ALBUM REVIEW: Atlas Sound – Logos
words: Jamie Milton
The career of Bradford Cox, under the moniker Atlas Sound and fronting critical darlings Deerhunter, is indeterminate. The sporadic means by which Cox writes and releases his songs highlights this; songs are leaked by himself at times, other times they’re leaked by others. He goes weeks without writing a song and then he’ll release a good twenty tracks in six months. Make note that at any time he could pack it in without looking back. He is in the fullest control of his own actions and it was his decision to make ‘Logos’, the second Atlas Sound release, simply something to pass by, not stop at, when speeding past the increasingly lengthy collation of his achievements.
That’s not to say ‘Logos’ isn’t up to standard with the rest of Cox’s output. But there’s just a general sense of carelessness and spaciousness that at times hinders the album but at the same time, is its greatest asset.
This is an album following the example made by ‘Weird Era. Cont‘, the accompanying “b-sides package” that came with last year’s full-length ‘Microcastle‘. It to some extent exceeded its superior because of its rousing ability to sound not half-arsed, but almost purposefully lax. Genres, ideas, came and went in the space of thirty seconds. What sounded like unfinished pieces of music somehow managed to fit together like a puzzle, with nothing spared. That’s how ‘Weird Era…‘ worked and that’s exactly how ‘Logos’ works.
Because on ‘Logos’ you’re presented with not just the sporadic imagination of Bradford Cox. Here, he arrives hand in hand with members of Stereolab and Animal Collective, their guest appearances slotting songs that sound – you guessed it – like Animal Collective and Stereolab songs, in between quintessential, hazy Cox-led material. Detached, ‘Walkabout’ is a childish, sharp anthem questioning the aspirations of one’s future – “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Laetitia Sadier’s appearance on ‘Quick Canal’ too, is more than just a centerpiece. A knife-edged, stop-start bassline contrasting to the glossy company comprised primarily by Sadier’s clear, streamlined vocals (the complete opposite of Cox’s own). In album format, they sound completely out of place but make no mistake: they’re the masterstrokes of a difficult album to get your head around.
When the limelight is set upon him, Cox plays the role of incognito, swimming uneasily between indecipherable, jerk-noise on ‘Kid Klimax’ to the more destined ‘Criminals’, boasting one of the finest melodies to come from Cox’s busy brain to date.
‘Logo’’s letdown comes from the tracklisting. He pits his more accessible material for the early stages, unleashing the more Deerhunter-esque material, ‘Orchid’ and the delicate ‘The Light That Failed’ at the very beginning of the album. The latter half comprises of material less well-rounded and harder to tackle. For the listener, this makes for a record that appears, at least at first glance, peculiarly top-heavy.
But by the time he’s finished, Cox will eventually have enough records under his belt for newcomers to be forced to retreat into hand-picking individual songs rather than albums when it comes to investigating his work for the first time. ‘Logos’ is not where his career peaks but it is yet another ruthless reminder that among us is one of the most creative, free-thinking talents for some time.
7.3
mp3: Atlas Sound – Criminals
words: Jamie Milton
Here comes the overstatement of the day: Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox is the single, most important modern musician of our time, today. Right now, he is producing fantastic work after fantastic work and his reputation is in the mean time, growing at such a pace that people are genuinely curious about his personal life, his upbringing and what his future holds.
But ‘Logos’, a quick-fire release only months after his band’s ‘Rainwater Cassette Exchange’ EP, is anything but personal. Granted, he graces the abstract cover of the album nude, lost, face immersed in a bright light. But the fact that you don’t see everything suggests that something’s being hidden. Cox embraces previously unfounded territories on ‘Logos’, removing abstract instrumental parts from his records and replacing them with epic, nine-minute-long electronic adventures. On ‘Criminals’ however, you find the most Deerhunter-esque song on the record, one that might have found itself sitting pretty on 2008’s ‘Microcastle’. The chord sequence is basic yet infectious, and the feel good factor makes up for the slight amount of repetition that occurs. It strikes you from the off as something untouchable, and the absolute standout on the record.
mp3 //
ALL THE RAGE: Deerhunter
words: Jamie Milton
Yesterday I decided to get the ball rolling for the nominations process in our “act of the year award”. I hadn’t given anybody a restriction on who they could choose but when I put the question to a lovely forum, the response was pretty unanimous from the off.
