The extravagance of DEERHOOF’s glitteringly experimental pop rock sound bedazzled the ruby red belly of the palatial Koko venue in Mornington Crescent, London.
The blissfully beery and expectant crowd witnessed Deerhoof effortlessly stretch their super eclectic musical muscles by dishing out the set of Friend Opportunity. Their latest album sees them once again contrasting and overlaying a rich montage of moods and styles, resulting in a sound wrapped up in innocence and melodrama. It is the sound your neglected Tamagotchi would make if locked in the flat all day and fed on a diet of brightly coloured candy, super strength hash and daytime TV. Yet besides this, their music is seriously adroit and saturated in beauty.
These experimental and fractured sounds somehow syncopate and meld together in the live setting of this Camden venue. The magnificent man machine beat-box rhythms, as accomplished as an electrified Mice Parade back-beat, combines with brilliantly polished guitar riffs, while an ever changing bass-line sounds at some times playfully fidgety, and on other occasions feels so funky, it is reminiscent of ESG.
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There is something confidently controlled yet, self-contained in lead singer and bass player Satomi Matzuzaki’s performance. Her angelic vocals create a strange juxtaposition of charming humor and psychotic tension. In perfectly broken English she sings, “If I were man and you a dog, I throw a stick for you - If I were dog and you a man, I throw a fit for you”. Cute.
She outlines the immediate space around her with an intriguing mime-workout, crossing limbs and digits like some schizophrenic super-hero gesture…the fans are delighted.
Most of the audience left this brilliant gig with the impression that Deerhoof are an intriguingly bitter sweet bundle of super polished musical contradictions. Great stuff.
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