Deerhoof Issue #37

Offend Maggie (Kill Rock Stars)

By Kimberly Chun
Published: September 1st, 2008 | 12:53am

The opening salvo of Offend Maggie — “The Tears And Music Of Love” — finds Deerhoof hitting some familiar chords, while finding new minor key variations on an overture-ish chord progression that has cropped up on many a recording since 2002’s Reveille. But jettison all predictions for more of the same from that moment onward: On Offend Maggie, the Bay Area foursome seems to be traversing eerie new ground, cavorting through instrumental passages and folky interludes alike. The change might be attributed to the recent addition of fleet-fingered Ed Rodriguez on guitar. Rodriguez’s history in musically challenging, avant-noise combos the Flying Luttenbachers, Burmese, and the Gorge Trio guarantees that Deerhoof won’t be playing it safe, filling in the blank sonic spaces with a complacent side dude.

In fact, the ensemble appears to be daring its many rabid fans to follow them into uncharted territory as vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki dips into more of her native Japanese via tunes like “Chandelier Searchlight” and “Buck and Judy.” Other tracks such as “Basketball Get Your Groove Back” crunch and shatter like broken bones on steaming pavement, while “My Purple Past” straps its rock on with power riffs sutured to almost the Sea and Cake-like post-rock coloration. In the latter, Matsuzaki coos like preternaturally tapped-in child hooked on surrealism: “Cowboy in a pool / Leaping in the boots / Turn around around / Come around around.” Picture Neil Young’s “Cowgirl in the Sand” turned upside down, Yokohama-bound, and hungry for avant-jazz. The Hoofies’ folk moments — however brief — emerge as new experiments; doubtless the legacy of Matsuzaki and drummer Greg Saunier’s sometime acoustic-duo side project Retrievers; whereas “This Is God Speaking” skitters into tropical noise turf.

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