Despite having 20 years experience under their belts this 13th album from the San Francisco punk act manages to give the impression it is a debut by a group of youngsters. Its bold, enthusiastic and packed with a gigantic palette of genres like a band starting out and finding their feet in the world.
But, of course, these are far from teenage debutants. These are seasoned pros and they know exactly what they are doing as they take rehearsal jams and turn them into perfect live and recording material. From the bombastic intro of Big Waltz to the punk of Exit Only and the pure pop of Paradise Girls each track may give the impression of youthful chaos but is in fact the work of experienced old stagers.
At times this almost seems like a mainstream album, especially Paradise Girls but the Frank Zappa guitar breakdown in the early XTC-esque Last Fad and other quirky moments reveal it is far more alternative than that. Take the changing moods within the two minute Tiny Bubbles for example, it is pop but strange, wonderful pop that will divide a room.
While there’s a clear dance influence groove at times above all this is a powerful punk guitar album stuck together perfectly by the glue that is their singer Satomi Matsuzaki.
A quick autumnal look at their tour news shows a raft of dates at the tail end of 2014 in the US and Japan. Hopefully some UK dates will be arranged for 2015, as with La Isla Bonita San Francisco punks Deerhoof have served up just about the year’s best ‘come see us’ to gig goers.
9/10
by Joe Lepper
Related Posts
