Deerhoof / mp3s

Occasionally I’ll come across a band that makes me do a bit of a double-take. At first listen, the music seems a bit monotonous and mundane, but seconds before I turn the dial/delete the mp3/skip the track, the music abruptly shifts in a delightfully bizarre and unexpected direction. I like that. San Francisco’s Deerhoof is one of those bands. Inspired by such acts as the Shaggs, Deerhoof’s musical acrobatics seem chaotic but have an internal logic — much like Young People or other native San Franciscoans Erase Errata. The herky-jerky guitars, Satomi Matsuzaki’s meandering melodies, and Greg Saunier’s rolling drumming coalesce into a exquisitely weird listening experience.

He appears to be spooky, but he’s attractive because he has strawberries and bananas on his body, but he is bleeding, so he looks helpless, but he is smiling. Then there’s the mask, so you don’t know if he is really smiling under the mask. And the blood: you don`t know if it’s fake, or if it’s strawberry juice. All of these mysteries bring nightmarish imagination.”

- Satomi Matsuzaki

Recommended tracks:

• Holy Night Fever
• Dummy Discards a Heart
• Milking
• L’Amour Stories

More mp3s can be found at Epitonic.com and the Puzzlefun Music Archive (some of the links on the latter are unreliable).