RETURN OF THE WOOD M'LADY

DEERHOOF was founded by Rob Fisk and Greg Saunier in San Francisco in 1994 and since then has self-produced their albums and created their own unique little niche in the experimental rock world incorporating various styles of indie rock and pop with noise. THE RETURN OF THE WOOD M'LADY is their short debut EP that finds them far away from their indie pop impressions of Cibo Matto meets Stereolab on cutesy steroids. This anarchic and apocalyptic little number is an early lo-fi noisefest that tackles the most distorted take on sustaining notes that sounds like the aftermath of a bombing attack while the drums randomly keep beats and distribute off-kilter rhythms while jangly massive distortion feedback could put kvlt-er-than-thou black metal to shame.

At this stage DEERHOOF reminds me more of early Ruins with their harsh noise pop take that places them closer to Sonic Youth than Belle & Sebastian. This is a dark and grueling underground type of music that takes basic rhythms and breaks them down into a freestyle frenzy of instruments that find themselves more often than not alienating themselves from each other. While this is primarily a bass and drum affair there are also female vocals that scream and screech and moan and pop in and out of the off-kilter musical breakdowns and cataclysmic atmosphere that sounds as chaotic as the album cover art depicts. If you have ever heard any newer DEERHOOF albums then this is the absolute opposite type of music you would ever expect. While the band has always been about experimental indie rock, this early ominous sounding soundtrack of doom will come as quite a shock.