Seven days later, Deerhoof reemerged with its 14th album, The Magic, an eclectic 15 songs inspired by the music each member - vocalist and bassist Satomi Matsuzaki, guitarists and multi-instrumentalists Ed Rodriguez and John Dieterich, and drummer Greg Saunier - grew up loving.ĭeerhoof has always been masterful in concocting challenging albums that smash together genres, dissect structure and texture, and explore the depths of polyrhythms - and then abruptly blow it all up with acidic eruptions. To follow up 2014's excellent La Isla Bonita, Deerhoof's members ditched the comforts of a traditional studio, rented a sterile abandoned office in the New Mexico desert and, with nothing written beforehand, just played. Still, when a group has churned through as many bizarro ideas as Deerhoof has over the course of a brilliant run of albums that date back to the mid-1990s, you have to wonder how it keeps coming back with something different.
Time and again, the San Francisco band has surprised listeners and pushed them in new musical directions they might not immediately want to go, and yet it's hard not to loyally follow along with each sonic jump. Deerhoof's never-look-back aesthetic has become a calling card, and its unpredictability a point of pride.