Adventurous Indie icons Deerhoof just keep going. Twenty-five years after springing from the fertile mind of founding drummer Greg Saunier, the San Francisco-based outfit has released 14 full-length albums via a plethora of labels, each a fascinating snapshot of where Deerhoof was at any given moment. The current lineup — Saunier, bassist/vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez — has been in place for more than a decade, lending an inevitably telepathic connection to the group’s oddly mesmerizing live shows, as off-kilter sounds engulf the listener from every direction.
Deerhoof’s most recent record, 2017’s Mountain Moves, is as eclectic as ever, yielding everything from Noise Pop to Zappa-esque Jazz excursions to the playful, impossible-to-pin-down genre gymnastics of “Come Down Here & Say That,” which features ethereal guest vocals from Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier.
If Deerhoof has an overriding philosophy that has guided its quarter-century of music, it just might be this quote from a 2014 interview Saunier did with diymag.com: “It’s a tough game, making hipster music. When you’re making a new record, there’s no guarantee people are going to hear it. You never know when people will be like, ‘Sorry, you’re done.’ The only thing that’s ever worked for us is to remember we’ve been given the gift to make a new record, so let’s go wild, (do) the craziest thing we can think of and assume it will bomb. We don’t feel any responsibility. It’s always just a last hoorah. I think, ‘What would we want our swan song to be?’ A celebration. We love to tour with younger bands, to show them how fun it can be with the mindset that every show might be your last.”
Deerhoof comes to Cincinnati this Wednesday (April 17) for a concert at Woodward Theater with guests Hateflirt. Click here for tickets/more show info.
