From Deerhunter to Atlas Sound
Today, MTV.com columnist James Montgomery posted a long essay arguing that Deerhunter is the best band of the year. Noting how Bradford Cox recently announced on Deerhunter's blog that the band is going on hiatus, Montgomery writes:
Yes, I am aware that their first album, the demurely titled Turn It Up F----t, came out in 2005. But from January to November of 2007, no band mattered more to people like me than Deerhunter. They were divisive (primarily because they learned very early on just how to work the hype machine), they were difficult and they were much-discussed. And they knew all this, which is why it was so brilliant (and incredibly fitting) when they announced their hiatus the way they did. It was a supremely meta moment â€" blog band announces hiatus via blog â€" one that encapsulated 2007 (and to a larger extent, the entire decade) in a way that In Rainbows didn't.
Montgomery overstates his case somewhat. When I ran into Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt at MJQ several weeks ago, he informally told me that the band would go on vacation at the end of the year, get back together several months later, and have a new album ready for release in the fall of 2008. Who knows what the future will hold?
At any rate, Deerhunter is scheduled to join the Black Lips, Snowden and the Selmanaires for Stomp and Stammer's 11th anniversary party at the Variety Playhouse on Fri., Nov. 30. More on that later.
Meanwhile, Cox is moving forward with his Atlas Sound project. He was recently featured on the cover of the Fader (see above photo), and is preparing to release his solo debut next year. Atlas Sound's Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel drops Feb. 19 on Kranky Records.
In a press release, Cox dedicated the album to his friend Lockett Pundt: "It has a lot to do with childhood. I wanted to make an album that was uplifting but honest, which is why it seems sad a lot of the time. I want to make music that could be 'healing' or therapeutic to people who relate to it."
The track listing for Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel is below.