Microcastle

Deerhunter's new album(s) Microcastle/Weird Era Continued strike just the right balance between simple pop songwriting and complex arrangements. When Microcastle was leaked on the Internet, leader Bradford Cox decided to include an entire new album as a bonus CD with physical copies of the album. Rather than just an extra CD full of outtakes, live tracks or other throwaway material, Weird Era Continued is just as solid as Microcastle itself, containing 13 tracks in 42 minutes. Cox's strength is that he adds to his already-strong songwriting by using textures from a variety of influences, while not merely reconstructing others' achievements. I was struck by the fact that on Cox's blog his downloadable mix CDs always feature a Beach Boys tune. It is only with this reference that the Beach Boys influence becomes apparent in his own arrangements, which also owe a lot to the hazy indie rock of the early to mid 90's. Clearly he uses these influences as tools in a greater whole, rather than trying to recreate Pet Sounds (or Loveless) exactly, as someone such as Sean O'Hagan has built his entire career on. The greatest modern pop music is a synthesis of many styles, but still reflects the mind of it's creator, and Cox seems to achieve this effortlessly. The "Be My Baby" drum pattern of "Vox Humana" works so well because it is only a small element of the otherwise un-Spector-like song, and the only example of such direct quoting on the entire double CD. In this era of quick duplication and oversaturation by a constant flood of CDr and cassette releases (even sometimes from "rock" bands, not just Noise artists), it's refreshing to see someone take a year or more between LPs and make them as rewarding as Microcastle/Weird Era Continued.