Deerhoof – Offend Maggie — music review
Chris got me this CD the first day it was released last year, and that’s when I feverishly scribbled most of this review; I was soo excited! I just noticed it in the drafts folder and just now getting around to publishing it, feh. —Kris
Deerhoof is an acquired taste and I’ll be first to admit that not everyone will go back for seconds. For example, when I first met Chris, I wasn’t aware that he had picked up a few of their albums and was seething at his car stereo, skipping, ever skipping forward, trying to find a “good” track.
Deerhoof isn’t conventional, far from traditional, beyond generalization, which is why people are either wholeheartedly drawn to them or run away screaming. Their latest album Offend Maggie is filled with a fondness for flat-note instrumentals, oft off-key off-kilter on-purpose vocals, and screeching, squealing guitars all delivered in short quippy spurts, sure to make most people very uncomfortable.
Their onomatopoeic, albeit magically nonsensical lyrics (some of it even sounds Japanese) is like someone singing a Dr. Seuss book aloud. For example ‘Fresh Born’ says: “Mini body S.O.S. dotty / Downy hairy tip toeing moony / Tiny hoofies bend oh bend bonny / Puffy butty stand up now waggy”. In fact, the more obscure the lyrics, the more you can appreciate the contrast between background and foreground. If you can’t handle it, there’s always liner notes.
Some say Deerhoof is untalented and unpolished, pure noise, but if you can truly dissect the primal roots of music, to a state where you can concentrate on the collaborative process, that pure DIY sound harkening back to friends’ bands in high school, mucking around in front of a crappy recorder; Deerhoof has captured that fun and carefree quality. That raw quality is precious.
Believe it or not, Offend Maggie is one of the most palatable and, dare I say “normal” albums from the group. (That’s not necessarily a trait I am looking for in a Deerhoof album, but there is enough of their unique sound to please me). Why, ‘My Purple Past’ is almost beautiful and predictable, ‘Fresh Born’ is almost hip-hoppy. Well, I’ll just go down the list:
- ‘Chandelier Searchlight’ is appropriately one of their “lightest” tunes to date, a bit rockabilly bebop.
- ‘Buck and Judy’ is downright ethereal “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at times, gentle plinking piano-sounds quickly disrupted by rough ridged riffs and simplistic tribal beats.
- ‘Snoopy Waves’ makes the guitar purr and coo between funk vibes.
- ‘Offend Maggie’ is a folksy transportation to Ireland and Scotland… I hear a jig stomp amongst the guitar-pluck “bagpipes”.
- ‘Dog on the Sidewalk’ is reincarnated into the chant-like ‘Basket Ball Get Your Groove Back’.
- ‘Don’t Get Born’ touts acoustic “Simon and Garfunkel” interludes. La la la laaaa.
- ‘Family of Others’ does too.
- ‘Fresh Born’ is my favorite from Offend Maggie, a whole minute intro is ethereal instrumental leading into full-on funk; courting tempo-play with almost House-influenced broken beats.
- ‘Eaguru Guru’ scurries along, unsure of a direction, sound akin to a clumsy, hungry lab rat trapped in a maze, nix the clinical part. The instrumental last half is rewarding.
- ‘This is God Speaking’ is a broken cuckoo clock that comes to life, with comb-rib percussion and futuristic squibbles and mumbles.
- ‘Numina O’ is drowsy, slightly reminiscent of jazz in the Brat Pack era, cool and minimalist, bookended by feedback, lots of feedback.
- ‘Jagged Fruit’ starts off as the most melodic track, a double-tracked Satomi sustaining sweetly, sounding a little like Lush to me at the 3/4 mark. In the middle, it migrates to a distorted tangled of guitar and drums, ending the album with a song that sounds like they’re warming up.
Fresh Born (Live)
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