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Building off a foundation of angular but loose garage rock, Deerhoof has once again released an album bound to cause mild confusion in the uninitiated listener. Shedding most of the electronic element that has been featured in previous efforts, Offend Maggie is instead a showcase of big guitar riffs and steady and intricate drum beats.

That can't be true, right? I mean, the band has a song titled "Basket Ball Get Your Groove Back" centered around simple percussion rhythms and a guitar mirroring Satomi's delicate voice singing about, what I gather, basketball. Opener "The Tears of Love and Music," however, has a different opinion of the direction Deerhoof has taken. Setting the tone for the album, the band rips into a hard, snarling riff complemented perfectly by some serious disjointed skin pounding (and not the kind Barack gave to Michelle on stage). But then again, seeing as how this is Deerhoof, you shouldn't be surprised by the extremely experimental blips and noises that populate through "This Is God Speaking."

Experimentalism aside, it's the straightforward rock tracks like "My Purple Past" which takes the rough-edged riffing from "The Tears of Love and Music" and melds them with a lounge-smooth verse. It's tracks like these that help set the stage for the cascading acoustic guitars of the title track and the spacey bump grind of "Buck and Judy."

Trying to categorize Deerhoof is like trying to rope down an inconsolable bull with a piece of twine: Your twine's gonna break, my friend, and you will be left in the dust frustrated and without steak for dinner. Instead, a more apt approach is to allow the Deerhoof album steer (get it?) you where to go, and just to ride along with the bumps and bruises. You'll appreciate the ride better, and probably decide against eating the bull in the first place, developing a platonic friendship between man and beast beyond the grasp of any of the judging outsiders. That's it, my friend, ride the bull.



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    Posted by greenvandal on 2008-10-14 16:12:47

    Great band. Pretentious indie assholes do have a tendency to gravitate towards them, but that doesn't change the fact they rock.

    Posted by clamum on 2008-10-13 17:59:45

    Oh relax, the baseball bat was a fucking joke. The kid was a tool, unless of course you can tell me otherwise. Sorry I offended your band/review.

    Posted by jesse on 2008-10-12 22:13:31

    This one time, someone wrote a band's name on a whiteboard, so they suck, because I thought the guy's personal character wasn't how I'd like to portray myself (to the point of me threatening violence, possibly due to my own insecurities).

    Sound reasoning. I should probably just delete this review.

    /Internet baiting

    Posted by someone-yeah on 2008-10-12 00:20:14

    Fleetwood Mac totally ripped off this album cover

    Posted by clamum on 2008-10-11 18:57:39

    My only experience to this band was when I was in college living in the dorms. The guy across the hall from me had one of those things they give you to put on your door so you can write on it with a dry erase marker. He had a list of "10 artists that must be stopped" along with about 10 bands that he suggested one listen to. Of course this cocksmoke was a typical pretentious indie douchebag whose head you'd love to bash the fuck in with a baseball bat. Anyway, Deerhoof was one of the bands on there so I say fuck them.

    Posted by JaredK on 2008-10-10 18:24:07

    I prefer more angularity in the foundation of my loose garage rock.

    Posted by DreeeamWeaver on 2008-10-10 15:28:58

    this band blows goathoofs.

    Posted by SydBarrett420 on 2008-10-10 14:51:27
    My Score:

    Score is for Eazy's comment.

    Posted by eazyd2 on 2008-10-10 11:06:23

    i dont see how you can give this 4 stars considering its complete lack of cowbell.

    Posted by i-type-poorly on 2008-10-10 07:24:51
    My Score:

    I love Deerhoof. Even though I like most of these songs, I'm sad the album kinda undoes everything Friend Opportunity did. That was a real experimental album for them, production wise, and now they're right back to the Runners Four sound and if it never happened. Oh well, "The Tears of Music And Love" is friggin awesome.

    Posted by xote on 2008-10-10 00:34:10

    Awesome.

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