Listening to the new Deerhoof record is the closest I've come to actually encountering physical contact with sound.
The CD was serviced to WIDR last week from Terrorbird Media, so I had my interim Music Director take a look at it while he was covering for my time away in NYC. When I asked him afterwards what he thought, he didn't have too much to say. "Uhh, this one's sort of unpredictable," he said, the same way one might refer to a small animal or a poorly behaved child.
He wasn't wrong. This totally wonky noise-punk record is 32 riotous minutes of pure nonsense, and truly the most refreshingly disorienting record I've heard in a while. The first track, "Paradise Girls" is characterized by high-strung electric guitars and an energetic, distorted drum kit. The whole tune only uses 12 different words, which are often interrupted by a most outrageous guitar riff – its notes are totally off beat, random yet repetitious – and somehow it works. After that, each song is more whimsical, delightful, and confusing than the one before. Classic Deerhoof.
The whole record acts as though it's playing some game with the listener. Every few minutes the band chucks a musical curveball aimed for the face–be it an out-of-place stereo pan, a sudden tempo change, or a surprise cowbell solo. The listener has no prediction power here.
The band does this intentionally. La Isla Bonita was recorded DIY-style in the basement of guitarist Ed Rodriguez over the course of a week, celebrating the band's 20th anniversary. According to this interview with DIYmag,
We recorded this record by accident. Those 10 days in Ed’s Portland basement were meant to be for writing and recording demos. It wasn’t till the last day we put it together that the rehearsals should be the album. That’s the way we always did it when the band started out as a lo-fi noise side project so we were super game to go again.The spontaneous nature of the album's production is not hidden by the music. Lead singer Satomi Matsuzaki is both playful and aggressive in her singing, goofing along with mostly nonsensical stripped-down lyrics and bouncing her syllables off the guitar riffs. These lyrics seem particularly stripped down, "Baseball is cancelled / E.T. is running late / New from America / I cover all of the walls with sad dollars / Ta-da!"
Behind all the noise, these songs are really catchy. Co-produced by long time band member and Pitchfork writer Nick Sylvester, La Isla Bonita showcases the band experimenting on a whim, exploring noisier punk sounds, and having a blast.
La Isla Bonita arrives at record stores tomorrow. Don't forget to catch these weirdos live in Kalamazoo at Louie's Trophy House on Wednesday, November 11th.
Stream "Last Fad" hot off the new record below via YouTube.
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