As I've discussed in a previous article of mine, I am excited to see a number of bands at this year's slightly-underwhelming Coachella. But of the top ten cutting edge/up-and-coming bands worth a listen that I listed--unfortunately, this rules out LCD Soundsystem and Sufjan Stevens--I am most excited to see two: Deerhunter and De Lux. And you want to know why? When you see them live, they're modern-day jam bands.
The concept of a jam band is not something usually applied to today's music scene, despite the proliferation of bands using live performance to pay the bills (with streaming companies like Spotify and Pandora, and the ubiquity of music torrenting reducing the income that can be made off of digital music content purchases). Usually the phrase is used in references to rock bands from the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Do a quick Google search for "jam band" and the pages for the Grateful Dead, Phish, and The Allman Brothers are recommended.
But both Deerhunter and De Lux are bringing fresh new aesthetics and styles to the stony rock n' roll jam band genre, showing the versatility of musical improvisation and the extra dose of fun it injects in any live performance. Deerhunter is a psychedelic rock band fronted by Bradford Cox, musician-songwriter-singer extraordinaire, who also makes music solo as the equally successful and trippy Atlas Sound. Having seen both Atlas Sound and Deerhunter live before, their psychedelic tendencies really come out in their performances. Not in the guitar-heavy Grateful Dead way, but through synths, loops, vocal sounds, etc. Deerhunter played at FYF four years ago and during their 50-minute set, they played only four distinct songs with much experimentation in between. It was a fabulous show and I was able to lay on the grass at dusk, swaying and taking in the highly complex aural landscape. And with new music to play with from their album Fading Frontier, I cannot wait to hear them craft new nuance into their recent material.
De Lux is a relatively new and highly irreverent indie dance rock band who specializes in sarcastic and apathetic musings about millennial life to music that is slightly more upbeat and synthy than the lyrics would suggest. This style primes them perfectly to expand with their sound live, leaving plenty of room to play with their looping and beats in-between verses about traffic in Los Angeles and going on Facebook on your phone and laptop at the same time (check out their new album Generation for more of these witty lyrics). All the best bands with a dance slant are able to change things up for live performances in order to get the crowd moving, and De Lux has proven their chops and will hopefully only continue to do so, making them a can't-miss group.
This is not to say that I don't appreciate bands who sound exactly like their records live. In fact, that's one of the most impressive feats in music; the ability to sound as impeccable live as in the studio is no easy task. But the ability to change the specifics of a song while maintaining its general structure, melody, sound, etc. is nothing to turn your nose at.
This appreciation most likely stems from my favorite band, The Velvet Underground, of which I have downloaded every album (live, studio, etc.). And while they are not labeled as a jam band, take a listen to any of their live albums and what you will mostly hear is music that sounds quite different than any of their studio albums or recorded tracks. It bred in my the desire to hear the talent of musicians not only in their ability to write a song, but also understand it well enough to interpret it again and again.
Deerhunter and De Lux soar above this standard, with music unique in its original iterations, as well as their ability to play it to the mood, the crowd, the experience. And for that I will be waiting patiently to see their live musical acrobatics and hear a band I love play something completely new to my ears (and my thousands of fellow attendees). Hey, maybe it'll be worthy of its own album one day, a la Animal Collective's Live at 9:30. But for now, you better catch them live, cause you'll never get to hear that exact song in that exact way ever again. Keep your ears open.
