Deerhoof: The Runners Four

How many times this year have I said, “Oh yeah! I can’t wait to get the new Deerhoof album!” It’s getting to the point where specific titles have to be used or else I wind up in the conversation that goes something like: “The new new one, or the new one? Wasn’t that a re-release? Oh, it was just an EP?”

Prolific noise-poppers that they are, this new new album is, for lack of classier descriptive words, fucking awesome. As usual. Also as usual, vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki’s delightfully delicate lyrics languish above either a cacophony of scrambled noise or sparse and tinny guitar lines.

But the looming Deerhoof question remains – how will catchy, chorus-heavy songs like “O’Malley, Former Underdog” or the singsongy beauty of “Odyssey” or the ebullient “Spirit Ditties of No Tone” fit into their sprawling and disparate live performance? The answer, of course, is that they won’t, and Deerhoof won’t really try, continuing to opt for their notoriously improvised approach.

In fact, due to so much experimentation in the studio, The Runners Four will be an album which is difficult to recreate under any circumstances. But this is why we love them in the first place.

– Emily Villemaire
Deerhoof (Kill Rock Stars)