TRACK BY TRACK ~ Deerhoof - The Man, The King, The Girl

To my mind, zee best Deerhoof record. If you want to hear the sounds of friends in friends' houses recording their own bonding processes over beer, get this.

1. Tiger Chain
From the first wrecked chord the Hoof are onto something special. It begins sounding like a stumbling awakening to a barren Terminator landscape, except everything's made of felt. Then comes one of the best drops everr - Rob's squealing guitars flail into an insane and lovely wash of Greg's drums and Satomi's fractured, angelic vocals. 'Slather me with butter / Ring around the world ash pit.' she sings like a girl with no friends at a party.

2. Polly Bee
Genius-ly, 'Tiger Chain' is followed by an instantly catchy little love called 'Polly Bee'. 'All my love to the sun in the morning sky / Mommas unhappy all the time.' Satomi sings over strange, hypnotised keys that get crunched into nothingness by punked out riffs and catchy basslines.

3. Sophie
There is something awesome about entitling a track a girls name and then it consisting of nothing but unhinged noise.

4. A-Town Test Site
Greg destorys his snare drum and we start to think whether this album should come with a pack of paracetomols. This is pretty good showcase of how emotive rhythm can be, something that Greg Saunier is an absolute demon at.

5. Gold on Black
Dark-ass slayage from Rob on this track with a killer fucking riff followed by more awesome key harmonies and some truly piss-taking fills from Greg. A track to have rough biker-sex to.

6. For Those of Us on Foot
This is a track I can imagine would cause people to be put off early Deehoof by. An ungodly rash of hiss with what is basically animals communicating in song, whilst singing the chorus we just heard to 'Polly Bee'. Builds to some slammin' march rhythms and a recording of one of the band's angry dogs snarling at the mic. I forget who's dog it is, but he is credited in the liner notes.

7. Gore in Rut
Tracks like this make me sad that Greg has reigned in his jazz-spazz-stab drumming skills for something a bit more... indie. 'I can't have it / The monster rabbit' Satomi sings (I think). One of the pleasures of this record is that what you hear changes every time. Isn't that the point of music?

8. Wheely Freed Speaks to the People
A showcase in the violent/lovely aesthetic that Deehoof basicaly invented. Some gorgeous chord progressions and soprano harmonies from Mrs. Matsuzaki. A real mover.

9. Bendinin
A kind-hearted flag of a song in the tradition of the wonderful 'Dinner for Two' off Apple O'. There is a short bit of this where Greg's vocals sound so poor that he seems like a lost idiot that needs help, and this I love.

10. Itchy P-Pads
Clang, clang, clang. A burst of ungodly racket after the cooling down of 'Bendinin'. There are parts of silence in this where I can imagine them playing in the living room.

11. The Pickup Bear
This is such an amazing song. Crazy-short at just over a minute, Satomi sings 'The pick up bear' with such knowing. I get this image of a bear that the band know that gives them lifts around the place, and most of the town know him, but he's not very nice to you if you don't know him.

12. The Comedian Flavorists
There is a strange smell of Reveille in this track - very major LA LA sounding announcement-like songs.

13. Queen of the Mole People
Final song of calm, back of a coach journey music. Greg's drums are so tame in this, but you can feel a sense of an excited kid getting drunk on champagne at a wedding - there's too much enthusiasm. It's profound fun. End lyric 'I forgot my money, I forgot my money' gives me chills.

& 14. - 18
The live tracks. Deerhoof really lived it when they were starting out playing live. You can hear the awe of the audience, absolutely in shock at how bad the band are that are playing before them. They sound even more retarded than the Shaggs for god's sake. This is, of course, why they mean everything. 'Carriage' is a fine example of animalistic, wrathful screaming and horror, as is 'The Mausker'. On one of the tracks you can hear a guy (I guess it was recorded from the back of the venue) say 'What the hell is this?'. I would have loved to be at one of these penetrating shows. It's dangerous to let yourself like early Deerhoof - as someone reviewing at pitchfork said 'Deerhoof have lost me friends, apartments and several girlfriends' but you will be a richer person if you dig into the early recordings and give in to their terrible charm.