gone deerhunting …

in a space of three short years, the staggering output of deerhunter and its affiliate acts has thoroughly infiltrated the fragmented psyche of indie music (if such a category makes any sense at all). 2007 was the year most of us got our first glimpse of the band with its post-shoegaze cryptograms album and the impressive follow-up fluorescent grey ep, which boasted a title track invoking the rotting corpse of david baker’s mercury rev. showing no sign of slowing down, 2008 saw the consolidation of the hegemonic grip of the band, which started the year with bradford cox’s solo project atlas sound, and ended it in style with the devastatingly beatitiful couplet microcastle/weird era cont.

this year, we already have two related releases to contend with, lockett pundt’s solo effort lotus plaza, and the band’s recent ep rainwater cassette exchange. the former’s the floodlight collective already has the makings of a classic as it reaches towards the outer limits of both ends of the dreampop spectrum, with album centerpiece “what grows” representing just about every possibility of such a project. rainwater cassette exchange is no less adventurous, as evident in the opening title track with its deceivingly naive holiday-themed melody blending surprisingly well with the song’s garage inclinations. it’s only may, but i can’t wait for what else the band’s got to offer for the rest of the year.

mp3: lotus plaza – what grows?

mp3: deerhunter – rainwater cassette exchange

all deerhunter, atlas sound and lotus plaza releases are available on one of our favorite record labels, kranky.