Long before Ra Ra Riot performed a single note of its dancetronic third album, Beta Love (Barsuk), the band talked at great length about the need for a change. The viscerally charged chamber-pop outfit had maintained a steady course after the tragic 2007 drowning death of beloved drummer John Pike, blossomed on its 2008 Barsuk full-length debut, The Rhumb Line, and flourished with a variety of subsequent beatkeepers, but everyone felt the inevitable tug of creative evolution after 2010 sophomore album The Orchard. The roles of violinist Rebecca Zeller and guitarist Milo Bonacci changed the most dramatically; with the dominance of the synthesizer on Beta Love, Bonacci was forced to radically reimagine/rewrite his guitar contributions and take on more expansive sonic duties, while Zeller was freed up to explore new approaches with her instrument and the spare strings the band utilized. Bassist Mathieu Santos will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Ra Ra Riot feature.
Santos: Deerhoof are one of the great contemporary bands, fearlessly blending disparate references into something that is at once both familiar and frightening. They are always pushing forward, and in doing so, have somehow found a way to elaborate on their own idiosyncrasies without becoming overly esoteric. In fact, their most recent album, Breakup Song, might be one of their most accessible recordings to date. They rock a bit less and groove a bit more, but that shouldn’t concern fans of their absolutely thrilling live sets. Deerhoof always seem able to transcend their incredible records with live shows that are even more so, and this is indeed the case with Breakup Song—live, these new tracks transform into disgusting funk machines. My favorites are “There’s That Grin” and “Zero Seconds Pause”.
Video after the jump.
