Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity Album Review

Deerhoof
Friend Opportunity
Album Review

When someone says to me that an act are 'Unclassifiable', I usually glare sceptically in their direction, and presume they just don't know enough about music to put the act into a genre. Well, that usually being the case, allow me to introduce you to the exception, Deerhoof. These guys can't even be called 'unclassifiable', as their sound expands far beyond that. Now, the new album, 'Friend Opportunity', goes even further than before, and has just concreted them even deeper into my head and heart.

'The Perfect Me' opens things up. Clattering, yet charming percussion runs alongside growling guitars and a haunting organ sound that all grab me by the scruff of the neck and drag me headfirst into the deep end of their sound. The first thing I notice is that I can actually follow the vocals, not easily done on previous releases, given vocalist Satomi's constant shifting between language, pitch and concept. The album continues to allure me in. I start to find it difficult to single out key tracks. It's all so damn good. All songs are chock full of playfully meandering vocals, deep rhythmic experiments, blissful and chunky riffs and hooks, not to mention a whole host of beautifully fused instrumentation. These guys are pop, pop in the purest sense of the term, but in their sense of the term. With these guys its almost asif they've rewritten the rules, and created their very own world of sound.

Okay, for those of you who haven't heard them before.think Blonde Redhead and Yo La Tengo, but mainly in the sense that they sound like nobody else. Influences cover a massive amount of ground, from The Melvins, The Who, Sonic Youth to Miles Davis, Jeff Buckley, and a whole array of names from rock, jazz, electronica, soul, funk, blah, blah, blah. There really is only one way you can promote these guys, and that is to play them. So seek them out, cause no amount of words will result in the right description. 'Friend Opportunity' is on par with 'The Runners Four', which was their finest album, treat 'FO' as an extension of this.and join 'hoof fans allover the world when I say 'ChooChooChooChooBeepBeep'


-Thom Holmes