William W. (wdavidw) from TYLER, TX Reviewed on 12/30/2013...
Deerhoof is an experimental, free form, noise rock band. That may not be the best way to describe them, but it's the best way I can think of. They have a style that is similar to Sonic Youth, maybe a little slice of the band the Pixies, a little punk and a little alternative that make music sound fresh, yet is not totally accessible to the average rock fan. I guess they are one of those bands that grow slowly on you. Pretty good though, if you're into that sort of thing.
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Buddy Bell | Murfreesboro, Tn | 03/29/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I just played Milk Man in the ears while I rode a bike around my neighborhood. I can't remember the last time I'd done that. Today's Sunday; I'd bought the album just the last Friday. I was bored and stuck in my house with no idea of what to do with the time. With it still being sunny outside, I grabbed my red hooded zip-up and my seven-year old brother's zorro hat and jumped on the old one-speed bike i hadn't picked up in years. As I got on the bike, i pressed play. Listening to it made me want to make video to the title track with the video camera I haven't used nearly enough. Also while listening to it, I wanted to write a short manual on "how to get to know yourself better" or " how to gain some confidence", with the entire album being the 'soundtrack'. People that I wanted to talk to but hadn't in a long time seemed to now be very easy to talk to. Thinking of video footage to put to music wasn't as hard as it had been. The world was fun, and I was the king of it. I had chosed the roads with people out in their front yards to ride by so as to see the odd looks they'd give me. 'Giga Dance' was interrupted by an old friend's dad who was out in his front yard. He had talked about his musical ambitions (he being a 40 year-old guitarist who has a serious passion for AC/DC). We ended our conversation with him saying that I should come down and play music with him sometime. I had responded with 'I love to play music'. I went down the steep hill with the organ-ic main line of the song going. I rode through all of the neighborhood and still had the last half of the cd to get through. I got to my driveway and drove to the small field behind the shed. I passed the time by half riding, half kicking a soccer ball around in the field until my legs gave out and i fell in the patches of grass, with the moon being directly above me and 'Dream Wanderer's Tune' halfway thru. I thought about how perfect it would be to get with some friends that I haven't seen in a long time and make a film to the album.
In all, Milk Man had made me think, and I really wanted to put some action to what I had thought about.
I got home and called two people. They didn't answer, so I left messages."
Oddly fetching
superinkygrrl | Portland, OR | 03/12/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"You know, I really liked this album. It's strange and jittery, and sort of feels like how I feel after I've drank a triple iced latte. It's not for everyone, and certainly not something I would recommend to people that like more mainstream music. But upon my 3rd listen, I started to feel the connection between the tracks and the overall theme of the album. And I actually think that if you're looking for something really out of the ordinary, you're sick of mainstream rock and you're ready to experiment with something way outside the perameters of "normal", this album is awesome!
A few months ago I saw Deerhoof perform at a music festival up here in Portland. They were so kooky. The drummer sat on a milk crate and beat on his drums like crazy. The female singer rocked out on the guitar and the band as a whole jelled successfully on stage.
I'm going to seek out more of Deerhoof's stuff. Aside from seeing them live, this is the only album by them I've heard. I'm excited to listen to Apple O now. I can see where long-time fans follow them faithfully. There's something so addictive about their sound!
Don't be afraid to try something new!"
Yes, this is the deerhoof millennium
Zachary A. Hanson | Tallahassee, FL United States | 02/03/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Deerhoof is the band of the new millennium, just like Yes was the band of the last century. They are the most innovative while at the same time being most classic. I don't have time to tell you why Yes was the band of the last century, just assume that I'm right for the time being. By now you might be thinking "What the $%#$% is this guy talking about." Hear me out. While so-called punk rock circles have put the best prog into a dustbin which is typically given some stereotypical label like "bloated," "musty," or "moldy," I almost guarantee you that most of these "punks" have heard no more than "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Roundabout." These are the same kind of punks I read in _Maximum Rock n Roll_ who called Sonic Youth the REO Speedwagon of the '80s, simply because SY's sound was catching on.
