Last Saturday I attended a music show in Eugene by Deerhoof. It was a very healthy experience for me. I haven't been going to any concerts recently because, simply, there aren't many good bands around nowadays. At least, no one I have a desire to see. I heard about Deerhoof sometime last year and downloaded some of their work and I was very pleased as punch with their sound, so when I saw that they were coming to town I decided they would be worth seeing.
Deerhoof have given me hope for rock and roll. Naturally I couldn't fully appreciate what they were trying to do until I saw them do it right before my eyes, but now I understand their significance. Behind the bloated alternative rock scene inhabited by bands like Jet and The Darkness, Deerhoof is taking the destructiveness of bands like Lightning Bolt and Arab on Radar, replacing the nihilism with a sense of melody, and replacing the screams with softly-sung, abstract children's book poetry.
This is what needs to be done! Rock and roll must be destroyed and reassembled to be saved!! Change tempo and tune mid-song! Let the drummer bang away as if he were a jazz drummer seeking a heart attack! Replace the archetypal rock and roll singer with a tiny, childish Japanese woman who comes off as the Yoda to Karen O's Luke Skywalker! Write lyrics about bugs and pandas rather than sex and drugs!
On a completely unrelated note, I am ill this week. It's not fun.
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