Deerhoof- The Magic (2016)

Deerhoof- The Magic (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

The first thing you notice on Deerhoof's new record The Magic is the brave mix of blistering guitars and the sort of pretty ornate arrangements of French Marxists Stereolab,  The Devil and his Anarchic Surrealist Retinue is the kind of song you simply can't ignore, it involves so much in a couple of minutes, at first, it looks as if the main part of the vision in this record is making as much noise as possible, just check out the crunchy riffs of Kafe Mania!, as the band goes here into a complicated but perfectly delineated equilibrium between brutality and beauty, bordering punk rock in almost celebratory way, like the over driven That Ain't No Life to Me.

Someone told me a couple of weeks ago that Deerhoof was the world's best rock n roll band, I certainly disagreed, sorry for breaking up someone fantasy, but for me, Entombed is currently the best rock n roll band, with a fiery performance that certainly reminds me of great what great rock n roll is all about, with acts like The Stooges, or the MC5, I guess Deerhoof might have read what I said about them, and on The Magic, they have made the big jump towards totally deafening painful jagged edge music, for me is a good reminder of the moments where this band rocks really hard, not wasting precious time, like on some albums, getting too experimental, or getting too goofy,  this time, they have cut too close to the bone, even adding some really amusing touches.

Certainly a loud rock n roll record, and I must also add that is a great rock n roll record, guitarists Ed Rodriguez and John Dieterich have set their amps and guitars up to ten, and let totally unapologetic wild riffs come out of their instruments tight in the middle of the great team work of Greg Saunier's overwhelming experimental drum work and Satomi Matsuzaki ultra funky bass lines, Satomi also a great singer with a very own particular style , I must confess here my obsession with Japanese female singers, making Satomi a favorite of mine undoubtedly.

You can't deny The Magic's experimental nature, it is very close to Deerhoof's heart, but also this time the band has decided to make an extreme record, wild and weird, at times Satomi peculiar singing style simply remind me of Bjork playing with a rabid punk rock band here, it could get any more brutal and any weirder, a brilliant and enjoyable blow to the head.