Deerhoof – Deerhoof Vs. Evil 8.7

               Deerhoof wins against evil. It’s so clear to me, a band that’s been around since 1994 manages to put out a quality product. Actually, I’ve always been a fan of these guys, but this is probably the best stuff they’ve put out for a while. 

                I know they are a hyperactive band, but they are in happiness overdrive. Each song bristles with enthusiasm, even the darker ones. There are some positively excellent moments, those short bursts of energy I don’t find on every album, or even with every band. Deerhoof excels with this glee, creating so many memorable little moments within their sonic universe.

                For one, there are actual acoustic guitars on here, like “Behold a Marvel in the Darkness”. Granted, it does explode into drum chaos as they are wont to do. The drums hit just as hard as before, indeed, that’s one of their main draws. Satomi’s voice fits with the band better than usual, and her singing is delightful.

                Oddly, even the male vocals on here are enjoyable. Usually that had been a previous sore point with their music. Here it finds its place. “Must Fight Current” has an interesting back and forth between the two of them. Well, it isn’t quite a back and forth, they are too unconventional for that. Instead it adds a level of tenderness they often lack.

                There are so many highlights; all the pieces just come together. Each song fits in with the next. Some songs have their sweetness come out of left field. “The Merry Barracks” starts out as a discordant jam. Guitars jut out with a lazy beat. Over halfway in, it blasts off in that drum intensity they excel at and virtually invented. 

Humor’s another big part of what they do. “Hey I Can” manages to create a chorus out of Satomi tossing out “La la’s” and “fa fa’s”. Though the humor gets even sillier for “I Did Crimes for You” with handclaps and her pronouncement that “This is a stick-up” with her weird delivery.

My hope is I get to see them live again. I’ve probably seen them live more than almost any other band; they have a bizarre stage presence. The drummer is a gentle giant. She did something with these Velcro fruits during the Milkman tour. I remember thinking “Yeah baby, you can attach those Velcro fruits to me” and then wondering if perhaps I’d passed that threshold from normal to near obsessive music fanatic or if I just found her cute. 

Either way, I enjoyed this more than I expected. I hope this bring them an even bigger audience. Here’s hoping.

No Age – Everything in Between 8.6

No Age

Like all No Age releases, this one grew on me. The immediate difference was how the songs felt fuller, both in terms of recording quality and it terms of more conventional structure.  Add that to the length of the album (almost 40 minutes, a record for them) and the word “maturity” comes to mind.

Yes, they have finally reached the next logical step in their evolution. But simply growing older and a bit wiser doesn’t mean that they’ve given up their energy. Rather, this energy is directed in new and exciting ways. “Valley Hump Crush” combines the joys of old No Age with the new focus. It has the same catchiness but there’s even more heart than before. “I don’t want to go to bed/The Sun’s still shining in my head” gives you some idea of the blissed out California world these two still inhabit. But the ideas are better fleshed out than before. Even the chaotic pace of “Fever Dreaming” can’t disguise the fact that they’ve worked harder on this without losing the energy that made them so likable in the first place.

Initially, I worried about this new approach upon first hearing it. For one, the reverb and effects are gone, making it sound more direct. Muscle like that found on “Life Prowler” allows you to actually respect the fact that they could tear down that wall. Also I wondered whether having so much thought behind the emotion would let it succeed on that visceral level. Thankfully, I was wrong after giving it a few more listens. So give this one a bit more tries than their previous work, it does take some getting used to. But ultimately, it is a very enjoyable work. Even the pacing of the ambient interludes works well, with most of them helping to mellow out the latter half of the album, with the album front-loaded with intensity.