Song of the Day: Deerhoof – Offend Maggie

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Every Friday, the Song of the Day podcast spotlights local musicians. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Midday Show host Cheryl Waters, is “Offend Maggie” by Deerhoof off their recent release Offend Maggie on Kill Rock Stars.

Deerhoof has always been described as experimental to this writer, and for that reason I think I’ve been a little put off from really digging in. Over the course of their career, they’ve grown from a squalor-based duo, to a threesome focused on the conflict between Satomi Matsuzaki’s calm melodies and whatever genre-defying musical accompaniment they’d thought up that day, to their most recent incarnation featuring the chugging guitar attack of Ed Rodriguez. Perhaps it’s the addition of Rodriguez’s sparkling guitar, but the title track “Offend Maggie” eschews the shackles experimentation can entail and instead toys with the concept of a traditional, even classic-rock oriented, structure. The opening combo of finger-picked acoustic and Rodriguez’s power chords and Matsuzaki’s flat vocal sounds more like The Who than any electronic tinged lab experiment. When the song breaks around the one minute mark, it isn’t the bombastic sonic explosions of Townsend and crew though; it’s almost a modified version of pastoral folk, invoking images of mist-covered hills and long grass turning in the wind. Though I don’t know if “Offend Maggie” is the proper introduction to Deerhoof, it is certainly a lovely one. Deerhoof hit Neumo’s in Seattle last week, and they’re currently heading toward the East Coast on their tour, where they’ll play through November, before going off to Europe. Check their MySpace page for dates.

KEXP listeners will get a chance to hear them when they play our CMJ broadcast one week from today, on Monday, October 20. Be sure to tune in at 9AM (PST). For now, here’s a live rendition of “The Tears and Music of Love”:

Sure, it’s a little wordy, but it means something. I think that sometimes music that focuses to much on experimentation can be hampered by the sheer love of experimentation. And I thought Deerhoof faced that problem, but on the new song “Offend Maggie” seemingly they’re experimenting less, and actually fitting their sound within a more traditional song structure.