Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil 2011

It's easy to remember how you felt at 16.

Yeah, you had two eyes like everyone else, but yours were Infallibility
and Invincibility. No one could tell you what to do. A force to be reckoned
with - you were filled with the undeniable feeling that you could
take on anything and win.

Having formed in 1994, Deerhoof is now that fateful age and by rites
it's the band's turn to go out and challenge the world. The same way a
rebellious adolescent turns tough and irrational, Greg Saunier, Ed
Rodriguez, John Dieterich, and Satomi Matsuzaki just up and split
from San Francisco, the only home they've ever known as a band, and
left behind all notions of what a Deerhoof record sounds like.

The result is Deerhoof vs. Evil. The musical equivalent of hormones
raging out of control, it explodes out of the speakers with its gawky
triumph and inflamed sentimentality. These are songs that practically
demand that you dance and sing along (however elastic the rhythms, or
abrupt the melodies). Right from Qui Dorm, Nomes Somia (sung in
Catalan), you know you're hearing a daring band, unafraid of the
consequences of failing (critics be damned).

To document their musical coming-of-age the band members could
only trust themselves. Besides their cover of an obscure Greek film
soundtrack instrumental (Let's Dance the Jet), and a song done for
NY artist Adam Pendleton's documentary film installation BAND (I Did
Crimes for You), these songs were completely self-recorded, mixed
and mastered in practice spaces and basements with no engineers or
outside input.

Ironically the result is polished, blissfully exuberant, and hugesounding.
Going DIY meant freedom to reinvent themselves, playing
each others' instruments, altering those instruments so drastically as to
be unrecognizable, (those aren't Joanna Newsom or Konono No. 1
samples, those are John and Ed's guitars), and generally splashing
their sonic colors into the most unexpected combinations.

It takes only one listen to know itΓΓé¼Γäós going to be a Sweet 16.
(provided by the artist)

- - -

Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil 2011
(Polyvinyl Records)

1.Qui Dorm, Nomes Somia
2.Behold a Marvel in the Darkness
3.The Merry Barracks
4.No One Asked to Dance
5.Let's Dance the Jet
6.Super Duper Rescue Heads !
7.Must Fight Current
8.Secret Mobilization
9.Hey I Can
10.C'Moon
11.I Did Crimes for You
12.Almost Everyone, Almost Always