Despite a fondness for the bands in which Bradford Cox plays, I’ve listened to both Deerhunter and Atlas Sound far more in their recorded versions than in the live setting. Tuesday’s show at Le Poisson Rouge was my first time seeing the latter, and while I found myself nodding my head to the most direct of the group’s songs, other parts of the set drifted more — something that’s not inherently problematic, but which caused the pieces to feel somewhat lost in the cavernous space in which they were played. (Though given the pillars in LPR’s performance space, I suspect that my take on the show was more informed by the acoustics of the space than the actual music being played.)
I know Broadcast primarily through their first two albums, The Noise Made By People and Work and Non-Work. I knew both to be pop: fractured pop at times, but still…pop. So I wasn’t expecting the set that they had in store, which began with a harsh combination of distorted sounds and a barrage of visuals. The effect was far closer to dälek, or My Bloody Valentine’s “You Made Me Realize.” Disarming? Yes. Though when the group shifted gears into a more pop direction, the effect of relief hit on a physical level.