Review: Deerhoof | The Magic

After more than 20 years in the proverbial indie rock game there's only so much hyping a band can do, and assuming an act has the longevity to create them after more than a dozen records maybe -- just maybe -- it is unlikely they'll find many new attendees at the party. But second guess San Francisco-spawned indie rock lifers Deerhoof at your peril, because its new 15-song collection The Magic is magnificent. Those concerned that stagnation might finally kick in after such a lengthy, creative career need not worry; the record sounds refreshing and refreshingly joyous.

Fidgety, kaleidoscopic opener "The Devil And His Anarchic Surrealist Retinue" commences with a teeth-rattling riff that vacillates between glitchy, haywire keys and stretches of ambience (watch the tremendous video here). But while Deerhoof's songs shift shape constantly and with agility, the band often returns to certain touchstones. The guitars, for example, can either underscore Deerhoof's '90s origins, or sound lifted from '70s and '80s radio standards. The thundering riff of The Magic's "Kafe Mania!" makes the band's recent predilection for covering Def Leppard somehow less surprising. Hip-shaking deep album cut "Plastic Thrills," which showcases a supple vocal performance from drummer Greg Saunier, has all the swagger of '70s hitmakers The Faces. Atop its big riffs, Deerhoof gives free rein to its fascination with keys, synths and all the weird sounds they can make. "Model Behaviour" approximates the sound of a melting orchestra, whilst the aforementioned album opener flashes with vibrancy that recalls a carnival late at night.

Of course the biggest constant on the record -- and indeed most of the group's discography -- is fronter Satomi Matsuzaki's vocals. New listeners might find them overly manic and saccharine, but fans will find them a constant source of delight on The Magic. "Learning to Apologise Effectively" emphasizes how potent her voice can be, as her high-pitched tones sound hauntingly lost within a wall of guitars. The fragility she displays on "Patrasche Come Back" strikes a welcome contrast to the set's stomping rockers. Indeed, when her voice is absent, as it is in "That Ain't No Lie To Me," the music works less well. Elsewhere, "Life Is Suffering" contains the repeated lyric "learning, searching in the night," and the sentiment nicely sums up what makes The Magic magical: even two decades into a remarkable career, Deerhoof continues to bravely explore what lurks beyond the fringe of its comfort zone. Here, the results are as exuberant as they are often unexpected. The Magic was released June 24 via Polyvinyl Records on clear purple vinyl, CD, trusty cassette, or as a digital download. Purchase the set in any of those formats via Deerhoof's Bandcamp page right here. -- Theo Gorst

Deerhoof: Facebook | Interzoinks

Review: Heavy Midgets | Super King

We've witnessed countless record promotion tactics over the years,* but none is as pleasurable for fans presently as what could be construed as anti-promotion: the sudden and unannounced album drop. It's been famously done recently by Beyoncé and, a year ago, by My Bloody Valentine, among many others. With almost every aspect of our largely mundane lives memorialized in the infinite sea of data soup that is the Internet, these days real surprises -- hell, even real experiences -- are hard to come by. Richmond quartet Heavy Midgets made life a little more real early this month when it delivered a tingly eureka moment of its own in the form of their stellar first full length Super King. The set was posted to Bandcamp without warning, and the songs contained therein just as abruptly emerged from the foursome's former furrow of lo-fi haze into sharp resolution, carrying with them a renewed and impressive ethos expressed in terms of complex, DIY guitar pop.

The beautifully realized collection impresses with its range and routinely inspired songwriting, which seems to draw from influences as disparate as Aftermath-era Rolling Stones and modern San Francisco art-punk. Super King leads with its best pop song, "Nothing New," a showcase for Heavy Midgets' signature sour guitar dynamics, skittish rhythms, and rich, driving vocal work from one of the band's four singers. Charlanne McCarthy's wonderful vocals echo the affecting, lower-register of Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier, but do so with a bracing punk vigor. The song abandons its verse-chorus structure after introducing a bristling bridge of serrated guitars whose experimental edge will sound familiar to fans of Deerhoof or math-mod rockers Welcome. The dazzle of "Nothing New" persists with notable guitar interplay and, eventually, theremin. "Daylight Savings" follows, and brings with it some surf-punk charm and the telling lyric "some of us won't even survive daylight savings."

Thereafter, the album showcases in turn each of the singers and songwriters within Heavy Midgets. The male voices propound harder-edged approaches within shorter, faster frameworks. "Furry Thing" touts a darker, more reverberated menace, while "Wedding/Bedding" alternates spoken passages and sweetly sung melodies alongside inventive and engaging xylophone. The heaviest impression is left by the sunny pop moves of "Dynasty;" indeed, one might consider it the "Divine Hammer" of Super King -- a bubbling, carefree track that closes with a loud, distorted power chord section and guitar solos that call to mind vintage Weezer and Built To Spill.

With Super King, Heavy Midgets deliver one of 2014's first truly interesting guitar records. Every song transcends their familiar elements to reveal creative and singular compositions welling with both grit and clarity in satisfying proportions. Richmond has made its name in recent years on creative guitar bands, and this crew, as well as the folks at Bad Grrrl Records, can be considered among the vanguard. Super King is available as a digital download now, and will be issued on cassette by Bad Grrrl Jan. 30. That same day Heavy Midgets play a release show at Richmond's Gallery 5, with support from New Turks, Spandrel and Malatese; full deets here. Bad Girl released in 2012 Heavy Midgets' previous effort, a split with scenemates Tungs that we wrote about right here. -- Edward Charlton

Heavy Midgets: Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud



*This discussion always calls to mind Fat Wreck Chords or Epitaph sending an inflatable sex sheep to WESU in the mid-'90s. Yes, we just typed the words "inflatable sex sheep."

