BeatRoute Magazine B.C. print e-edition - June 2016

DEERHOOF
revealing the magic behind the experimental rockers
Over two decades later, Deerhoof continues
to cast their spell on The Magic.
Deerhoof has been together and
consistently making music awhile now, but
that hasn’t made it any easier to describe their
sound. Descriptions like “experimental” or “indie”
seem trite; “noise” is too niche and does a
disservice to singer Satomi Matsuzaki’s mostly
childish, sing-songy voice, whereas “rock” is
such a broad and conservative-sounding label
for a band that seems to exist outside of the
musical realm of their contemporaries.
Guitarist John Dieterich claims Deerhoof are content being unclassifiable.
Fortunately the band, with drummer and
original member Greg Saunier at its helm, has
put their finger on their sound for us with the
title of their new album, The Magic. The most
succinct way to summate Deerhoof, it seems,
may also be the most abstract. Guitarist John
Dieterich extrapolates, “What we [Deerhoof]
liked about the idea of just magic is that it hasn’t
been decoded yet or described yet. It’s something
that you don’t know what it is or where
it came from or what it means and you’re just
kind of letting it wash over you kind of.”
This concept is one common denominator
for a tracklist that Dieterich admits is “kind of
all over the place...a mixtape.” If you’re already a
Deerhoof fan, the 15-track hodge podge record
strikes lots of familiar notes - “Debut” and “Kafe
Mania” are good examples. But the biggest
surprise may be its three unbridled punk songs,
apparently perfect examples of the concept of
happenstance. A single weekend before the
deadline, some of Deerhoof’s band members
were asked to contribute a punk song for a
television show. Unbeknownst to the others a
few of them took on the challenge. “We live in
three different locations, sometimes four, and
so three of us wrote songs, recorded demos
including vocals and lyrics and sent them in
Monday,” Dieterich explains. Guitarist Ed Rodriguez’s
contribution, “That Ain’t No Life to Me” is
probably the purest example; it’s also the first
time Rodriguez has sung lead vocals.
Although The Magic isn’t a punk album, it
does maintain the high energy of one due to the
set of circumstances leading up to its recording.
On the heels of extensive touring, including a
lot of “rock-ish” shows, the band evaluated the
type of shows they had the most fun playing
and used that as inspiration.
Dietrich has no prescription for enjoying The
Magic but regales his story of a recently memorable
listening experience: “Yesterday for my
birthday we went on a little road trip. We took
our dog to a place called El Malpais Wilderness
which just means ‘badlands’ in Spanish but it’s
like this incredibly remote, just shockingly beautiful
sort of impossible to describe wilderness
that’s like an hour away from here...My friends
got me this compilation of Can music that had
been unreleased, called The Lost Tapes. They
gave it to me...like five years ago. And I had sort
of listened to it but it was like, I dunno, I don’t
give myself that much time to actually sit and listen
to music. I’m usually working on something,
whether it’s you know my own music or mixing
somebody else’s record...And so this was the
first time where I actually had two-and-a-half
hours to sit in the van and listen to music and it
was amazing. I instantly fell in love with it.”
Due out on June 24th via Polyvinyl Records,
Deerhoof’s latest release comes on the heels
of a collaboration album with the classical
composer Marcos Balter and Ensemble Dal
Niente, called Balter/Saunier. Deerhoof has 13
full-length original albums under their belt since
1997’s debut The Man, the King, the Girl - each
very unique but all unequivocally magical.
Deerhoof plays Fortune Sound
Club (Vancouver) on July 8.
MUSIC
by Thalia Stopa
June 2016 MUSIC
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