Deerhoof to KSPC: "Panda, Panda, Panda"
By Chris Meyer
A&F Associate

As if in answer to the anguished hipster community of Pomona crying, "Is Guster the best we can do?" KSPC 88.7 FM held the latest installment in their Blowout concert series last Friday, featuring underground darlings Deerhoof and The Mae Shi. Or perhaps a better description would be The Anguished Hipster Community of Claremont and Surrounding Areas, as the crowd that gathered in the Smith Campus Center basement that evening consisted almost overwhelmingly of older, off-campus fans with platinum-glazed hair and spiked platform shoes. The reason for this became apparent as the show progressed: even if the average Pomona student has heard of Deerhoof, the band wouldn't fit that well into the typical student playlist of Tom Petty, John Mayer or even Radiohead. But some brave souls did manage to make it out from their dorm rooms to catch this show.

Opening band The Mae Shi got things off to a ferocious start, tearing into the first track on their brand new EP To Hit Armor Class Zero, "You (Still) Can't do that to an Axe." Like most of the band's material, the song was a short burst of frenetic guitar assault and knob-twiddling as lead singer Ezra Buchla flung himself around the stage screaming lyrics that could have been about the world economy or blowing shit up or anything in between. The band's energy translated to the crowd, and even if half of them were wearing earplugs they seemed to really enjoy the set. Looking like Johnny Rotten's more benign cousin, Buchla would jump into the crowd and wave his arms around as he ran; the final song of the set saw him rolling around on the ground for minutes at a time screaming-well, screaming something. Short but sweet, The Mae Shi's set entranced the crowd and was significantly more than just a warm-up for the headlining act.

As Deerhoof opened their set with "Panda Panda Panda," their contrast with the opening act became quickly apparent. A very technical band, Deerhoof makes extensive use of deconstructed melodies and breakneck time changes; the result is something that, although varied and fascinating, is damned near impossible to dance to. This didn't stop some people, though, and seeing them attempt to get their groove on to "Heart Failure" was one of the evening's high points. The guitarists on either side of the stage would jump around as they railed off impenetrable guitar riffs, but at the center Satomi Matsuzaki stood stock still, delivering her disjointed lyrics meticulously as her eyes focused on some imaginary point beyond the crowd. The result was a much more contemplative set than the previous one, as the crowd's attention became less focused on stage antics and more on the torrential melodies, which were pretty much the point anyway. Matsuzaki did accompany one song with a flurry of interpretational hand gestures that resembled some combination of swimming and the swing of a windshield wiper. It was about as obtuse as most of their music, but a welcome change in the proceedings nonetheless.

Clocking in at around 45 minutes, the set may seem short in comparison to other headlining acts, but it seemed about the right length for this dimension of art rock, a sound that fascinates at first but can grow wearisome in large doses. The majority of Deerhoof's set came from their new album Apple O' and 2002's Reveille, though they did reach back to their debut album The Man, The King, The Girl for "A-Town Test Site." Apple O' has found the band approaching more of a pop sensibility than on previous albums, so the crowd missed out on (or was saved from, depending on your outlook) some of Deerhoof's most bombastically discordant work; when the band came together in fits of straightforward instrumentation, it sounded amazing, and the plebeian inside of me wondered for a moment how good they would sound were they to try their hand at more mainstream music. But Deerhoof are Deerhoof, ultimately, and though the audience may have been startled or (God forbid) befuddled by the show, they certainly won't forget Deerhoof's intense and challenging performance anytime soon.