Deerhoof
Out On The Flutter, Of Wonder
Aug 10, 2009
Words by Sean Moeller
Illustration by Johnnie Cluney
Sound engineering by Shawn Biggs
Illustration based on a photo taken by our buddy Misha Vladimirskiy
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Buck and Judy
original version appears on Offend Maggie
Notes by Greg Saunier:
My introduction to Daytrotter was seeing a video of Kevin Barnes playing some Of Montreal songs on acoustic guitar. I thought it was awesome and I even think I heard him play a snippet of "2000 Man" by The Rolling Stones. So when they contacted Deerhoof to play, I got excited about our big chance to make an acoustic video!
But when we arrived at the studio, out walked our friends The Oh Sees with all their amps and drums and everything, and it smelled suspiciously like a gymnasium in there. I'm thinking, Hmm, they didn't do an acoustic session did they? They went full-blast!
It was too late to change now, we'd already learned our songs on acoustic guitars (and this strange sort of mandolin-guitar that Ed had). There was only one option: total commitment. Well at least the video camera was still there...
We set up. When we were ready to record, suddenly the video people said "OK we'll get out of your way now". I was completely confused! Turns out Daytrotter doesn't do videos. Huh? I begged them to stay, invoking the name of Kevin Barnes, and protesting that we had combed our hair, and picked out special clothes, and everything. They gave in and kept on filming...or so I thought...
Actualy no one except me can even remember anybody there shooting video! No video exists!
Folks, this is my first confirmed hallucination. I even remember posing outside on the sidewalk for a photo, when a teen dressed as Chewbacca happened to walk by at that exact moment. We took a great band photo with Chewbacca. Why does my spellcheck keep underlining the word "Chewbacca", doesn't TextEdit remember the Star Wars Trilogy!
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Welcome to Daytrotter
Deerhoof proudly advertises their total inability to jam...
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Chatterboxes
original version appears on The Runners Four
Unlike "Buck and Judy" which was concerned with a poison apple, "Chatterboxes" is all about language loss. Left-to-right "Buck and Judy" had me on mandolin-guitar, Satomi on bass, Ed on guitar, John on guitar. But "Chatterboxes" has Ed on guitar, me on bass, John on guitar, and Satomi on cell phone. The phone actually made no sound, but you'd be able to see it if there was some video. Sadly, that phone is now in a dumpster or landfill. And the video never existed.
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Fresh Born
original version appears on Offend Maggie
Me on guitar, Ed on mandolin-guitar, Satomi on bass, John on guitar. Unlike "Buck and Judy" which was written by John (music and song title) and Satomi (lyrics), and "Chatterboxes" which was written by John (music and lyrics) and his girlfriend Kay (song title), "Fresh Born" was written by me (music) and Satomi (lyrics and song title). It is OK but not great. Why has the universe turned against me.
From,
Greg
There have been movies made about the tendency for people to see the Golden Gate Bridge and convince themselves that it will be the structure from which they will end their lives. They dream about standing atop one of those fading, almost waxy apple red girders and looking around at a truly spectacular scene and then stepping over the edge, plummeting into the waters so violently that the impact destroys the body, thereby ending whatever suffering and depression that was living inside prior to the jump and while in the air, falling and falling to a mortal ending. It should not be encouraged. It is a tragic way to go and a traumatic way for family members and friends to hear about a demise, but it is sadly, kind of a beautiful little piece of drama. Deerhoof, natives of San Francisco and one of the Bay Area's most revered indie rock and roll bands, might think about those suicide cases wandering up onto that bridge and the four members might wonder what they could possibly be possessed with to pull such a thing off - to actually go through with the leap. The view would be enough for them to just stand there a moment longer, two moments longer and feel themselves draining of those gloomy thoughts, suddenly struck by the awesomeness of what's around, what they could be taking in instead of the bleakness. They'd step down from the ledge and whistle their ways back to the dirt on the one side, safe again and better off having gotten up there a little higher and gulped in some of that frisky, salted air. Deerhoof has made its name as being a band that will not follow any sorts of guidelines or strata. It will just latch onto and get as freaky with whatever tangents it wanders off to greet and because of this and the magically descriptive (could be read as magically arbitrary just as easily) vocal flings of lead singer Satomi Matsuzaki, the band gives a better alternative to getting onto that bridge and jumping off of it. Its music could accompany someone standing there and taking a leap of faith and stepping, first with one foot, and feeling as if there were ground beneath it. It's almost as if the wonderment of whatever pixies and childhood scrambles Deerhoof may be picking up on in their inspirations has yielded real faith that would help one walk out onto air, as if anything impossible were possible. You can just get out there, into the middle of such open skies, with real unfriendly bottoms, and not feel any of the pangs of despair or dread that should surely be triggered up so high without any ropes or parachutes. The ways in which Deerhoof do things so irregularly and with such abandon, without any self-consciousness or desire to be dressy with their ideas, but just to get them out in whatever form they'd like to be heard, are ambitious and circular. It's what makes them so notable and strange and it's what makes them so curious to so many - the band that they'll put on at a party to draw out the fakers and to start up a chattering conversation about what belongs and what mystifies. Maybe the answer to both of those suggestive thoughts is everything and because of that, we'll never understand the world of Deerhoof's many curiosities and it's fine if that's the way it is because we'll get to gladly keep on stepping off of bridges with the salty-winged bees and birds, and just lingering there like so many free-spirited question marks.
Deerhoof Official Site
Deerhoof MySpace Page
