy of watching a band crawl, walk, run and hit the air soaring. Overall, there is barely a minor flaw to be found here, reminding me of a quote from Stephen Colbert I can paraphrase. Halcyon Digest: Great 2010 album or greatest 2010 album?

Download "Revival" for free here.  Purchase Halcyon Digest here.

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

Album Review: Maximum Balloon - Maximum Balloon

Aging musicians releasing collaborative solo albums fronted by an all-star lineup of vocalists is a real marketable tool right now. Big name guitarists such as Slash and Carlos Santana are cashing in on pushing mediocre lifestyle music on their devoted fans who listen with the pretense, "Hey, I like (add dull MOR artist name here) and I like 70's classic rock/80's hair metal! This song must be good!" Millions of units sold and multiple Grammy wins later, mainstream opinion becomes the truth obscuring what the product really is: an glossy, over-constructed collection of songs with no common thread beyond the one money driven focal point whose name graces the album cover. With the album release from Dave Sitek's (of TV On The Radio's fame) Maximum Balloon on a major label, it brings notice to some strange parallels to the star-studded collaborative/big money product push. The overarching debate is this: Is Maximum Balloon a well-orchestrated, cohesive effort or merely a pedantic collection of tracks with a couple gems found amidst the rubble?

Maximum Balloon has some large shoes to fill with Sitek as a main creative force in musicianship and production behind TV On The Radio. The comparison if unfair is definitely inevitable. One thing is obvious from the kickoff: this is no TVOTR project. "Groove Me", featuring vocals from Theophilus London, is a sexy pop hit in the making featuring funky keys and Prince-like guitar jabs that juxtapose the industrial hum and roll under the London's assured voice. The nearest tracks to his Sitek's early efforts are by no surprise the tracks fronted by TVOTR frontmen Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone. Adebimpe's track "Absence of Light" has that slinky buzz meshing with Adebimpe's hefty voice that raises the hair on your neck while the beat punches you in the gut, making it the album's standout track. Malone's offering "Shakedown" is soulful and smooth, reaching beyond the doo-wop style carried by horns and chimes, sounding like a Curtis Mayfield jam brought back to life 500 years in the future. Oh, and that is a good thing.

The female vocal representation ably colors the wide open canvas on Maximum Balloon, often sounding like a different take or a remix, for better or worse, of their band of origin. The track "Communion" sung by Karen O has a Yeah Yeah Yeahs flavor via new wave that is sultry and swaying but misses the guitar crunch that fans expect. That similar retro pop is found on the Katrina Ford fronted "Young Love", a New Order groove that misses the subtlety of its inclination. The best female vocals on Maximum Balloon goes to Little Dragon, whose track "If You Return" blends the her effortless performance with jittery guitars and an ethereal synth that is a lovely homage to the best of 1980's pop. On that topic, I would be negligent if I did not mention the David Byrne track "Apartment Wrestling", that lifts the best nervous riffs from Remain In Light but retaining the contemporary flow, making me wonder what the Talking Heads would sound like formed circa 2005.

To answer the question posed earlier, Maximum Balloon leans more towards an album rather than a collection, with Sitek borrowing from his influences, then giving them a whitewash of futuristic industrial buzz that makes him a sought after producer. The diversions in sound are never so great to draw away from the whole album and the standouts rival anything in the TVOTR catalog. The result is Dave Sitek's outlook on the direction of pop music that touts a evenly distributed balance between memorable earworm melodies and au courant indie sensibility. It makes me look forward to the future of music while reminding of an amazing and varied past.

Purchase Maximum Balloon here.

