“Scientist with 31 years of experience will reanimate anyone/anything within reason…”

Deerhoof – Noble and Godlike in Ruin (Joyful Noise) –  They are of course beguiling, they are of course bright, they are as alive as ever, as musically positive as ever and who wouldn’t want to be friends with a band who in turn want to make friends with sparrows and pretty buttercups that are growing at strange obtuse angles while trains won’t go where you want them to go. Deerhoof always sound like Deerhoof yet they’re always loaded with surprises, with delights and details that always catch you out in just the right way’ Loaded with details that catch the scientists out in just the right way? You never really know them, you think you do, you think you had them nailed years ago, but you never quite did, they are the ever furiously inventive quartet that they have been from the start (thirty-one years ago now), they are forever a challenge to themselves as much as they are a challenge to us the listeners, it is always very very clever, it is always an utter delight and no Pinochio about any of it, just what are they laughing at in Ha, Ha Ha Ha, Haaa? Is that a bit of very English sounding 60’s candy-jazz that jsut went past? Have they once again discovered some previously unknown combination of notes? Or that it really is true that there are more butterflies this year? There’s something very knowing about Deerhoof, something engaging and inviting, something that, as awkwardly jarring as it all is, as foreboding as some of those words might be when you try and dig down, there is just something very very comfortable (whoever you root for). 

You know those Led Zeppelin bits that the Hip-Hop groundbreakers fed off back there, all those custard pies that went off and things, all those jump cuts and bite backs and every little thing that they see and need to tell you about, the fire and the things under rats and the kitchen sink and all the applause before the peace and quiet of Immigrant Songs and the singer of those songs at your party, but don’t let them fool you, you know if they’ve got a seven minute song, rather long for Deerhoof, then there is going to be a twist along with all the kindness that she wanted from you and here it comes halfway through those seven minutes, what a glorious flood of noise, what was she saying there?  

Don’t be fooled though, it might be a delight, they might be beguiling, they’ve always had bite though, they’ve always had things to say, they can be angry, they just don’t need to be so obvious about it, Noble and Godlike in Ruin is once again is laced with their social commentary, their observations, their barbs both musical and lyrical, and there goes another bit that will please the Cardiacs pond, and another of their paradoxes, there are always paradoxes. Noble and Godlike in Ruin could well be a portrait of a world descending into monstrous hate, dehumanisation and dollar signs, or, as someone else pointed out, a haunting self-portrait of band-as-monster: an intelligent, sensitive hybrid creature, singing tirelessly of love, but increasingly but increasingly alienated from this world they find themselves in, but then it might be something else entirely? 

Avant-garde chamber music that bounces off hip-hop flavoured other rock and riffs that just have different colours to them, oh Deerhoof are a crucial band, they never ever make bad records, they never make anything less that glorious records and this is as glorious as any of the many they have made. Cor, that’s a good bit, but we could be saying that again and again and again, every bit is a good bit and no, no Disobedience, no speaking out of turn, and if it all is turning to whatever, then Deerhoof are going down swinging and funking and rocking and oh Custard Pie, actually they’re doing some microtonal stuff right now and they may have machine driven bits but this is not music made by machines, this is so so human. Those contractions, those paradoxes, those leaves on the trees that they need to know about, and have they got even more in here this time than they usually have? Are they going for even more? Going in harder than ever, oh they’re just brilliant and they’ve made another brilliant album, they’ve been one of the best bands out there for years now and these might well be their best moments yet, Deerhoof are brilliant… (sw)

Deerhoof‘s new album, Noble and Godlike in Ruin, is out April 25th 

deerhoof.website / Bandcamp / Previous Deerhoof coverage

31 Flavours Tour

1 May Minneapolis, MN – Walker Arts Center
2 May Denver, CO – The Bluebird
3 May Portland, OR – Rev Hall
4 May Seattle, WA – Neumo’s
8 May San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
9 May San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
10 May Los Angeles, CA – The Lodge

16 Jun Washington, DC – Union Stage
17 Jun Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
18 Jun Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit
20 Jun Indianapolis, IN – Healer
21 Jun Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme
22 Jun Toronto, ON – St. Anne’s Lower Hall / Two Night Pass
23 Jun Toronto, ON – St. Anne’s Lower Hall / Two Night Pass
25 Jun Somerville, MA – Crystal Ballroom
26 Jun Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom
27 Jun Amherst, MA – The Drake
28 Jun Brooklyn, NY – Pioneer Works

22 Jul Bristol, UK – Strange Brew
24 Jul Birmingham, UK – Castle and Falcon
25 Jul Edinburgh, UK – The Caves
26 Jul Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
27 Jul Manchester, UK – YES (The Pink Room)
28 Jul London, UK – Bush Hall
29 Jul London, UK – Bush Hall
30 Jul Margate, UK – Lido

1 Aug Genk, BE – Absolutely Free Festival
3 Aug Trondheim, NO – Kafe Skuret
5 Aug Oslo, NO – Goldie
6 Aug Stockholm, SE – Slaktkyrkan
7 Aug Copenhagen, DK – VEGA
8 Aug Faaborg, DK – Avernax Festival