Today's Hotness: Palberta, The Derevolutions, Reindeer

>> My Pal Berta, the recently issued, self-released and free debut by upstate New York indie trio Palberta, sounds like a well-painted train about to derail: that's a good thing. The young co-eds that make up this no-wavey, dream-pop unit brim with ideas, raw energy and spunky charisma, which all find their way into My Pal Berta, a title which we presume is something of an homage to classic outsider rock act The Shaggs. Pal is an uncompromising assortment of savant post-punk noise moves and oddly heartening and forlorn backing vocals. A highlight of the set, the song "Sweat Pap," rides a deep, commanding bass groove before erupting into an exposition of the diverse elements of the threesome's sound. Soon after the start a duality emerges between the vocals, as a creepy, haunting background harmony underscores the lead singer's manic squeaks, squeals and exclamations. A menacing unpredictability in her leads manages to sound cute and terrifying at the same time. Meanwhile, the atonal guitar work recalls masters of the form, such as The Pop Group and Deerhoof, springing from melodic pings and scrapes to phased blasts of prickly distortion. This art-punk approach, and especially the devastating screams and grunts that eventually emerge, are delivered with such unwavering conviction that we cannot imagine Palberta staying below the radar for long. Like the hotly-tipped NY house-show now act Perfect Pussy, Palberta reveal an anxious and powerful female energy, and we can't wait to hear what happens next. Stream all of My Pal Berta via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to download the album for any price. -- Edward Charlton



>> Now that My Bloody Valentine has finally delivered a sequel to Loveless after two decades, the burden of creating the next great follow-up arguably falls to the beloved Australian electronic troupe The Avalanches. Their 2000 classic Since I Left You not only was borne from strife similar to that which resulted in Loveless, but also the record from the Aussies similarly rewrote the rules of a genre and then -- abrupt silence. The wait continues, of course, but a recent single from an act called The Derevolutions reintroduces a similar sense of sample-heavy adventure that certainly calls to mind highlights of The Avalanches repertoire. The Derevolutions, as best as we can tell, hail from Northampton, Mass., and have been steadily releasing fresh slices of delicious sample-delica for months. Each song to date has featured fetching, new wave-inspired artwork, but otherwise carries nothing in terms of discographical detail other than a Mediafire link and a pointer to Facebook. That intentional anonymity only serves to heighten the mystique, in our opinion. Perhaps the best of The Derevolutions' small but blossoming catalog is the intoxicating "We Found That Beat." The tune rides an endless hook on its way to revealing a brilliant mixologists' song suite. "We Found The Beat" is more than just a killer groove, though: bouncy, bright guitars and echoey strings slide up against the undeniable Roland-808 backbeat to produce a syrupy bump-and-grind that induces serial head-nods, if not outright rug-cutting. Chirpy, cheerleader-esque vocals announce each new chorus and echo the kinetic and exuberant toasting of another early 21st century outfit, The Go! Team. The Derevolutions sugar-pop smarts and air of mystery make the act one to watch for 2014 within (and without) the increasingly thrilling Massachusetts music scene; two even newer tracks, the tropicalia-tinted "Crazy Janey" and the near-deliriously great "Pascualita," were recently added to this Soundcloud page (although now the latter has disappeared again... more mystery...), which we recommend monitoring closely. Stream "We Found That Beat" via the embed below, and click through to download it and the rest of The Derevolutions' brilliant offerings. -- Edward Charlton



>> It's very gratifying to see (well, hear) a longtime musical hero return from a prolonged absence with music that immediately lives up to their back catalog. It happened just last year with Kurt Heasley and his Lilys, via an amazing single "Well Traveled Is Protest" (not to mention Lilys' recently unveiled interpretation of the classic carol "Good King Wenceslas," which is streaming right here). "Well Traveled" reinforced the promise that the passage of time does not have to tarnish a unique mind. We feel the same excitement about Boston dream-pop luminary Seana Carmody and her new supergroup, Reindeer. The quartet, which also includes former members of Scarce, The Bevis Frond and Overflower, dazzles on two new tracks in ways similar to the mighty Swirlies of yore. "Tony," one of the aforementioned pair which surfaced at Bandcamp last month, is a subtly rolling, psychedelic indie pop strummer. Commencing with Carmody's cooing and reverse-delayed purrs, the tune quickly establishes a simple structure -- basic, yet rich with detail in the perfect tone of the guitars. Thereafter, Carmody's familiar lead comes into focus; time has not changed its innocent, child-like timbre and inflections. After the second minute, the song subtly slows in tempo and the guitars take on the same compressed and warbled vibrato character that coursed like blood throughout Swirlies' tremendous BlonderTongueAudioBaton. "Tony" is immediately joyous, albeit perhaps in a hard to define way (that may have more to do with nostalgia than we'd like to admit, since that makes us feel old). The second track, "Blue & White," is perhaps even more affecting, with a wistful melody, denser guitars and a more poignant vocal. Each song is available for a dollar at Bandcamp, and worth a lot more. Buy two, three, even ten copies, as perhaps that money will go toward a future Reindeer album that will bristle with more of these great compositions. We've embedded both tracks below for your auditory enjoyment. -- Edward Charlton

And Then This Happened: The Greatest Shirt Ever, or Deerhoof Rock The Middle East, Cambridge, MA | 18 Sept.

Deerhoof captured live in concert by friend-of-the-blog Joshua Pickering. View his entire portfolio right here. San Francisco-based Deerhoof are on the road for much of the rest of the year supporting the release of its twelfth full-length, Breakup Song, which is available from Polyvinyl Record Co. right here.