Lost but not forgotten; even Deerhoof reportedly acknowledge and accept 2002’s Reveille as a de facto(ish) beginning of the band, since that release was their “big break” in terms of hype propagated by record store clerks, radio stations, and early stage bloggers navigating their first GeoCities web page. But certainly, if we’re going to be technical about it, Deerhoof started several years before then, as Greg Saunier and Rob Fisk officially assumed the moniker in 1994, and Satomi Matsuzaki became admirably sidetracked from her film degree studies in order to record and tour internationally. Contributions from Kelly Goode also happened around this time, and before Reveille happened, three albums served as rambunctious precursors to a famously rambunctious discography. Maybe it’s time that listeners and critics give some credit to the very early days?
Here’s a new opportunity to do so: three labels associated with Deerhoof over the years (Polyvinyl, Kill Rock Stars, and Joyful Noise) are reissuing, respectively, The Man, The King, The Girl, Holdypaws, and Halfbird on vinyl for the first time. The release date for all three is November 22, and pre-orders for the individuals releases + three-album bundles are open now via the individual label web stores. I’d recommend the bundle just to hear the obvious honing of the Deerhoof sound!
Here’s a comment from Matsuzaki on the releases:
I think these three albums are Deerhoof’s most raw and real. We had all these fantasies about what we wanted to do musically and we were struggling to meet them. But I feel like the labels and people we worked with believed in our weird fantasy. I still believe in that fantasy and after 25 years I still like these albums. I hope people will enjoy too.
Stream some tracks from each down below for a preview:
More about: Deerhoof