Okay, so on to Deerhoof. They're definitely way advanced from REO. First parallel to Yes, also a trillion times better than REO: the lead guitar sounds more like Steve Howe than any other influence. The first melodic guitar line on the album, in the first few bars of _Milk Man_ sounds like something Howe would have written around the time of _Drama_ or his foray into Asia. Same with the opening melodic run for "Rainbow Silhouette" (sounds like a Yes title; also, an instrumental--dead giveaway): crisp lines that take the compositions in the direction of polyphony. There's the rockin' band and the ornate lead instrument. Granted, the guitar solos are not as excessive as Howe's, but there are even a few sixty-fourth note discordant runs thrown in for good measure. The guitarist just musses 'em up some, so they're not TOO close to prog. Just kind of makes it indie prog. Listen for these ornate melodic lines all over Deerhoof's ouevre and see if the Steve Howe thing doesn't stay stuck in your head.
Second parallel: creative use of synthesizers. There are again, no two-minute long forays into Bach or anything, but the synthesizers are used for both melodic runs, discordant outbursts, ambient texturing, much like Rick Wakeman and the other keyboardists of Yes.
Okay, so I'm going to go counterargue the skeptics side. Deerhoof, you say, doesn't have twenty minutes songs. They're all really short. True. What Yes achieved in long-windedness (yes, sometimes it went on too long), Deerhoof achieves with concision. They are flip-sides of the same transcendental coin, don't you see?
Parallel three: both Yes and Deerhoof have singer's with high voices who specialize in obscure lyrics.
Parallel four: Both make concept albums. Yes's _Close to the Edge_, their best album, is grandiose and _Milk Man_ is a bunch of weird meditations on the odd dada painting on the cover. But they're still both concept albums. Play them side to side and tell me you don't find parallels. I defy you. Idiosyncratic use of dissonance counterpoised with melodic sections and an overriding message to the piece that all in all goes against any single reading. _Close to the Edge_ was the best of all the concept albums of the '70's. _Milk Man_ is right up there with Mars Volta for this millennium; way, way above _American Idiot_.
Parallel five: It's all about peace and love. Deerhoof is so ironic, you say; witness the lyrics to the Mouseketeer thrasher march "Milking": "There is a castle in the air/ And all the kids are trapped in there/ There is a king/ They don't know where/ There is a castle in the air/ Gun fire after another/ Bright fire shooting higher." Peace and love with guns? Yes. By _90125_, Jon Anderson was cynically intoning: "This world's not for living,/ It's for fighting and for war." But, you see, they all just want peace and love, whether it's through dada, negative psychology, or just rocking the #$^^#$in' #$^#$ out of you.
Parallel six: Everything is SO dependent on dynamics: crescendo, decrescendo, staccato. This stuff is eminently musical!
Radiohead, Mars Volta, and Wilco were my favorite bands of the millennium until I bought this album, now they are up there with these giants. I truly think that, yes, this is a Deerhoof millennium, one where the alterna-punk lion lies down with the prog/alt-country lamb."
Banana fields, Strawberry trees
GBV | 01/24/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was very suprised by the outcome of my rate of liking this album. I planned a trip to the local cd store looking to get Animal Collective "Sung Tongs", Wilco "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", Yo la Tengo "I Can Hear the Heat Beating as One", and Deerhoof "MILK MAN". I told myself i was only going to buy three of them and i feared that MILK MAN...was going to be the one left in the dust. I got to the cd shop staring blankly at the stack of four cds deciding...and making a huge risk for my wallet...to get all four...
Well I may be even more broke than I was two days ago, but im comfortable saying I dont give a damn. MILK MAN has given me more pleasure than any other cd purchased in years (other than anything GbV).
The album opens up with the very poppy, up-beat title song(milk man)....runs into a very dark rock song(giga dance)...runs into a very dark electronica song(desaparecere)...runs into a very poppy, up-beat musical(rainbow silhouette of the milky rain)...runs into a very random song that cant even be described(dog on the sidewalk)...runs into a dark synthesized song(c)...runs into a poppy, rockin' song(milking)....runs into (crazily enough) a SOFT, dark song(soft sorn)...runs into a piano driven dark song(dream wanderer's tune)...runs into a another poppy yet..somehow kind of dark, instrumental(that big orange sun run over speed light)...which closes with an electronica, drugged up sounding closing song(new sneakers)...
Why did I just put a paragraph of blab about each track going into each other...? Because each song sounds different. As well as each song makes you think that the amount for the cd is worth that one song...if you get what im saying...Well...the album (if anything) is worth a couple hundred bucks...easily. Because what planet earth needs is more birlliant, original, rock music. And Deerhoof proudly serves it to you on a silver platter...Enjoy..."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1
William W. (wdavidw) from TYLER, TX 
