of Montreal, w/ Deerhoof at First Ave, Minneapolis (15 Mar 2015)

Deerhoof

Based on the longer than usual opening set (55 minutes), this was a co-headliner tour, with Deerhoof first on stage. If you’ve never heard of Deerhoof, they are a San Francisco band with a wide mixture of sound, from art-punk to pure pop to avant-garde to minimalistic to noise…. their music sounds just as strange as the band, currently fronted by Japanese singer/guitarist Satomi Matsuzaki.



The 21-year-old band is currently touring in support of their 12th studio album La Isla Bonita, whose title may indicate their pop influence of Madonna. When asked about the pop sound in the new album, drummer Greg Saunier said it was because they were trying to “sound like Joan Jett or Janet Jackson”.



Of course, you have to take what Saunier say with a grain of salt, because mid-way during Deerhoof’s set, Saunier took over the mic and started talking about really random topics. For example, he was sure to remember to not forget the water – hearing some fans in Boston (who was also in the audience on Sunday). The other item was that he needed to tie his shoe laces. The one relevant thing the drummer said was that guitarist John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez used to live in Minneapolis, which got big cheers of approval from the audience.



The band sounded great, although sometime I had a hard time telling if Deerhoof’s songs were English or Japanese songs as Matsuzaki has a strong accent. Otherwise, this was a typical Deerhoof show, with plenty of dancing and sometime the odd improvisation on drummer Saunier’s part.

of Montreal

If you’ve never seen Georgia’s of Montreal live, you need to do yourself a favor and check them out. Their music is psychedelic pop (think psychedelic-era Beatles), but the best part of their show is that they have dedicated dancers/performers who are often in costumes, in tune with a light/projection show. Some people say it’s a distraction from the music, but who cares, I think it is such a fun show.



As usual their show often begins with an announcer/hypeman who would introduce singer Kevin Barnes. Barnes came on stage dressed as a woman, complete with makeup and women’s shoes. As the show goes on, we experienced two or three Barnes costume changes, with basically 80% naked by the encore.

“It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”

It is a typical of Montreal show, except for one key difference on this tour vs the other times I’ve seen them: Barnes left the stage to have two of the dancer girls come on stage to sing a Kitty Wells cover song, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”. The country/western tune, I felt was a nice break than the usual singalong pop songs from Barnes.



Highlight of the show was their final song, “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse”. The dancers came on stage to blow feathers into the audience. The audience loved it by their chaotic roar and it was really a great way to end the show.



Although many fans in the audience have seen the band live on numerous occasions, I did talked to an “of Montreal virgin” after the show and he told me that there were things on stage that he’s never ever seen, referencing the Abe Lincoln boxing with the topless poodles (an image that cannot be forgotten any time soon). As weird as that sound, he’s definitely going to see of Montreal again when they come back to town.



Again, this is an excellent team-up. If you like one of the band, chances are you’ll like them both. of Montreal’s Aureate Gloom and Deerhoof’s La Isla Bonita are both out now on Polyvinyl Records.