“+81”
from the album Friend Opportunity
2007
iTunes
MP3 – “+81” [right-click/save-as]
Last album The Runners Four proved to any doubters that the members of Deerhoof are at least as interested in melody as they are in noise. “+81,“ the lead single from the Bay Area trio’s new Friend Opportunity, demonstrates that they’re also keen on mariachi horns, marching-band drums, reconstituted Keith Richards guitar licks and video-game bass lines — and that’s all, as the saying goes, in the first 30 seconds. At this point it’s become a cliché to announce that Deerhoof are one of the most imaginative acts in indie rock, yet “+81” leaves us no choice: Who else is as interested in cramming 10 minutes’ worth of ideas into three minutes’ worth of music? And, better yet, who’s more committed to making those three minutes move? Thanks to drummer Greg Saunier’s precision-geared funk, this might be Deerhoof’s most danceable slice of art-rock abandon so far, the 21st-century heir to “Rock Lobster” and “Uncontrollable Urge” for which we’ve all waited for far too long.