Deerhoof – Milk Man / 2004 Kill Rock Stars / 13 Songs / http://www.deerhoof.killrockstars.com / http://www.killrockstars.com / Reviewed 27 June 2004

All through the last year, the band that has been most dropped in conversations that I have had with my local indie snobs has been Deerhoof. I hadn’t bothered to listen to their previous album, Apple O’ due to the fact that what a lot of the public likes – Lord of the Rings, David Sedaris, Chuck Palukhiuk – sucks, and sucks bad. I finally got this CD for review, and I feel bad that I didn’t give Apple O’ a shot. The first thing that comes to my band that is a descriptor for Deerhoof is eclectic – whether it be the tinny voice on “Giga Dance” giving way to the overly-schmaltzy synthesizers or the hard, rocking sounds of the title track. Drawing heavily on the Height-Asbury sound of their hometown, San Francisco, Deerhoof has an aloofness and desire to experiment that would have fit in perfectly with Ken Kesey and all those other crazy kids.

Even if Deerhoof does spend a large amount of their time experimenting, it is in the height of these experiments that the most classically-compelling sounds are born. For example, it is during “Rainbow Silhouette”’s free-jazz stylings that some of the most powerful grooves come to light. However, there are some definite strike-outs on “Milk Man”, most noticeably the short “Of The Milky Rain” which is saved by the much more radio-friendly “Dog On The Sidewalk”, however Spartan it may be. Another solid whiff is C”, where a too-simple vocal melody is paired alongside an annoying guitar slide, only going into something that is palatable during the bridges (even if it is a typical wall of sound).

Overall, “Milk Man” is an uneven album. While some of the songs are immediately enjoyable and cogent beings, there are some disjointed efforts that should have been left on the cutting room floor. Perhaps a theme to the album instead of putting the word Milk into three of the songs would be a good exercise in condensing and distilling the energy of the band. There is no debating that Deerhoof are masters of time signatures and bending the very essence of what makes good music, but on “Milk Man”, they have not gotten into that groove that is present on every single solid album. Perhaps it will be on their next album that a piece of rock history will be made, I just have to be the one that says that it isn’t completely here on this disc.

Top Tracks: C., Milking

Rating: 6.2/10