Album Review: Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil

This is Deerhoof’s tenth studio album, and the good news for fans of the Californian trio's more idiosyncratically barmy leanings is that they remain as intact as ever here. More or less all of Deerhoof vs. Evil's dozen songs shift tempo, rhythm, style and texture, seemingly at every opportunity; singer Satomi Matsuzaki’s broken English vocals are still a uniquely acquired taste; and of course they’ve never been afraid of a bit of high-concept posturing. Sound like hard work? On the contrary, this is a terrifically fun band. Once you start to put things together and make sense of their stop/start, constantly backflipping songs, there's no end of killer tunes on offer, as well as no shortage of invention.
 
Happily, their avant-garde tendencies have never come across as po-faced. Instead, they give off an air of endearingly madcap playfulness; you get the feeling they don’t take themselves entirely seriously. Evidence of this can be found in Matsuzaki's cry of "Me to the rescue!", on the superbly-named 'Super Duper Rescue Heads!'. Indeed, the album is rife with similarly exclamatory song titles - 'Behold A Marvel in The Darkness' and 'I Did Crimes for You' being another couple - and there seems to be some sort of loose comic book theme running throughout. 
 
Of course, emphasising Deerhoof vs. Evil's playful side is not to say that the band's sound is in any way easy to pigeonhole. Once, when asked, this listener could only describe listening to Deerhoof as being the sonic equivalent of eating lightbulbs - but in a good way. It’s undeniably thrilling stuff: guitar riffs peel off in any number of directions while man-giant Greg Saunier pounds the life out of a tiny drumkit. When they’re at their best - notably on 'I Did Crimes For You', 'Super Duper...!' and the quite brilliant (and relatively straightforward) 'Secret Mobilization' here - they reach parts no other band can touch, at once sweetly melodic and completely unhinged.
 
At twelve songs long and checking in at just thirty-three minutes, this is pretty accessible stuff by Deerhoof’s standards. Your taste (or perhaps tolerance) for Matsuzaki’s oddball vocals is likely to be the biggest stumbling block for newcomers; for fans of the band’s best records (The Runners Four and Friend Opportunity), however, Deerhoof vs. Evil should provide a welcome assault on the pleasure senses.