non-pain

Something I wrote at the end of my last post referencing the Velvets, plus the fact that I wasn't in the best of moods and worrying about things the whole day (on a weekend for fuck's sake), prompted me to dig into some old Deerhunter, specifically their 2007 album Cryptograms. I previously wrote, albeit briefly, about the very impressive Microcastle/Weird Era Cont Deerhunter released last year and I'm planning to write about that one again, very soon. Also I did happen to write a capsule-type review about Cryptograms some time back; good times better times back then, maybe not... Here is a 'reprint', which I can't help but subject to a heavy edit:

John Cale’s self description of the music made by the Velvet Underground as “controlled distortion” comes to mind when listening to Deerhunter. A soporific spree, the songs on Cryptograms careen from flittering guitar shoegaze to introverted bedroom psychedelia with a dozy enthusiasm that goes a long way to prove that the influence of the Velvets never goes out of fashion. Updated with krautrock-driven shards and fragments, the spaced-out aesthetics is the right tool for pivoting around singer Bradford Cox’s somewhat morbid mood ranges. Best Cryptograms moment to remember Deerhunter by: the nocturnal melodic haze of “Spring Hall Convert”, the engrossed sound of someone blowing his mind out in a car.