14: Deerhoof – Offend Maggie
Kill Rock Stars

As a fan that came to know Deerhoof with the excellent The Runner’s Four, I’m most drawn to their work when it’s relatively direct and a little bit rocking. Offend Maggie is exactly those things: there’s still plenty of off-kilter melodicizing, but the band's return to a quartet has also brought back a focus that I didn’t hear in last year’s Friend Opportunity, and a welcome fattening of their sound. There’s plenty of excellent dueling guitar work, and the vocals have become a bit smoother this time around. There’s still really no other band that sounds like this, Offend Maggie is absolutely worth picking up if you’ve been into any of their previous work.

Labels: 2008 Recap, Album Review, Deerhoof