It’s been an almighty year for Bradford Cox. Since ‘Cryptograms’ split opinion in half, since the band got sack-fuls of equipment stolen after a show, he and his cronies went forward to produce not one but two, fine albums. The mastered version of ‘Weird Era Cont.’ has just emerged in the release package of ‘Microcastle’ and turns out it wasn’t just some out-takes processed into what Cox wanted to call a record. Instead, it merges the accessible tones of this greatly-recieved new record, and the equally divine previous album, and it works a treat.
This Pitchfork review that was published today is the second reason why Deerhunter are MFM’s “band of the week/all the rage/hot stuff etc.” As far as we can remember it might be the highest score the site’s given a new release as of yet in 2008. Set your thoughts aside on whether you tend to agree with Pitchfork’s views or not – you can’t disagree that it is one mightly influential site. And so it was most likely to Cox’s delight when he discovered a 9.2 merging from his computer screen this morning, or he might not have noticed it.
But the praise is pouring in and Deerhunter have finally become a band of whom you wait with gritted teeth throughout your days, anticipating something new, all the time. They are no longer an emerging act with more to give, they’re giving it and according to the “act of the year” poll, they’re receiving their riches.
Deerhunter/Atlas Sound blog
PLAY: Deerhunter – Dot Gain
[Buy 'Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.']
HYPE: High Places
words: Jamie Milton
Roaming about on the pitchfork/hypemachine/All tomorrow’s parties blogging scene. Hell, they’ve even got their own blog. High Places are yet another issue of Brooklyn’s never-ending cloning machine of talent. A two-piece who have been compared to Animal Collective and always manage to avoid the verse/chorus structure whilst singing about sex and sleeping – we’re here to pass judgement on whether they do the job.
#2/ HIGH PLACES
background/why the hype?
Supporting Deerhunter on their latest tour – buzz is starting to seep its way into the tourbus. Attention found its way to the band when Pitchfork gave their “debut” of sorts, ‘03/07 – 09/07′, a compilation of 7″ releases, 8.3 out of 10. The power Pitchfork has to boost a bands profile goes without saying but they seem to have solely achieved this mission without any other publication’s help. Live performances have also been described as exciting, enticing, unpredictable.
DrownedinSound have just declared them as a band to keep an eye out for and last year, Stereogum declared them as a “band to watch”.
the sound
Well first of all, they’re more Panda Bear than Animal Collective. More Atlas Sound than Deerhunter, their minimal sound draws these comparisons but in their most interesting work so far, ‘Visions The First’ – their beat-heavy sound sets them apart from their contemporaries. Chunks of keyboard loops are sampled endlessly until we’re transfixed. From the off, it’s easy to see why there’s the fuss. The extent of the fuss shouldn’t get carried away though, although the likes of ‘New Grace’ are brilliantly catchy, there’s nothing genuine about their music lyrically. Having said that, if you came to High Places looking for that, you were always going to be disappointed. But it is obviously something they can work on.
deserving of the hype?
Yes. Nothing’s dull about their not-to-thrilling tales of “thinking about sleeping” because the musical world that surrounds the songs is excitable, each song we’ve heard corresponds to one-another in running themes of jumpy beats, minimal rhythms and the charm that’s clearly got the two-piece to the brink of “huge-ness” already.
High Places myspace
PLAY: High Places -Head Spins
PLAY: High Place – New Grace
PLAY: High Places – Visions The First
MFM @ HYPEM
