I didn't think I was going to go through the albums in order of my list, but I feel that it makes sense, at least for now, until I have this down to a science. That means the first album up is Deerhoof's 2003 release, Apple O'. This definitely isn't my first exposure to Deerhoof, or experimental music, for that matter, so unfortunately we don't have that shock factor here.
The very first time I heard Apple O', the entire album was eclipsed by the song "Panda Panda Panda", probably because it is one of the few songs on the album that resembles other pop songs that I was used to. At the time, more than three years ago, I found Deerhoof strangely catchy but much too noisy. A few moments in a few songs stood out, but "Panda Panda Panda" by and far leaped out to me and I hung onto that (my musical experiences up to that point were being pushed right up to the limit of my tolerance) and abandoned the rest of the album.
Not that I don't like Deerhoof; during a regular school day one could hear me or my friends singing together "pan-da pan-da pan-da pan-da pan-panda!" I was so impressed by it that I had to download all their other albums. But one computer crash after the next and my entire music library was wiped out, and Deerhoof wasn't a very high priority for me back then. Today is actually the first return to Deerhoof in over two years.
And I'm almost disappointed that I didn't go back sooner. The album starts off with "Dummy Discards a Heart", and behind the cryptic lyrics and surprising pop hooks (and noise), it's actually quite a sweet song. Other strong tracks would be "Apple Bomb" and "Blue Cash", both slower and softer songs. Most are quirky pop songs that are both catchy but unpredictable, like "Sealed with a Kiss" and "Adam + Eve Connection". The album as a whole is surprisingly cohesive despite songs with somewhat random meanings such as "Panda Panda Panda" or "Flower". It's easy to write off the lyrics as simply random words strung together to make the song whole, with no thought in an overall theme or cohesive thought, but the songs are deceptively tender, mainly dealing with the subject of love.
To give Deerhoof their credit, they know how to take a regular pop song about love and make it completely new. It actually isn't abuse to your brain (which sometimes a Deerhoof song may come across as), but unpredictable and exciting.
The very first time I heard Apple O', the entire album was eclipsed by the song "Panda Panda Panda", probably because it is one of the few songs on the album that resembles other pop songs that I was used to. At the time, more than three years ago, I found Deerhoof strangely catchy but much too noisy. A few moments in a few songs stood out, but "Panda Panda Panda" by and far leaped out to me and I hung onto that (my musical experiences up to that point were being pushed right up to the limit of my tolerance) and abandoned the rest of the album.
Not that I don't like Deerhoof; during a regular school day one could hear me or my friends singing together "pan-da pan-da pan-da pan-da pan-panda!" I was so impressed by it that I had to download all their other albums. But one computer crash after the next and my entire music library was wiped out, and Deerhoof wasn't a very high priority for me back then. Today is actually the first return to Deerhoof in over two years.
And I'm almost disappointed that I didn't go back sooner. The album starts off with "Dummy Discards a Heart", and behind the cryptic lyrics and surprising pop hooks (and noise), it's actually quite a sweet song. Other strong tracks would be "Apple Bomb" and "Blue Cash", both slower and softer songs. Most are quirky pop songs that are both catchy but unpredictable, like "Sealed with a Kiss" and "Adam + Eve Connection". The album as a whole is surprisingly cohesive despite songs with somewhat random meanings such as "Panda Panda Panda" or "Flower". It's easy to write off the lyrics as simply random words strung together to make the song whole, with no thought in an overall theme or cohesive thought, but the songs are deceptively tender, mainly dealing with the subject of love.
To give Deerhoof their credit, they know how to take a regular pop song about love and make it completely new. It actually isn't abuse to your brain (which sometimes a Deerhoof song may come across as), but unpredictable and exciting.
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