Deerhoof: Offend Maggie

[rating=2.00]

It is rare to hear an album that’s different than most anything else one’s heard in quite some time. It is also rare to find one so different it both falls into that category and is enjoyable. Unfortunately, Deerhoof’s “Offend Maggie” fails to surpass that relatively high bar.

The music is definitely interesting: however, that’s interesting in the “hmm…haven’t heard that before” kind of way, not the “wow – I want to listen to that over and over again” kind of way. The instrumentation is interesting and well-played, as Satomi Matsuzaki’s vocals. Indeed, on some songs the instrumentation is quite interesting – as in album-opener “Basket Ball Get Your Groove Back,” wherein the instrumentation bears more than passing resemblance to the sounds of a basketball being dribbled. The thing is, it’s just not that pleasant to listen to. The vague combination of emo/indie-rock-esque background with Matsuzaki’s Japanese-style singing (and yes, this would fit perfectly coming from a cell phone store in Harajuku) simply doesn’t lend one to think of any perfect place or situation in which one would want to listen to it.

Deerhoof is clearly a talented bunch, and unless random lyrics (for example, “B-ball, b-ball, escape…”) sung over well-played indie-esque stylings are your thing, all with a heavy twang of Japanese pop, you might want to steer clear of this one.