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Jun 24, 2016The Magic, the band’s aptly named 13th album, is the loosest, most expansive Deerhoof LP in some years.
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Jun 28, 2016The instrumental skill that Deerhoof loyalists have come to love abounds, and front and centre is a resounding, absurdist joy.
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Jun 22, 2016Otherworldly and full of enchantment, Deerhoof's 13th studio album, The Magic, finds the wholly original and ever-engaging band at their most cohesive and versatile.
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Jul 1, 2016Deerhoof show that pushing boundaries can yield fantastic results.
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Jul 15, 2016Ever-evolving they may be, but Satomi’s oddball pop songs are another band staple; this time they deliver the cutesy, punky, and thoroughly entertaining Nurse Me.
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Jul 8, 2016Fifteen songs is probably a few too many, but it’s hard to imagine consensus among listeners on what to excise, and plausibly the band ran into the same problem. If so, they’ve earned the right to moderate self-indulgence at this point.
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Jun 30, 2016The Magic is Deerhoof’s 13th full-length album, and it’s one of their most well-rounded, sweeter offerings, perhaps a companion to Friend Opportunity or Offend Maggie in size and spirit.
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Q MagazineJun 29, 2016After nearly 20 years, their sonic spell shows no sign of fading. [Aug 2016, p.111]
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Jun 24, 2016The earworm riff of java paean “Kafe Mania!”; the huffy boom-bap funk of “Life Is Suffering”; the TV-metal urgency of “Learning to Apologize Effectively,” urgent synths nicked from Bon Jovi; the claustrophobic electropop revamp of “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire”; the power-pop jangle of “Plastic Thrills”--it’s all irresistible.
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Jun 22, 2016The Magic is not their best album, but it's an excellent Deerhoof album, and they are the greatest of all time at what they do.
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UncutJun 20, 2016It all hangs together, propelled by a sense of fun that, 22 years on, still pervades every note. Trot on. [Jul 2016, p.73]
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Jun 20, 2016The Magic proves surreal until the very end, just as promised.
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Jun 20, 2016They’re weird. Wired. Wonderful. They sound like no one but themselves, and they’re still getting better.
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Jun 29, 2016Even if The Magic doesn't always hold together, it still delivers moments of pure anarchic fun.
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Jun 22, 2016Yet aside from the variety exhibited when the jazzy futurism of “Model Behavior” gives way to the anthemic grandstanding of “Learning to Apologize Effectively”, it’s surprising just how vintage some of the music on the album sounds.
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Jun 29, 2016Within the context of Deerhoof’s oeuvre, The Magic is a bit of a back-to-the-garage reset that doesn’t approach the heights of career apexes Friend Opportunity and Runners Four, but offers a fresh energy that rewards the converted.
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Jun 24, 2016Although Matsuzaki’s airy voice can be an acquired taste, overall, The Magic delivers fun pop melodies that require some patience. Rather than solely detailing a narrative, Matsuzaki also uses her words as rhythmic punctuation; that’s a key thrill of Deerhoof’s catalog, but can be a challenge to connect with.
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Jun 27, 2016Even for non-devotees, this is a less challenging listen than might be expected. There’s an abundance of hooks and twisted melodies buried within its pile-up of ideas.
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Jun 24, 2016While unpredictability is certainly part of Deerhoof’s charm, and the aim of The Magic was to take listeners out of their comfort zone, the erratics can feel contrived and its off-kilter aesthetics too disparate for it to ever really take hold.
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Jun 20, 2016There's no escaping a diminishing ability to knock listeners to the floor.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 17
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Mixed: 0 out of 17
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Negative: 2 out of 17
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Sep 25, 2016