last night's gig

Deerhoof Top Off Night O’ Noise

Deerhoof’s effortless charisma — last night at Spiegeltent, as always — sprung from the impossibly likable duo of towering, aw-shucks drummer Greg Saunier and travel-size vocalist-bassist Satomi Matsuzaki. The band is omnivorous, devouring pop music and spitting it back out fractured but still catchy, full of appealing guitar skronk and snarl; they are challenging but rewarding. Live, they’re less cerebral and more danceable, with Matsuzaki’s soft bell of a voice supplying a dynamic counterpoint to the group’s raunchy guitars and ADD boogie, sort of like a Hello Kitty Blues Explosion. Their recent addition of a new full-time second guitar player has neither diffused nor dumbed down their sound — Deerhoof are at their prime. And they sounded even better following openers Nymph, featuring a diminutive Japanese singer howling fervent incantations and a thudding rhythm section, and Fat Worm of Error, whose singer presented a series of puppet heads and strident vocal effects.

Deerhoof Top Off Night O’ Noise