Deerhoof at the Echoplex

This Friday at the Echoplex, San Francisco-based group Deerhoof hit the stage performing their weird and playful brand of rock. Also on the bill, the unusual vocal stylings of hip-hop artist Busdriver.

From the Echo website: "And sure enough, within the first three songs Offend Maggie revels in its playful, welcoming nature. Leaping from urgent, almost foreboding intro chords in 'The Tears' and 'Music Of Love' to the hopscotch melodies of 'Chandelier Searchlight' would be a fantastic feat for any other band, but we've come to accept this sort of thing as the Deerhoof norm.

How, though, can a band so rhythmically and melodically skewed envelop you so wholly? The answer can be found on the title track where Satomi Matsuzaki's spindly, delicately fey voice winds its way around touching, finger-picked guitar refrains: it resonates by retaining a punch even when bursts of violence punctuate the music. More than ever, their tenth album continues to place emphasis on this intertwining of chiming vocals and elaborate, delicate musical orienteering.

Deerhoof's world, then, remains something of a mystery as they end the fourteenth year of their recorded career. It's still overflowing with all kinds of aural fauna and sonic life; incomparable and often hard to describe. The best way to approach this band is to stop comparing them to the usual reference points - instead, it's far more rewarding to accept Offend Maggie as a land of its own making, something to be indulged, explored and, finally, cherished."

For more information, click here.

Tickets $12

This image was taken from Getty Images.