from about 2002 through 2004 Deerhoof was, at the very least, unquestionably my favorite live band. It helped that they were from San Francisco since I had just moved here in 2000. I was so incredibly excited about the music scene during those years. The John Dieterich/Chris Cohen guitar duo from that period was divine; they made me feel things - physically - that perhaps some religious people feel when they go to church. Not to sound like a weirdo, but my eyes would roll back up, I’d get goosebumps, all my muscles would contract and spasm to the playfully abrasive and skittery rhythms that they’d lay on top of Greg Saunier’s outstandingly explosive drumming. They’d be perfectly off from each other, only to hit you with a hurricane of perfectly synchronized kick ass later on. I stopped actively listening to them around 2005 when Runners Four came out because I felt they were losing their trademark dissonance in favor of a more accessible sound, which I completely respected regardless of my indifference for it. If that meant kids would be listening to Deerhoof instead of Stone Temple Pilots (or whatever), then so be it! But recently I listened to The Runners Four and, to my surprise, found a couple of songs that are just as kick-ass as many of their previous ones, if not more! This song rrrright here is amazing and must be heard at very loud volumes. God, how I miss the places I’d travel to when I was at a Deerhoof show in my early twenties…
