Atlas Sound at the Horseshoe; Thursday February 28, 2008

Atlas Sound at the Horseshoe; Thursday February 28, 2008

One big Kranky Party...Valet opened for Atlas Sound. Basically Valet are a band that fuses together moods and impressions. They’re fronted by Honey Owens, a slim, grungy brunette who unexpectedly and modestly ties Valet’s mess together. I don’t like their music much, but I can appreciate it for what it is most certainly. Back in June I reviewed their album titled ‘Blood is Clean’, which you can view on www.twowaymonolgues.com. ‘Blood is Clean’ is hard on the ears, however is much tighter recorded than in the live show. I had no idea how Owens would pull of the dissonant sounds, but she did it for the most part. She had part help from an Atlas Sound member (and probably Deerhunter too) who spent virtually the entire show on the floor with a Casio-style keyboard and a xylophone. Valet played with only three people on stage, Owens ruled vocals as well as guitars. I had serious doubts as to if she could properly play the instrument because she heavily based her performance on her pedals below. Her vocals were atrocious, unlike the album one could not hear a word she said. In the title track off ‘Blood is Clean’ she repeats “Blood is clean…”, at the end of the show I didn’t even realise they played that tune. I liked her gig much more than the person that followed her, also a member of Atlas Sound, the lead guitarist of the other opener White Rainbow.Atlas Sound went on at around 11:45, pretty late but they don’t have much material so they have a lot to work with in the limited time. Members of Atlas Sound comprise the American band Deerhunter, who I too often tend to mix up with Deerhoof… very different. Anyhow, Atlas Sound I believe is just the lead singer of Deerhunter solo work. He has used the stage name Atlas Sound for quite some time now apparently since his days in high school. Recorded they convey a very dreamy motif throughout. It’s okay, but that’s primarily because he has a synth lacing all of the songs. In addition, very similarly to Valet there’s a lot of dragged on guitar distortion, which is nice but after a while it gets to be too much. Musically Atlas Sound really don’t have a consistent direction, however I found simple bass lines really structured the songs. Atlas Sound are not a band that excel in anything really, not ridiculously attractive, not particularly in clarity and the songs are not consistent. Harsh, yes but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The songs aren’t very accessible, I think that is the problem with this band. It’s the type of music that takes a few listens, or under the right circumstances for one to enjoy. Their set was short, maybe forty minutes long. However they came out and did an encore which was really fun. Bradford Cox has been writing songs on a daily basis, cheaply recording them and posting them on his website. People are harsh stating if they like it or not, but he frankly doesn’t care because he hasn’t put a great deal of effort into them. His encore was comprised of these silly tunes, it was nice very raw feel. Cox is super funny, he has the kind of humour that isn’t “haha” funny but it’s real. I think his sincerity got me to listen to their album a second time while I was writing this, nicely done.I haven’t looked greatly at his writing style, but it seems alright, this is kind of big to leave out.Favourite Track: “Bite Marks” because I really dig the pulsing baseline throughout, simple but effective.Pitchfork loved this album, or their new one I should say, titled: ‘Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel’, they gave it an 8 I believe. It was cute, during the show they kept rating things, vis-à-vis Pitchfork, I dig it.