Deerhoof: Offend Maggie

Deerhoof's

songs make plenty of sense in their own fractured way, at least for those

willing to follow the band's logic (or take a lucky guess at it). One catchy

and mystifying bit crashes into another, and everyone goes home a little

crazier and a little happier. Then again, that discounts the purposeful

tightness of the band's adventures. It's a lot easier to credit them for that

after hearing Offend Maggie. Satomi Matsuzaki's vocals push into the lead more than

ever before, helping each phase of a song muscle over into the next. The

album-opening "The Tears And Music Of Love" has the feeling of a band charging

forward in unison despite its love of playful tangents. Not that they've left

those behind: A flickering acoustic guitar figure at first seems like the most

whimsical part of "Offend Maggie," but holds the song together as the band

thickens up the noise atop breezy hooks. On "Buck And Judy," the tuneful

passages and deconstructed instrumental bits don't just coexist—they

bleed into each other, giving the song time to build up a conflicted swirl of

moods. In fact, nearly all the songs on Offend Maggie find different ways to achieve a

surprisingly full, evocative union of Deerhoof's pop sense and experimental

whims, whether they're tossing and turning in gleeful anticipation ("Snoopy

Waves") or in anxiety ("My Purple Past").