Deerhunter - Microcastle

I found Cryptograms to be a dense and difficult record - the kind that didn’t necessarily go down easier after multiple listens. The Flourescent Grey EP, which followed soon after and featured a much higher ratio of structure to noise, made it clear to me that Cryptograms was little more than a mildly exciting mess. Mix that with a handful of socially inappropriate and crude blog posts at their band website and my interest in Deerhunter was running on empty by the end of the year.

Not so anymore. Microcastle, which is now fully digested after leaking, like, 8 months ago, has recently been officially released by 4AD. It shows a band that has grown significantly, if not by leaps and bounds, since just last year. Much more directly song and melody oriented than past works, Microcastle still manages to flaunt the band’s strange brew of psychedelia, garage & kraut rock, ambient, white noise, and 60’s pop. Lead single “Nothing Ever Happened” is easily one of the most breathtaking indie-rock songs I’ve heard all year - wild guitar rock set atop a relentlessly propulsive rhythm. Remember this - Microcastle is going to be high on dozens of year-end best-of lists.

MP3 :: Nothing Ever Happened
(from Microcastle. Buy here)
--------------------------------------------