Customer Reviews

Apple O

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and it's more than understandable that many people just won't "get" Deerhoof. I bought this album a little over a year ago and really didn't like it much when I first heard it (as it is with all great albums). Pulled it out a couple of months post-purchase and found some neat little suprises hidden inside this blistering album.
Yes, it's very loud at times, and extreme, with lots of drumming and "noise," as some might call it. If any of this sounds bad to you, then you may want to look elsewhere for experimental indie-pop. This is pop music. Though it's played loudly and full of energy, the melodies are simple and sweet and make birds on trees smile.
Let me tell you, the thing about this album is it's imagination and ability to set out and do something new that you haven't heard before. Deerhoof aren't out to win listeners over with "easy' music. They're just a group of musicians making unique music. At times their sound takes on the fullness of a full symphony orchestra. The compositions have an almost classical sound with the tempo changes and repeated melodic variations.
So as not to go on rambling about this album i'll just say that it never fails to cheer me up if i'm down, it's just so full of (BAM) kick you in the face, (LIFE IS CRAZY) moments that I just can't get enough. Bowie would have liked these guys, that's going to piss a bunch of people off. But as I said at the start, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Am I right?

This is the freshest pop stuff I have heard since Bjork, XTC and Shonen Knife, not in that order. Its always nice to hear new stuff that is somehow exciting, somehow pops out, and Deerhoof does that for me.

They surprise, contrasting Captain Beefheart spirit and simplicity. Satomi is the most fun voice in pop since Bjork, even though she has a plain voice compared to Bjork's. Satomi contrasts high-pitched untrained vocal melodicism with playful guitars that are heavy only to be happy or crazy. Also like Bjork, Deerhoof has evolved to writing some absouletly beautiful and moving songs. Like, how did that happen? Amour Stories is a case in point, and there are others here.

Sure, Blonde Redhead has more talent, but they sound like the same old indie-schmindie to me, sorry. Sonic Youth was great, but they didn't have Satomi and these guys are fresh. Who cares if an artist had influences? They all do, it is inescapable - the trick is in using them smartly, or in foiling you into not noticing them.

Deerhoof is not about talent, Velevet Underground was not about talent, although the talent is there with these bands, it's just downplayed or even intentionally hidden.

If you are honest and sincere, you can make old ideas your own. Right now, I think this is the band to watch if you like some slightly funny, slightly arty, quite playful, slightly campy stuff that blends in a little avant noise. It's the cherry on top when, out of left field, they hit you with a beautiful song. My cup of tea for sure. Can't wait for the next one, or to see these folks live.

Deerhoof seem like nice, smart, frolicsome folks with healthy youthful energy and a big splash of discovery to invite us into. I recommend that you join their little experiment for 40 minutes sometime, and that intrigues you or moves you a bit, support them and yourself with good music. We need more of this in the stale world of popular music, including the whole indie/moder/art/alt/etc rock scene. Don't we? :)

Deerhoof DOES NOT equal trying to create an image of themselves. Deerhoof DOES NOT equal trying to make the charts. Deerhoof DOES NOT equal trying to fit into a tradition. They make the tradition as they go, only to break it first thing.

If you're not familiar with this band, buy this album along with their other two classics: _Milkman_ and _The Runners Four_. You'll be able to say that you were in on the phenomenon before they got an indie halo like other pioneers (e.g. Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Television, et al). They are able to make this unforgettable sonic stew simply because they are principally about one thing: MUSIC.

There's something for everyone here. Like experimental music?: Deerhoof's ethos is never anything less than experimentation. Like jazz?: You get to hear the band woodshed with the best of them on instrumentals "My Diamond Star Car" (Drummer Greg Saunier is a special treat here; sometimes he almost sounds like a free jazz titan on his tiny trap set. Others he just bludgeons away with the band on their less intricate moments. Extremely versatile. Meaning he is willing to let go and be endearingly sloppy even though he is an excellent musician.) Like ballads?: Deerhoof even has these (tho' with a caveat on this album--go to _Runners Four_ if you really want to hear the "softer side" of Deerhoof). "Apple Bomb" starts out with singer Satomi in a vulnerable surrealistic mode: "I said god/ In the tress it's lovely/ But it's lonely/ With a bone." Guitarists Chris Cohen and John Dieterich (the most effective young guitar duo in rock) play with the delicacy of the Pizzarelli family, only to explode in shards of distortion on the "bomb" part of "Apple Bomb," the chorus.

Then they are on to more jazz maneuverings in "The Forbidden Fruits," which consists of the lyrics "Leopard fur no store" and some of Satomi's ethereal "doo-d-doo-doo-d-d-doo-doot"'s. They start out sounding like the funky side of Wes Montgomery and then layer some John Cage-like dissonance on top of the diminished chord vamp. Indispensable listening.

Every song on here is a highlight. I haven't even gotten to the pop moments (try "L'Amour Stories"), the new music moments ("Adam + Eve Connection"--it's all here, starts out with Stockhausen-esque electronic manipulation of the earlier "Sealed with a Kiss" and then goes on to some Villa-Lobos-esque classical guitar), or the blues moments ("Blue Cash" is perhaps the most interesting version of a blues progression I have ever heard). What makes all of this experimentation stick is the fact that it is not simply experimentation for the sake of experimentation. It is for the sake of music, so they always make a connection, at least if you are patient with them.

