Deerhunter Lulled Me To Sleep

11/13/08 3:35pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

My girlfriend is a Deerhunter fan, so I figured I'd go with her to see the band play Toronto's Lee's Palace last night. I can't say I had a terrible time, but at one point they actually put me to sleep.

I enjoyed opening act Braids (formerly known as The Neighbourhood Council). They play an interesting blend of experimental rock and shoegaze, and did some interesting things with samplings sounds and their voices. My roommate Ruhee apparently went to high school with these guys. Bradford Cox later said Deerhunter had handpicked Braids to open for them after they played a festival in Calgary earlier this year. That's pretty impressive and they'll probably ones to watch.

I was really, really not impressed with Times New Viking. The Ohio trio encountered a number of gear problems throughout the night and only played for about half an hour at most. I wasn't expecting them to play any longer, since their Rip It Off album is only about that length. But I find them annoying, mainly because they recorded Rip It Off using ridiculous amounts of distortion and feedback, which they can't duplicate live.

I realize it's not always a good thing to "play it like it is on the record" in a live environment, but here it would have helped them. When you put so much into your record that you can't duplicate it in the slightest live and it leaves your set lacking something huge, there's a big problem. None of the band's members can sing, either. Again, I get that having a "good" singer isn't necessarily the key ingredient to life, but even someone like Kurt Cobain could somewhat carry a tune. These guys just yelled into their microphones.

While I wasn't a huge fan of Deerhunter's Cryptograms sophomore disc, I like Microcastle, their recently released third album. I was digging the opening bits of the set, which included "Never Stops" and "Nothing Ever Happened," but at some point the monotony of the bass put me to sleep. I don't know how long I was out, but I think it was for at least a whole song.

I can't understand why hipsters go apeshit over these guys. Sure, they're talented musicians, but live, they mostly stand in one place and stare at their feet. I guess that comes with being "shoegaze heirs" or whatever, but it doesn't necessarily make for an interesting live show.

Apparently I'm not the only person who was affected by Deerhunter in this way. Toronto concert promoter Mark Pesci recently said on Stillepost that Deerhunter put him to sleep, too. Not sure if he meant literally, but it's good to know I'm not alone in my sentiment.

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