Customer Reviews

The Runners Four

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have only recently started listening to this band- beginning with 'Apple O' then 'Milkman' and now 'The Runners Four,' and I have to say in certain ways they have improved with each of these albums as a band. As far as the overall quality of each of these albums as a whole- they are about equal, but have different feels to them. From my perspective Deerhoof has really been able to hone their sound as a band with each album, but without falling into that trap of becoming 'mature-sounding,' (i.e. boring and lacking passion and creativity) (Sorry Lou Barlow and Super Furry Animals - Britt Daniels??)

'Apple O' has really good energy, is cohesive as a whole, and some really good rockin songs, but seemed to be a little one dimensional (sound and approach-wise). This becomes more apparent when I listened to 'Milkman' and 'the Runners four'- this band could really expand their approach (and sound) and benefit from it in some ways.

With 'Milkman' Deerhoof seem to add more songs that focused on a pop approach (pop as a relative term)- adding keyboards and an occasional straightforward song alongside songs that rock. An uneven, but equally good album.

With "The Runners Four" Deerhoof further this trend, in some songs sounding like a band in its prime with a great combination of energy, rock, melody and Deerhoof quirkiness. The experimentation is still there- they are not getting boring- and there are many songs that still rock and /or are catchy as hell (SIRIUSTAR, Runningthoughts, Spirit Ditties, You can See, Lightning rod, Rrrright)
Unfortunately this album is also a lot longer than their previous albums, with some 'filler' which weighs down the album. I'd say they could have dropped about 5-6 songs and had a real masterpiece. I rarely complain about artists having some mediocre songs but for some reason in this instance it really detracts from listening to the rest. (yeah I'm also talking to you too Robert Pollard and the entire hip-hop genre) I think it would have been a 5 star album in my book if it werent for the length.

I apologize, but let me finish by commenting on "reviewers."
Too many of the people who write reviews are either haters (see Harry Wang's review) or borderline-groupies. I think its important to really comment on the quality of the music relative to the band's previous work and whats out there (analogy applies to other products as well). A look at a guy like Harry Wang, and you'll see he gives 1 star to most of his reviews (but the village people, an important exception, get 5 stars)- This is not helpful to anyone, and is a waste of everyone's time. The reviews by the groupies arent that helpful either, but at least they are trying to be helpful. There are too many 5 star (I am guilty) and 1 star reviews which are often not helpful. Lets have a little nuance folks.

My first introduction to Deerhoof was getting Apple O' from the library and popping it into my car stereo. After about a song and a half I had had enough and pushed the eject button. I'm always trying to explore into different challenging types of music, but this was too much.

For some reason, that album beckoned me to revisit it and give it another chance. I'm glad I did, because once I got past the utter chaos, high-pitched girl vocals, and seemingly directionless arrangements, I was able to appreciate the melodies, tight chemistry between the players (especially the drumming), and charm that was sitting there underneath everything else.

I think this is where I had an advantage over many of the one-star reviewers of "The Runners Four." I was already prepared for what was coming, and I had a foundation from which to judge this album.

Initially my first thought was that this album was much more subdued and expansive than Apple O'. It is, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The comparison that comes to mind is Modest Mouse and the jump from "Lonesome Crowded West" to "The Moon and Antarctica." The former has just so much energy and is so fun to listen to, whereas the latter is much more layered and takes many more twists and turns, making for an extremely rewarding listen, even if not as immediately satisfying.

"The Runners Four" starts with a very minimalist guitar and vocal duet, then kicks into gear with one of my favorite songs on the album, "Twin Killers." The next song, "Running Thoughts" defines the album to me. The chaos and utter disregard for convention are still there, but with a meditative quality replacing the youthful jubilence of prior albums. Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of moments of innocent bliss on "Runners", but they are spotted in between a more evolved and seasoned version of Deerhoof.

I can completely sympothize with those who would rather inflict physical harm than listen to Deerhoof - I was once there. But the ones who never come back to give it a second chance are missing out on one of the best bands of the millenium thus far, which is truly a shame.

I've become obsessed with this band.

