March 9, 2007

Deerhoof

Friend Opportunity (ATP Records)

7 / 10 Being adored by squillons of music hacks whose reviews read like sexual climaxes is all very well, but the fact that Deerhoof count such clever bastards as Thom Yorke and The Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening among their fans says much more about their madcap creativity. After spending 13 years on refining pop-experimentalism, the trio have reached a peak with album number eight, which combines fractured Beach Boys melodies, flashes of post-rock ambition, twisted funk-beats and vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki singing like a girl skipping her way to school in the morning. And when they do all of this within the space of one song (‘Believe ESP’ being a primary example) it’s utterly dazzling. Unfathomable brilliance from start to finish.

Hardeep Phull

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