Deerhoof - La Isla Bonita
- Written by Dani Gibson
What with it being 20 years, 12 albums and four line-up changes since Deerhoof first appeared on the scene, it seems appropriate that they would be releasing this new venture to coincide with this momentous milestone. Deerhoof make the kind of albums that are quintessentially them, they don't need to be relevant to the in your face music of today. It's worked for them for the past 20 years and thankfully, La Isla Bonita does it as well as any of its predecessors.
Getting back to their roots, La Isla Bonita was recorded in lead guitarist Ed Rodriguez's basement and took just 10 days to write and record. Lead singer, Satomi Matsuzaki, mentioned in a recent interview that "In the beginning we always recorded in our kitchen with the cats and dogs. In the first album you can even hear their footsteps because they were stepping on our microphones. It wasn’t funny at the time, but it was so DIY." Although having moved on since their days recording in the kitchen, there is something about this album that screams DIY. Which is perfect to mark 20 years.
To coincide with their recent releases, the first track on the album 'Paradise Girls' is the typical eccentric pop-esque sound of the band. What make this a great album opener is that you are drawn in from the first note and ramblings of Matsuzaki singing about girls who play bass. Guitar scratching over layered percussion brings together a catchy, experimental tune which will sit nicely in the band's history. What you don't expect next is a shift in the tone. With Deerhoof you expect the erratically unreliable tunes, unreliable being the right word for 'Mirror Monster' but not quite so erratic. Gone are the clunky percussion and catchy vocals, you are now in the depths of something a bit different and somewhat subtle. Not a word usually associated with Deerhoof. Soft, eerie, electronic and folky, this is one of the album's standout tracks.
A rundown of the next few tracks can be summed up as screechy ('Doom'), off balanced ('Last Fad'), and mind fuckery ('Tiny Bubble') and then you are lead into 'Exit Only' where John Dieterich's main garage riff crashes and grinds with Greg Saunier's drums. They merge untraditionally together and create havoc along with Matsuzaki's vocals which offer little consistency.
If you want a track which fundamentally proves that this band still have what it takes, look no further than 'Big House Waltz'. It's nonsensical, chock full of unlikely merging sounds and hypnotic vocals. They are very much alive in this track. Finishing of the album is the strong, unbalanced yet calming 'Oh Bummer'. Rather than bowing out with a rage-induced catastrophic number it ends with a hypnotically agonizing track that draws to a close with clashing, screeching guitars. Deerhoof are a harsh and free-range band. They mix it up and really don't care what others will think of it and after 20 years they still get it right.