Even though their songs are almost always between two and three minutes, Deerhoof goes for epic on "The Runners Four," collecting twenty songs and squeezing them into a package that runs just under an hour (their last two albums combined isn't much longer than that). It allows for greater range of freedom and more experiments...and a few failures. This is a band that had always been an acquired taste, but forcing us to acquire even newer tastes? At least the group acknowledges its limitations and then says forget it, let's go for it anyway. Brave, and sometimes rewarding.

Deerhoof is better served in smaller doses than larger ones, even after they settled down a bit from their earlier, more hectic days. Like a lot of long tracklist albums (They Might Be Giant's "Flood," more than one Beastie Boys record, countless punk albums, etc.) the band runs out of steam before the end--but instead of regurgitating more of the same, they keep throwing everything they've got at us and hoping it sticks. For the first eleven to thriteen tracks, there's rarely a misstep (opener "Chatterboxes" is merely okay, "Odyssey" is rather turgid), but after that, it's pretty uneven. Maybe it's too exhausting; even for a pop band, Deerhoof can be pretty intense (check out the sweaty and squealing "Scream Team" and the noisy squalor of "Midnight Bicylce Mystery"). But three-fourths of a great album is what we've come to expect from this band, and the individual moments on this one shine brighter than almost anything on their last two.

Best cuts: "Twin Killers," "Vivid Cheek Love Song," "Running Thoughts," "Spirit Ditties of No Tone," "O'Malley, Former Underdog," "Scream Team," "Siriustar," "Midnight Bicycle Mystery," "Wrong Time Capsule," "You Can See," "Rrrrrright," "Spy on You," "Lightning Rod, Run," "After Me the Deluge"

if you prefer your rock a little poppier than sabbath (say early cardigans or stereolab), you'll enjoy this album more than deerhoof's previous work. this features less bonham bash and more 60s jangle. and more keys. but if you enjoy the darker, crunchier, and catchier attacks of pixies or melvins, you're better off going with 'half bird' or 'reveille.' (those two have some nice quiet dynamics as well.) here, that harder, more emotional sound only reveals itself once, on the track 'scream team.' but this is a great album and fits nicely into their catalogue. actually, their only release i don't listen to much is 'the man the king the girl,' the least melodic of the bunch. live, they're even more fun -- really jazzy, hard and incredibly tight. and so entertaining, it's difficult to stop grinning while watching Satomi and co. smartly mix this unique version of drama, dissonant jazz and rock.

Wow, apparently a lot of indie snobs like Deerhoof. Here they are giving the album 5 stars, and they can't even write a positive review about it. The Runners Four is a piece of art. Everything from the cover art to the Japanese voice makes me think of Katamari Damacy, that gorgeously insane video game. The best way to describe The Runners Four is that it's like their live show - you have no idea what to expect, but they know exactly what is coming next. This is an extremely tight record, while at the same time some of it approaches freeform jazz. They accomplish this while inventing new guitar chords and time signatures. How dare these people accuse Deerhoof of sticking to a song format? This is their most complete album yet, and it is exactly what they want it to be - their masterpiece. Listen to it at least 17 times.

I've probably listened to this album a half dozen times and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. This is what I do know: I like it much more than their first couple releases (The Man, The King, The Girl; Holdy Paws), I don't like it nearly as much as their best releases (Reveille; Apple O'), and I think it's on the same level as Milk Man, with some moments on The Runners Four being superior to that album, some moments being inferior.

I really think Reveille is one of the best albums of this decade. It's a weird, experimental noise-fest of arty garage rock, which is great, but it has a slight pop element in it that seperates it from every other experimental noise rock band out there. And that's the genius of it; the album isn't predicated on that pop element, but those fleeting sugary sweet melodies take totally inaccessible rock music and make it somewhat catchy, and totally original.

On Apple O' that pop element wasn't hidden anymore, rather it was out in the open. But the album still had some great sporadic bursts of noise, and the dynamics of the songs and the rythms were still off-kilter. So in a way it's like the opposite of Reveille: great pop songs rendered somewhat weird and inaccessible becasue of the art rock context they are put in.

