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DIIV ‘Doused’ ‘Letterman’ During Network TV Debut

diiv, david letterman

DIIV, the New York City band fronted by proud pet rat-owner Zachary Cole Smith, put their dream-pop and shoegaze influences out in front on excellent 2012 album Oshin, but don’t let that word “dream” mislead you. DIIV were not just awake but downright energizing in their network TV debut last night on Late Show With David Letterman, as their performance of Oshin‘s urgent “Doused” offered up more krautrock-reminiscent interlocking guitar-riff spires than the late-night norm. Smith, who once spoke with SPIN about loving Nirvana, wouldn’t have been out of place on Letterman’s old NBC show Late Night, with his shaggy blond mop and oversized Black Sabbath T-shirt. If Grizzly Bear’s jacket-toting Letterman visit the previous evening is any indication, Smith must’ve been chilly. Whatever it takes to elicit the sort of strangulated howl he makes in this clip. Letterman’s verdict? “Fantastic!”