“I was already prepared to endure a little bit of discomfort to see Deerhoof. Admittedly, venturing out to the wasteland-y edge of the city had me prepared for some grinning and bearing. But a thoroughly mangled Friday-night rush hour subway ride and a freakishly early start time for the whole show saw me in a panicked dash past the lineup in search of the guest list, only to be greeted by the familiar sounds of the opening chords to Deerhoof’s avant-calypso freak-out “Spirit Ditties of No Tone.” Quick steps along the edge of the crowd, feeling my way through the darkness and trusting that intuition would land me close enough for a good sightline without elbowing through a group of underage Bloc-ers, I planted myself stage right just in time to see Satomi Matsuzaki’s slight figure bouncing up and down to the song’s guitar/drum breakdown and breathed a sigh of relief.
Following up with “Twin Killers” from The Runners Four, guitarist John Dietrich dragged out the intro over a vibrating bass drone before laying into the song’s two-chord riff at a sluggish pace that grooved even harder than the record. With all three members lined up across the front of the stage, it’s next to impossible to not watch drummer Greg Saunier. Using only a snare, kick, hi-hat and broke-ass ride cymbal, he crams every bar with ridiculous ideas — all syncopated chops and mid-fill cymbal chokes. At times his playing makes the music feel like it’s going in all directions at once, and yet always ending up where it should be.
Having seen Deerhoof as a four piece a couple years ago, I was eager to see if the layered harmonies and noisy bashing would hold up as a three piece. But with the added tension of ample space and a tendency to flirt with disaster while free-jazzing their way through most of the changes, the runners three are “whistling secret tunes” better than ever. Finishing off the set with the back-to-back lactic attack of “Milk Man” and “Milking” you could already feel the Bloc Party crowd beginning to lose patience, despite the absolutely scorching renditions of such classic Deerhoof ditties, complete with and extended solo from Dietrich and a massive noise-orgy finale.”
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