Deerhoof @ JiveBar, Adelaide,(12/01/2012)

Fri 20th Jan, 2012 in Gig Reviews

People jostled for space in a crammed Jive, hoping to get a taste of indie royalty in the relatively compact Jive venue, at least for a band of this scale. They went away inspired and in awe of a band at the top of their game.

The Honey Pies were perhaps an odd fit as the opening act, but their punkier elements have come a long way in recent years, with a bit more form and less noise. They have turned into a bankably solid outfit, with good harmonies and 60s garage tunes and are now amongst the cream of the “second tier” acts in Adelaide after Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! and Leader Cheetah. Tonight their later tracks were quite impressive and their reputation and track record in Adelaide continue to grow with more fans coming on board and an upcoming Big Day Out performance.

Adelaide all girl trio Terrible Truths are an impressive minimalist indie rock trio, prone to tropical chords, coarse bass grooves and with twin vocals, slightly in the Tegan and Sarah mould (in a cooler lo-fi way), in that there’s a lot of attitude and a sort of aggressive punchy elements at play. The combination of sounds have a strangely hypnotic element and it’s a band definitely worth checking out if you like personality driven lo-fi indie rock with a slight punk edge.

Right from the start Deerhoof were expressive, spacey, stonery, eclectic, so many things at once. The band excel in what could easily be termed “rich text rock” with so many layers and so much thought put into their performance, whether it’s the reflexive stopping and starting defying predictions, quaint choreographed dance moves, disappearing off stage, behind curtains whilst still playing and returning shortly after, quirky physical mannerisms and gestures and simply brilliant jazz like musicianship.

Their amazing drummer Greg Saunier is probably the most notable proponent of this, with superfast rolls and a creative, sensitive complexity easily noticeable, given his very expressive style. His unique cymbal set up playing with a ride in the crash spot also created an interesting percussive dynamic to the sound, not allowing the drums to wash out too much, leaving space in the sound. His captivating style merging mathy precision to 60’s psych grooves.

Saunier and the guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez had a natural instrumental chemistry honed from years of practice, but nevertheless brilliant with the transitions within songs highly intelligent, especially the use of silence and tempo or rhythm changes. Saunier’s measured, pleasurably weighted guitar would often transition from madness to minimalism in an instant. Some of his combinations with Rodriguez involved fascinating harmonies.

On top of it all Satomi Matsuzaki’s cooling vocals went from quirky Yoko Ono-esque wordplay to a magical room filling ethereal falsetto, bewitching the spellbound audience. There were too many songs to name, but Fresh Born was one of so many stand outs.

The main thing you notice about Deerhoof is the amazing social as well as musical chemistry. I’ve never seen a band have so much fun on stage. Infectious. Never has an encore been so welcome. One of the best gigs to come to Adelaide, especially Jive in a long time.