La Isla Bonita

Traces of other bands can be heard everywhere, from the scuzzy math-rock of Doom (Battles) to the hard-riffing Exit-Only (Jon Spencer) but with vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki ensuring that they never sound quite like anyone else. [Dec 2014, p.108]

This reckless abandon practically screams out of La Isla Bonita, but the record falls short of total reinvention.

Closer Oh Bummer, sung by drummer Greg Saunier, is a straightforward moody rock song--at least for the first three minutes, after which a striking doomsday-meets-Thriller breakdown erupts, reminding diehard fans that the band members are still weirdos but also keeping fair-weather listeners at a distance.

The record is at its best when kept simplistic and spontaneous, but for much of it you sense they have thought about it a little too much and become a little too self-aware; for a band like Deerhoof that can lead into some pretty iffy territory.

Unfortunately, instead of rebuilding a sound structure (double meaning intended) with those scattered shards that Deerhoof has violently shaved off over its career, with La Isla Bonita, they’ve traced a nominal new work from a picture that never existed in such an ostensibly neatly composed way. Without that compositional tension hanging in its margins though, La Isla Bonita’s expressions, however inciting, remain just out of grasping reach, like an island mirage.