Deerhunter offer “religious experience”with Kurt Vile, K-Holes in the Pearl Street Ballroom on Saturday, August 14th - 9PM

Deerhunter began in 2001 with the ambition of fusing the lulling hypnotic states induced by ambient and minimalist music with the klang and propulsion of garage rock. The band has weathered chaotic line-up changes, the death of a member, much discouragement, yet they’ve emerged stonger and more committed each time. Their live performances almost always leave audiences hypnotized, and have been referred to by Karen O of the yeah yeah yeahs in NME as bordering on “a religious experience.” Their new album Halcyon Digest is coming September 28 from 4AD. The band announced the album's existence to the world by putting up a poster on their website and asking fans to print it out and post it in places where the unsuspecting public could find it. Pitchfork has posted the album cover and track list. Fun Fact: Leader Brad Cox is also the man behind the band/project Atlas Sound.

“Kurt Vile (real name, no gimmicks) has seemingly absorbed a lifetime’s worth of FM rock, and the ghosts of Springsteen, Seger, and others glimmer under the surface of his woozy, homemade bedroom pop.” –Pitchfork

Matador Records found Kurt Vile (the handle his mother gave him) in Philadelphia. He’s a wild-eyed, baby-faced long-hair who's spent the last 12 years climbing up on the stage or setting up in the back of a bookstore to stand, hunched over and giving breathless crowds from 5 to 500+ a string of bona-fide HITS that transcend genre or some passing aesthetic ghetto. He's remained a step outside any scene that's tried to claim him. Whether performing solo or backed by a first class American rock band called the Violators, he's dexterous and confident on the neck of an acoustic or electric, both relaxed and full of life at the microphone.

Brooklyn’s K-Holes, who lead off the night, are a punk/rock/experimental, largely instrumental band whose sound is a sophisticated version of the frontman Jack Hines former group, the Atlanta-based Black Lips. The three-piece, all-male lineup is heavy on electric guitars, with songs that dip in and out of punk overtones and surfer-style vignettes.

Tickets are a mere $15 at the Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686, and online at IHEG.com.