Maximum Balloon - Groove Me


Maximum Balloon - Absence of Light


Maximum Balloon - If You Return


Maximum Balloon - Pink Bricks

Download Free No Age Track, Stream Entire New Album, Released on September 28

The noisy punk  duo No Age has all of the prerequisites for instant indie success. Pounding drums, fuzzy and squealing guitars and scream your heart out vocals translate to intensity that pounces from your listening source and crawls all over you. Their first two albums Weirdo Rippers and Nouns are two giant steps forward in their progression towards an album that balances noise and melody, while never forgetting the intensity that butters their bread. With the new album Everything In Between less than one week away, Sub Pop has posted the entire album for you listening pleasure via SoundCloud. After a thorough listening, Everything is a healthy leap rather than a step with each song showcasing a new color on their palate wheel. We always knew they could rock as hard as anyone, but it is the melodic left turns that keep your ear on point, intrigued by what comes next. Check it out now as it is unsure how long the stream will last.

As an added teaser, No Age offered up the first single a few weeks back as a free download. "Glitter" is that great example of melody and noise in sync, humming along with oscillating synth and guitar scrape over cheerleader beats and confessional vocals raising the whole glorious mess to indie's own pop perfection. The b-side "Inflorescence" is a squealing march featuring an jarring organ wedged in the middle. The song earnestly plugs along by keeping it simple. It is truly an similar sounding yet worthy companion to "Glitter". Listen to both tracks below then download "Glitter" by right-clicking here.

Stream Everything In Between here.

Pre-order Everything in Between here.

No Age - Glitter


No Age - Inflorescence

Download New DeerHunter Track, Listen To Entire Album

Bradford Cox has been a jarring force on the indie scene for the better half of the past decade. Alternating between his group Deerhunter and his solo work under the name Atlas Sound, Cox has made his mark with his take on psych-pop that leans heavy on the stormy feedback and kitchen-sink studio experiments. With each successive product, his voice and musical focus has transgressed from loose to laser-centered on finding that proper blend of noise and melody. For the past weeks, the machine has been drooling over the impending release of Halycon Digest, hitching a wagon to the album screaming "The Moon Or Bust". After giving it a full listen via NPR's First Listen, I think Deerhunter may have achieved that stratosphere-shattering moment that defines a band's career. An extended review on this surely to come soon...

The first thing that struck me about the offered track "Revival" is how coherent it was. Rather than opting for the drugged out waves of fuzz that attacked the listener, Cox now has the confidence to cradle us in a warm embrace. The production finds the balance between a delicate mandolin and a just enough electric hum to add tension to this short trip. Halycon Digest will be out September 28 on 4AD.

Give it a listen on NPR's website. Pre-order Halcyon Digest here.

Give "Revival" a listen below. Download it for free here.

Deerhunter - Revival

Free Protest Song Available From The Radio Dept., EP Single Out In November

Sweden's The Radio Dept. have been spinning their blend of delicate synth melodies and shoegazing Euro-indie since 2002, distributing a steady stream of singles, EP's and LP's at a rate of over one release a year. The band has gotten nudges of encouragement throughout their tenure from the inclusion on the soundtrack for the Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinette to much critical adulation for this year's release Clinging To A Scheme. In characteristic Radio Dept. fashion, they follow up a full length with more releases of original music.

Made available for free via their website, "The New Improved Hypocrisy" has been a work in progress leading up to the national elections in their home country. Well known as a society who socialist policies has resulted in a worry-free, well-educated population coupled with heart stopping taxation, the polling indicates that a moderate government will be taking power in Sweden in the new term. The topic of the new track is rife with concerns over this impending change and it doesn't seem that The Radio Dept. are too happy about it. Interestingly, the song's theme finds a common parallel to America's present Teabagger movement/scourge. Still, the song is airy and lovely, blowing through on a cloud as a catchy reminder that not all revolutions are warranted. Read the given lyrics for better clarification and click here for an article on Sweden's upcoming elections. Then click here to download the new track for free.

Also, upcoming is a EP centered along Clinging to A Scheme single "Never Follow Suit" slated to be out November 9. Download the track for free here. Included below as well is a stream of the entire album. Purchase Clinging To A Scheme here.

The Radio Dept. - The New Improved Hypocrisy


The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme LP