Deerhoof vs. Evil

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Deerhoof vs. Evil drops on January 11, and marks the band's first official stance on evil in 14 albums: they are against it.

We're told that Deerhoof recorded the album “in practice spaces and basements with no engineers or outside input.” There are instrument swaps, a cover of an obscure Greek film soundtrack, and a song sung in Catalan. These are measures taken to ensure a departure from “all notions of what a Deerhunter record sounds like.”

But take a listen to “The Merry Barracks,” the album's first single, and you'll hear loud, shaggy bursts of guitar, a beat with backbone, and Satomi Matsuzaki's vocals weirdly making melodic sense. It straddles the line of sleek accessibility and something less so. Sound familiar? If it ain't broke…