Even the rain soaked British summer could do little to dampen my spirits as I made my way to Patterns on Wednesday night for a hotly anticipated visit from Californian art/noise/pop quartet Deerhoof. The night had sold out way in advance, so it was an honour to get the chance to sneak in and enjoy the show. I'd last seen Deerhoof live nearly a decade ago at All Tomorrow's Parties and back then, with no idea what to expect, they had blown my mind.

We arrived in time to catch a generous portion of support band Cowtown from Leeds, who turned out to be a lot of fun. Jonathan Nash's vocal delivery and angular guitars reminded me a little of Talking Heads although much heavier with intricate mathy drums from David Shields. The three piece were rounded out by Hilary Knott on synth, whose parts seemed to do both the job of a fuzz-heavy bassist and a second guitarist. When you heard her playing, without the distorted guitar on top, her squelchy, synthesized tone became much more self-evident.
 
When the lights came up and the room rearranged itself (some off to the bar, others squeezing their way to the front) for the main event, I spotted several familiar faces. Deerhoof have clearly been hugely influential in this town, the room was full of members from various local bands, including representatives from The Wedding Present, Flash Bang Band, Great Pagans, Bloom (fka The Beautiful Word), Octopuses, Jungfrau, at least one Vile Imbecile and probably many more (not forgetting me as a Fragile Creature of course!).
 
The music of Deerhoof is difficult to describe without merely making a long list of genres and techniques they employ and the end result of that would probably be too dry to do them justice. Even a familiarity with their recorded catalogue wouldn't fully prepare you for the live experience, which is so ferociously fun. Drummer and founding member Greg Saunier is an obvious focal point of the group, his drumming is at the heart of their compositions, he's an unquenchable fireball of energy, guiding the rest of the group through variable time arrangements, that don't seem confined to the normal rules of western pop music, tempo and time signature are not fixed. This elasticity is not unique to Deerhoof but, where other groups would present such innovation with a serious and worthy air, in these guys hands it all feels incredibly natural – chaotic, at times hilarious but always natural and joyful.
 
At a couple of points during the show Greg paused proceedings, walked to centre stage where a microphone waited and delivered a sweat-soaked meandering speech, which provided the perfect brief respite from the intensity of the performance. In his first speech Saunier was talking about a recent mud-filled jaunt to ArcTanGent Festival. This pulled out a few heckles from the English crowd, defensively proud of our lack of summer time, but Greg corrected them, "actually we loved the mud which is why we're still keeping it."
 
Live Deerhoof opt for a minimal setup, “three large amplification rectangles”, two guitars with modest effects boards, a Paul McCartney style Hofner bass, Greg's aforementioned drums and Satomi Matsuzaki's inimitable, jingle-like vocals. The guitarists are both phenomenal in the range of tones they create but I'm a little surprised at how often they actually just double-track each other, especially considering how nuts some of the parts are. This doubling makes those rockier riffs sound even more powerful and the occasions where they do depart, to play intricate jazzy licks together in harmony, or play clever counterpoints, are all the more special for their infrequency. Ed Rodriguez makes quite an impression, looking like a Navaho shaman for the Nu Rave age with his neon guitar and wailing lead tone, forever balanced just on the right side of cock rock. Whereas John Dieterich, whose been a member of the band for far longer, cuts a more modest figure, but still finds time to amaze, like when he pulls out an amazing synth bass tones from his pedal board, freeing Satomi up for some idiosyncratic dance moves.
 
There's no doubt they're coming back for an encore with all the rapture in the room, but when they do it's in reconfigured form at first, Satomi on the drums and Greg singing and playing bass. For their final number Satomi asks for the house lights to be put on so she can see everyone's faces, she then teaches us all the handful of phrases that comprise 'Come See The Duck'. And so we all sing-a-long for this glorious one minute musical burst. It's a moment that ought to be cheesy as hell but it's not, it's amazing, and the image stuck in my head as I walk home through thin rain is Satomi's smiling eyes glittering with radiant infectious joy – what a night!
Adam Kidd
 
Website: deerhoof.net