Deerhoof: The Runners Four : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Recording and rerecording in their Oakland, California, practice room for the past year, art-damaged rockers Deerhoof have come up with a fifty-six-minute Bay Area marvel of an album that spans everything from Alan Watts-style Zen calm to the spazziest acid jams Golden Gate Park ever witnessed. "Running Thoughts" is as absurdly catchy as the Gumby theme song; guitarist John Dieterich's fractured shards spur drummer Greg Saunier on to ever more inventive boom-bap. "Wrong Time Capsule" finds Satomi Matsuzaki warning off money-grubbers in her disarmingly pure high voice. Having digested the lessons of their forerunners (Sonic Youth, Boredoms), Deerhoof are clearly interested in extending the possibilities of the classic four-piece format. "Farmer wins a trophy and hands it to you," sings Matsuzaki on "Lemon and Little Lemon," and that's The Runners Four: a pass-along reward from a group tending expertly to its magic inventions.