Deerhunter at The Great American Music Hall

Music:

I got to see the band Deerhunter last Monday night at San Francisco's GAMH. They were amazing to see live and I have really been enjoying their latest CD called "Microcastle" as much as their older CD "Cryptograms". This was a great place to see them because the GAMH is so dark and enchanting, the perfect surroundings for this music. Their sound is experimental and unusual, the singer definitely has influences of Gothicness vocally and an awkward Thom Yorke appearance. The music is dark and loud and yet at times has elements of 1960's pop sensibilities. There is a lot of ambient sounds that layer and guitar petals that distort and it appears heavily influenced by the 1990's Shoegazer movement. So, I was surprised that such a heavy mosh pit formed in the middle of the floor in front of the stage...a lot of aggression for such ambient tones, but as I said, it is loud and carries some pretty heavy beats thanks to the energetic drummer. The lead guitarist finished up the show by shaking up a beer bottle and playing it against the strings of his guitar, as he shook it up and down, it was pretty obscene and very unusual to witness, you could not take your eyes off of the spectacle. He played his guitar up close to the speaker, as did the bass player and the feedback and distortion washed over the audience like a wave of confusing and hypnotic sound. It was pretty awesome.