I should know. I got _The Runners Four_, their latest album, almost a year ago. At first, I liked what I heard, but wasn't necessarily blown away. Well, I saw them live, and that upped the ante for me: they are one of the best live experiences today along with fellow NYers the YYY's. They stuck their "holdy paws" into my brain with their intoxicating and fearful mix of intricacy, subtlety, brutality, flippancy, and seriousness. Then I had to get everything. The more I listen to them, the more they are a part of my life, and the more I realize that they are an integral part of the history of all that is the greatest in the history of not only rock'n'roll, but music itself. Get in on this before everyone else and your sister knows that they are the best-kept secret in music (really--they are as good as the best in jazz and modern classical, too; I think it was Ben Ratliff of the Times who said that they are probably the next band who will be having jazz and classical cover albums done of their songs in the not-too-distant future, like Radiohead or Mars Volta). Get in on the Deerhoof phenomenon by buying this album this minute.

This is one of the strangest and most satisfying records I have ever listened to. Apple O' is surreal, colorful, temperamental and mischeivous, like a little dream-spirit hell bent on creating beautiful havoc. Everything is twisted and engaging. The opening song is pretty damn catchy with its brilliant chorus and stop-start dynamics. "Heart Failure" and "Sealed with a Kiss" are immediately engaging, whereas "Apple Bomb" is a softer, early-morning tune.

The tracks are all quite short and full of interesting movements and changes half-way through. Satomi's voice is worth mentioning- it's like little I've heard before, more like a wind instrument than a real voice. At times (such as "Apple Bomb") her voice sounds almost exactly like a clarinet.

If you like off-kilter pop music that is surreal and just incredibly interesting, be sure to check out this record.

i do not think that you are a good person. i won't even dwell on your racist comments. i'll just end this by saying deefhoof is great fun, and you are a bad person.

Deerhoof makes noise-rock for people who don't necessarily like noise-rock. Injecting some much needed volume, chaos, and general racket into the pop genre, Deerhoof breath life into a stale music scene by keeping it simple. Simple lyrics, powerful chords, and a Boredoms-aesthetic work wonders, and thus Apple O became Deerhoof's most cohesive release thus far. Perhaps a better place to start than the scattered, yet excellent Reveille, Apple O is the perfect record for the listener looking for the brash simplicity of early punk, the disregard for conventional sound of noise-rock, and a certain arty disregard for song structure. Listening to "Flower" is like getting hooked on nicotine; it'll be difficult to shake.

Excellent! What is it with these guys. Thoroughly original, and catchy in the most bizarre way. I had heard of Deerhoof, actually read a good review of this album in the NY Times about a year ago, and filed the name away in my head. However, over the course of the past several months, I periodically heard them on college radio, and they infiltrated my psyche. A week ago I had this Deerhoof song stuck in my head for 2 days straight, and I knew it was time to throw down some cash and support an inventive indie rock band. I bought "Apple O".

It turns out the song isn't even on this album. However, the sounds on this album were enough to wash it out of my mind, replacing it with a variety of highly addictive tuneage. Took me a few spins to really appreciate this (as most good albums do), but damn, it just dawned on me that this is one of the best new bands Ive picked up on in a long while. Forget about all the NYC hype for a minute and check out something truly unique, and fun to boot.

This album is a study of the causation of the spontaneous creation of Kinetic Energy using a Musical Engine. i.e. This album makes you want to move. Short, sharp and snappy, each song burrows its way under your skin and fires electrical impulses down the axons of your nervous system. You will surrender. You will submit. You will shake your whole, entire body.

The closest you could come to categorising this album is perhaps as Art-Punk, or maybe even Post-Punk. It is a collection of little trinkets and ditty's of a child-like wonder, with a harder do-it-yourself kind of punk edge, no matter what you prefer to call it.

The percussion is the stand out feature of this music. It is loud and bold. Pauses are used to great effect.A little out of rythm syncopation and sudden tempo changes keep you on your toes. The guitar is simplistic but effective, making each song distinctive and memorable. Adorning each song is the vocalist's child like lyrics, conjuring images of big eyed school girls from Japanese Manga comics. And when she demurely sings out 'Panda, Panda, Panda, I Like!', you will be stuck with it in your head for weeks aftwards.

Take the risk and sneak in a listen to this album. Just make sure your friends don't see you or they will tease you about it for weeks. It is a little out of left-field afterall.

The Karmanoodle (karmanoodle@ihug.com.au)

Deerhoof's album Apple O is amazing! This album features Chris Cohen (the Curtains) and John Dietrich (Gorge Trio,Colossamite), so if like like either of those bands... then you'll love this album! It's the most prog-rock album by Deerhoof (you can thank John and Chris for that) be ready!

Extremely refined. This is a great album from an awesome band. A great example of beautiful raw energy elegantly arranged and often impeccably paced. Very apt indie guitars and drum, and of course the Japanese girl is adorable.