Deer Tick Something To Brag About

Is dreamwave a saturated musical market yet? Maybe it's headed that way, but the original sound of The Depreciation Guild managed to blow my mind within 30 seconds of tuning in. Perhaps it's because they're not simply following the latest dreamwave trends: they're creating a throw-back sound that has distinct shoegaze roots in My Bloody Valentine and more recently Autolux. Hell, there's even a ton of 80s reverb in there. Maybe you're about to argue that this is simply shoegaze, and I shouldn't even bring up dreamwave. Chances are more likely, however, that you give a flying hoot about my analysis. If that's the case, you should probably just click the "play" button and zone out. For the rest of you, bring on the genre bending!

Sure, it's becoming an increasingly satirized form of analysis: "Check out this shit-pop chillzone scream-folk Irish elephant band out of Portland! They're totally gonna be the next big thing on Pitchfork!" So why go that route? Because I want to, and because the new album by The Depreciation Guild, "Spirit Youth", gets me muddled as to where to lump them.

What makes this different to anything else that's been put out in the past? Well, it's the clash of classic shoegaze and modern synth-laden, drum-machine dreamwave. Sure, they're using real drums, but let's be honest: half of what's on this recording has been tweaked to living hell. It's modern electronic production meets the old-school shoegaze we know and love. I guess that makes it simple then, doesn't it? They've avoided the awfully electronic sounds of Neon Indian and settled on modernizing the pure and "classic". They're thus dreamwave, chillwave and shoegaze, all wrapped into one. And I'm not saying that because they're somewhere between the three; rather, they embody all three at once. And they do it well.

Is there much to argue here? Not really. But give it a shot, or just enjoy.

While you might know Kurt Feldman and Christoph Hochheim best for their work in The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, they are also members of the dream-pop trio The Depreciation Guild. In fact, they founded the band almost two years prior to the Pains' formation. Now that you know this, let's talk about The Depreciation Guild's forthcoming second LP.

Available in your standard formats, as well as limited vinyl edition, starting May 18th through Kanine Records, Spirit Youth will look to embody the band's "very own blend of 8-bit beats, clanging chords, and heady hook." It will also contain disembodied voices and distorted guitars - Music Is Amazing