I often hear Milk Man being criticized by Deerhoof fans for being too straightforward, and there is certainly something to that. The songs on Milk Man do tend to follow a more traditional verse-chorus-verse format, and the noise/distortion has been turned down a bit in favor of electronics and drum machines. However I still enjoy the album for it's conceptual format, the great loud-soft dynamics on songs like "Milk Man" and "C", and the cool new territory they started to explore electronically with songs like "Desapareceré" and "New Sneakers".

So that brings us to the Runners Four. How does this album compare to the others? Well, unfortunately that great noisey garage rock sound that defined their best albums is for the most part nowhere to be found on this album. The guitar tones are cleaner, the melodies are at the forefront, and the song structures are again more traditional. They usually follow a verse-choruse-verse format without changing things up much, and songs are generally longer in length than past Deerhoof efforts. In those ways it is similar to Milk Man, but it doesn't dabble in electronics and drum machines to the same extent Milk Man does.

I pretty much consider this album as being Deerhoof's indie rock album. But don't let that statement scare you too much die-hard Deerhoof fans. Because at it's core this album is still quintessential Deerhoof. They bring back a lot of those off-kilter rythms that were so dominant on their earlier material. This album is certainly Deerhoof's most melodic, but it's not without their trademark guitar dynamics and riffs. There are several songs on the album that you can't help but bop your head to or groove along with. The only real missteps here are the three acoustic ballads: "Odyssey", "After Me the Deluge", and "Bone-Dry", which sound alright initially but grow sappy and redundant on repeated listens.

So. Deerhoof's take on a standard indie rock album. On one hand, it's somewhat disapointing that they aren't coming up with totally unique, original ideas and sounds anymore. On the other hand, for what it is, it's really well done. The melodies are infectious, the riffs are bouncy and fun, and the music is cute in that good ol' Deerhoof style. A little more tender and mature while still being goofy. So while it's not my favorite Deerhoof album, nor is it as good as I was HOPING it would be, I'm still giving it 4 stars because frankly they make a better indie rock album than most of the indie rock acts out there at the moment.

Before this even came out, I'd heard many of the new songs already, live (they sound ten times better live!), and i knew this one had to be good. And of course, it was. Now, this isn't their BEST one, but it's defenitly a great album.

It starts off with a nice "only guitar" song, then becomes stronger and stronger. Just some of the usuall greatness we come to expect from deerhoof! In the middle it stays strong, but kind of fades towards the end (i guess I'm not a fan of REALLY long albums...) which was kind of dissapointing. Some of the stuff in the end, in a way, reminds me of the fun jangly stuff from "the man the king the girl", but not with the touch or rawness of the first album.... But the feeling that you get from many of the songs is amazing, reminding me of my first experiance with Apple O, my favorite!

In my opinion, its a real improvement from milk man, and a great album. If all bands were as great as deerhoof, i'd give this four stars, but a band this great deserves five.... no matter WHAT! that's my rationale....

So if youre already into this band DEFENITLY get this, and you'll have no fear or regrets whatsoever, but if youre a beginner, start out with apple o or something.


oh yea, and see them live, because it will be one of the GREATEST days of your life, if you do!

Deerhoof is an amazing band, but this to me is their masterwork. Beautiful, challenging and lengthy. I am a composer
and lifelong musician and Deerhoof never ceases to please me with the beauty of the melodies, the inventive chord progressions,
genre stretching compositions and sheer willingness to explore.
I am not surprised that some folks might not like Deerhoof. I just kinda feel sorry for them. I wish they could enjoy this record as
much as I have.

Despite what some of the other reviews have said, there is no filler. It took me a bit longer to come around to some songs versus others, but I did. I have my favorites, sure, but the best effect of the album is achieved as the best of albums have done - in the whole.

By far my favorite Deerhoof album. By far.

I started with a blind purchase of Friend Opportunity, Deerhoofs 2007' offering and became infected with the odd, yet great riffs, melodies, lyrics and odd structures in their music. I had to hear more. I'd suggest you start with Friend Opportunity which is their most polished/produced offering to date. If it grows on you then The Runners Four is a great next step. More sparse in the amount of instrumentation used but just as creative as everything I've heard from this band so far! As, my kids said during a sunday BBQ with Deerhoof playing over the outdoor speakers....Hmmmm, this music is very interruptive.