Deerhoof

Considering its disparate parts — spastic, nearly chaotic song dynamics with angular but wild guitar antics, asymmetrical drumming, a bass that locks in with its eccentric rhythms, and a singer who can't really carry a tune in any conventional sense — Deerhoof shouldn't work. And yet the act manages to...

By Tom Murphy

February 15, 2011

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Considering its disparate parts — spastic, nearly chaotic song dynamics with angular but wild guitar antics, asymmetrical drumming, a bass that locks in with its eccentric rhythms, and a singer who can't really carry a tune in any conventional sense — Deerhoof shouldn't work. And yet the act manages to bring these unlikely elements together in a band that is experimental because each of its players learned to play in a completely individual style. Against all odds, Deerhoof songs are surprisingly catchy and accessible in the manner of Captain Beefheart and the Dead Science — as if the Shaggs had accidentally stumbled upon their own kind of jazz, unconnected to any tradition. Always fun and entertaining, Deerhoof makes pop music for your inner weirdo.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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