TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Live music is not dead if you ask Deerhoof, San Francisco’s beloved noise-rockers, who have spent three decades crafting wild guitar riffs set to brain-splitting syncopations.
Fronted by Japanese singer and bassist Matsuzaki Satomi, the quartet laid the groundwork for generations of experimental and art-rock acts to follow, most recently the viral pogoing of Angine de Poitrine. As pioneers of the genre, this is hardly their first visit to Taipei.
Deerhoof’s first appearance in Taiwan came during a memorable late-afternoon set at the 2013 edition of Formoz Festival, later headlined by The xx. Those who caught the performance may still remember the chaos: screeching guitars, nonsense lyrics, and some of the weirdest drumming in music.
The performance earned the band a return engagement the following year at The Wall, the subterranean venue that curated much of Taipei’s emerging indie scene. It feels almost surreal that, more than a decade later, both the band and the venue are still standing.
Local promoter Budha Terao of Moonromantic said the band approached him directly. “As they are planning to tour across Asia, the band approached us to organize the Taipei show,” he said.
Terao added that he was eager to be involved because “they have been active for many years and have a highly distinctive musical style, so they do have dedicated listeners in Taiwan.”
Fans certainly have no shortage of material to revisit. Deerhoof’s sprawling, genre-defying catalog now stretches across more than 20 albums.
Their latest release, “Noble and Godlike in Ruin,” leaned heavily into political themes, targeting anti-immigration sentiment in the US and the growing dominance of streaming platforms such as Spotify. In classic Deerhoof fashion, the band released the single “Immigrant Songs” through Craigslist, describing the move as an attempt to “spotlight a tech platform that isn’t blatantly supporting fascism.”
Politics aside, Deerhoof remains best known for pioneering a particularly off-kilter strain of mid-1990s avant-pop. Quirky, abrasive, and constantly shifting, the band has wandered freely between improvisational noise punk, fractured pop melodies, jazz detours, and occasional hip-hop influences without ever losing its manic energy.
Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Deerhoof became a staple of zines, college radio, and underground midweek club shows across the US. The band also never shied away from expressing left-wing political views, particularly on environmentalism, regularly publishing essays encouraging resistance, critical thinking, and art as social action.
Notable projects included a 2010 collaboration with fellow experimental New Yorkers Xiu Xiu performing “Unknown Pleasures” in full, as well as the 2017 guest-heavy release “Mountain Moves,” conceived largely in response to the first presidency of Donald Trump.
Over the years, Deerhoof has continuously evolved, dabbling in psychedelic rock, post-punk, jazz fusion, and experimental pop while maintaining the unpredictable energy that made the band cult favorites in the first place.
More than anything, the band’s continued existence feels reassuring: another sweaty midweek gig in a basement venue near a university, another reminder that some things never really get old.
Deerhoof performs at The Wall on Thursday. Ticket information is available here.
