>>81694820
I'll never forget the first time I encountered Deerhunter. They were performing on Jimmy Fallon in 2012 and there was fog everywhere; you couldn't see shit. Jimmy could barely even announce the band's name because the feedback was so loud and one of the band's members was holding a tape recorder playing motorcycle revving noises up to a mic. He seemed to be so focused on what he was doing, as if he were playing a serious instrument.
Then this tall-ass lankazoid wearing an insane leopard print blouse and a very obvious, cheap wig that covers most of his face except for his mouth appears from the fog. Half of his fingers were curled over, wrapped up in bandages and covered in fake blood, giving the appearance that they'd JUST been amputated. His mouth was spackled in blood as well.
The song starts, and it's this unbelievably sloppy bar-rock number with barely discernible melodies. The lankazoid who looks like the bony creature from that one Aphex Twin music video grabs the microphone and starts singing with a nasally voice and a speech impediment, off rhythm and barely keeping up. The song devolves into this repetitive, noisy refrain that the lankbro completely gives up on. He saunters off stage as the band keeps playing, fiddles with the cheap wig for a little bit, twirling its curls in the few free fingers he has left, wanders backstage as the camera follows him, navigates the halls of the NBC soundstage they're filming at, casually grabs the paper cup of water from the hand of a visibly startled PA who was engaged in conversation and not paying attention to her surroundings, drinks the water, throws the paper cup aside after crushing it in his hand, approaches an elevator, pressed the summon button and leans against the wall waiting for the elevator to arrive. And that's how the song ends. One of the strangest late night television performances I'd ever seen. Instant fan.
