get a drink, have a good time now, welcome to paradise

I'm just as lost as you

The only reason I even discovered this song was because of Pitchfork's list of the Top 50 Videos of the last decade, where you'll conveniently find "Since I Left You" as the 4th greatest video on that list. I'd greatly recommend watching the video first, because every time after that, whenever you hear this song, you'll be reminded of what goes on in it (I'm not gonna describe it...just go watch it). Usually, a music video would ruin my mental image of a song, and I'm not exactly the biggest fan of music videos in the first place. So "Since I Left You" is definitely an exception.

The song itself is - like the entirety of The Avalanches' work - a combination of dozens of samples, both musical and vocal. Whereas Girl Talk pieces them together while quite obviously keeping the originals intact (mashing if you will), The Avalanches masterfully craft entire new songs using just snippets of ones they'd spent many an hour digging through crates for to find. Eventually, I'm going to get around to listening to the full album of the same name as the single, but I'm a little hesitant right now, given that "Frontier Psychiatry," their only other song I've heard, is basically a mindfuck of juxtaposed vocal samples straight out of 1940's and 50's television and radio ads and shows.

"Since I Left You" is then a weird juxtaposition in itself. It's a song where I gladly let the music video "ruin" my impression of it, while I won't chance listening to the rest of the (highly-regarded) album it's featured on, for fear it might sully what's left of my impression of The Avalanches. It's certainly an amazing song in its own right, dream pop mixing tinkling bells, flute, female vocals, an unashamedly disco groove, bouncy keyboards, and even an intro consisting of guitar and shouting you'd expect to hear from an afternoon at a South American weekend market. I just don't know if the rest of the album will be filled with similarly stunning material, or something that just degrades my already fragile impression of the group - this song not withstanding of course.

Grab The Rifles

The above is posted because lead singer Brandon Cox of Deerhunter is evidently scarily thin. And admit it; you've always wanted to see a psychadelic-themed James Bond intro anyways...with a deer.

In contrast to the vividness of Deerhunter's Cryptograms album cover pictured, their music can be quite muted and repetitive, in the most charming of lo-fi ways. I often have a hard time describing my favorite music, because when I really like something, it hits me instantly; that perfect mix of drums, bass, guitar, synth, whatever. I'll usually know during the first listen if I really love something.

Deerhunter is really an exception to that for me. Their music has grown on me as slow and deliberately as some of their instrumental progressions.

Nothing Ever Happened - Deerhunter

...that song however had quite an instant impact for me. Of Deerhunter's music I've heard, it's their most immediate, "indie-rock" jam, a 5:51 minute distorted-guitar-and-pounding-drumming rocker. The rock-out trip the band takes you on for the final few minutes of this tune make you yearn to be front-row watching these guys performing live.

Focus Group - Deerhunter

When it starts to hit mid-tempo however is seemingly Deerhunter's comfort zone. Think Grizzly Bear in a garage band, and if they weren't so meticulous about their audio production. That thin guitar and steady, beat-pacing drumming of "Nothing Ever Happened" is still there, but the vocals have been toned down and given the choir-chorus treatment that Ed Droste et al. seem to employ so well. I have to admit I'm a big fan of said choruses. It doesn't have to say anything, it just has to feel a certain way, and both groups are very effective getting that feeling across with no words. "Focus Group" is a song I initially had no affinity for, but it slowly grew on me like mentioned, and it's one of those short little gems you wish would go on for another 2 or 3 minutes more, because it wouldn't take anything away from the song itself.

If you like these cuts off the Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. double play, definitely check out Deerhunter's newest, curiously-titled five-song EP, Rainwater Cassette Exchange. Preview and buy it over here.