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Deerhoof are a real life honest-to-God force. They are an indie-rock Mahavishnu Orchestra. They are spectacular. They are astounding. They are dazzling. They are stupendous. They are wondrous. They are one of the best shows I've ever seen. If musicianship and joy, without artifice and choreography, are what you seek in live music, then they could be all this for you too.
Contrary to rock band convention, much of the attention is on drummer Greg Saunier. He is the only founding member of the band remaining and, as a classically trained conservatory graduate, masterminds much of the music beyond just percussion. But this isn't why he gets the attention onstage. That would be because, also contrary to rock band convention, his kit is set up stage right at the edge of the stage facing the band, much like a piano player might be, thus giving everyone in the crowd full access to his overflowing enthusiams for the music he is playing. Saunier is a 6-year old boy his first time at a waterslide when he plays. He is beside himself with joy and energy. He had already thrown a stick within the first two minutes of the first song. Usually it takes at least four or five songs for a drummer to build up enough sweat to do that. He plays with massive large strokes and mosquito-Tourettic flashes. The happiness and intensity never leaves his face. At one point it looked like he came close to missing a cue after a pause, but he glanced at the band and picked it up in a flurry of strokes, jolted into awareness and excitement that there was more to be played. "What? What? I can go down the slide again? We get to keep playing?" The other obvious focal point for the band is standing on the other side of the stage, a tiny Japanese wisp of pixie named Satomi Matsuzaki. She sings in an ultra-kawaii high pitched voice that one friend recently described as "like every annoying ‘office lady' on the phone I've ever heard". But I do believe this misses the point. She joined the group shortly after it had formed, when they were looking for another element to add to the mix of what was initially just bass and drums noisy avant indie rock. What they got was an entire country's worth of personality distilled into one person. Go to indie shows in Japan even a few times and you are bound to see a Satomi Matsuzaki onstage, a small shy-seeming young woman standing almost perfectly still singing high-pitched expressionless futuristic minimalism over one or another kind of backing. Make no mistake about it, though, Matsuzaki is a glory. There is much more to her than the above description, but just as the Boredoms even in all their uniqueness and brilliance represent a certain type of attitude common to the artistic side of Japan, so too Matsuzaki. So what was commonplace in Japan ended up being just the extreme to provide the balance the band needed. She represents the enigmatic personality beneath the blank submissiveness traditionally expected of Japanese women, the kind of thing usually requiring a keen eye to notice. She is by design unreadable, and this is precisely the artistic statement that adds so much to Deerhoof's music. Mostly standing still on stage, at one point she did a little dance with her bass guitar in hand where she circled several times like an unconsciously neurotic dog anxiously debating whether to lay down. She made a few perfectly executed leaps-in-place, kicking her legs behind here a-la Pete Townsend. They were moments of real beauty. In between these two are longtime guitarist John Dietrich and new guitarist Ed Rodriguez. The songs they play are a brilliant succession of riffs and motifs of a style all their own, in a big thick crisp toob-amplifier fuzz. They don't move much either, but they don't need to, as all the energy is flowing through their fingers. Really, if you gave the three standing musicians matching jumpsuits they could be Devo. There was not a single musically dull moment in the hour-plus set. You don't just want to hear the music and see the band performing, you want to see what they are playing. Their music is made for live performance; chest-thumping loud, celebratory, and intricate. |
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report by kern |
 mag files : Deerhoof Deerhoof, A Raw Force From Nature (09/02/01 @ Liquidroom Ebisu) : review by kern壊れたおもちゃ箱 (07/05/02 @ Koko, London) : review by & photos by kaoriYou Can Always Come Back Home (07/01/20 @ Shinjuku Loft) : review by shawn, photos by nachiphoto report (07/01/20 @ Shinjuku Loft) : photos by nachiphoto report (06/02/24 @ Shinjuku Loft) : photos by nachiphoto report (06/02/22 @ Shibuya Club Quattro) : photos by keco |
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The official site Deerhoof http://deerhoof.killrockstars.com check 'em? -->My Space / iTunes the latest album  "Offend Maggie" (国内盤 / US import / US import - '12 analog / UK import / iTunes) |
previous works  "Friend Opportunity" (国内盤 / US import / iTunes)
"Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) - EP" (iTunes)
"+81 - EP" (iTunes) "Matchbox Seeks Maniac" (UK import - '7 analog) "The Runners Four" (国内盤 / UK import / US import / iTunes) "Halfbird" (US import) "Green Cosmos" (国内盤 / UK import / US import / iTunes) "Halfbird" (US import) "Milk Man" (国内盤 / US import / UK import / iTunes) "Apple O'" (国内盤 / US import / iTunes) "Reveille" (国内盤 / US import / iTunes) "Holdy Paws" (US import / iTunes) "The Man, The King, The Girl" (US import / iTunes) check the albums? |
 2009Deerhoof, A Raw Force From Nature : Deerhoof (1st Feb. @ Liquidroom Ebisu)2008Sensational or Artistic: What Makes These Two So Special? : Rodrigo Y Gabriela (12th Nov. @ Shibuya AX)Why Don't You Come On Over, Z? : The Zutons (17th Oct. @ Shibuya O-East)2007overall view on Asagiri Jam (06th to 07th Oct. @ Asagiri Arena) |