In advanced booking: 1900 Ft / on the day of concert: 2400 Ft / season ticket is valid
20h Lamantin DJ’s in Trafo Café
21h Max Tundra (UK)
22h Deerhoof (USA/Japan)
DEERHOOF (USA/Japan)
Like all the best pop music, Deerhoof has always been strikingly new and yet familiar. Melodic beauty, as if out of a half-remembered dream, is set against flashes of brilliant innovation that seem to be as much of a surprise to the band as to the listener. With Deerhoof every song is an adventure. Classic rock, J-pop, jazz, classical, and noise suddenly become inseparable, as if no stylistic barriers had ever truly existed. This is reflected in their equally wide following: Ask five fans to pin down Deerhoof's sound and you'll get five completely different answers.
DEERHOOF/official video channel
Their mid '90s debut saw them being branded "too noise for pop" and "too pop for noise." But even as this combination eventually proved basic to the sound of contemporary indie rock, lifting the band out of obscurity in the process, Deerhoof has remained a genre unto themselves. From the cartoon surrealism of Milk Man (2004) or Friend Opportunity (2007) to the gritty realism of Apple O' (2003) and Offend Maggie (2008), they have invented their own instantly recognizable way of writing, playing and recording a song.
They are a study in contrasts. Vocalist/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki's light, cool delivery, and the laser beam clarity of her melodies, create a magical tension with her bandmates' ragged power and hyperexpressivity. Underlying any seemingly mythic tendency in the lyrics is a very human concern with worldly love and friendship. And while they can pull out all the stops with some breathtaking songwriting sophistication and virtuosic sparkle, always present is an unpretentious Deerhoofian joy. Ultimately their only rule has been to throw away the rules. As successful as they've become, they are an inspiration to their ever-growing audience because they've stayed DIY, stayed positive, and stayed pure.
GREG SAUNIER – percussions, keyboard
JOHN DIETERICH - guitar
ED RODRIGUEZ - guitar
SATOMI MATSUZAKI – voice, bass guitar
UNDER THE RADAR (November)
"Deerhoof has suddenly become an indie rock institution. Like Sonic Youth, they Bay Area outfit has managed to expand its fanbase without much concession to convention."
SPIN (October)
"jam-packed with enough jarring time signatures, disquieting vocals, and subversive pop melodies to make your head spin -- in a good way. Accuse Deerhoof of whatever you want -- just don't say they do the same thing twice."
THE ONION (October 7, 2008)
"all the songs on Offend Maggie find different ways to achieve a surprisingly full, evocative union of Deerhoof's pop sense and experimental whims."
DELUSION OF ADEQUACY (October 7, 2008)
"The songs themselves are as good, if not even better, than anything from the last few Deerhoof albums. And it provides proof positive that the band is playing a game of its own invention, and one-upping itself at every turn."
PITCHFORK
"the best band in the world"
MAX TUNDRA (UK)
Ben Jacobs was lucky enough to grow up in a house with a piano. As a child he protested about the lessons in which he was forced to learn the music of the famous (dead) composers. "I used to prefer sitting at the keyboard at home and playing tv theme songs and music from adverts", remembers Ben. Eventually he realised that this expanse of black and white keys could be turned to his own advantage and he began forming his own musical inventions.
One day, the teenage Ben bought a Commodore Amiga 500 home computer. Armed with this and a £1 piece of music software, he began to explore the world of electronic composition. Eventually he got so good at using this cheap set-up that back in 1998 Warp Records released his first single. "Warp were the only label who were interested in my first tune," says Ben. "I sent my demo tape to fifty labels in all, but most people freaked out. A couple of guys made the bizarre criticism that I had too many ideas." This criticism has frequently dogged Max Tundra (as he was hereby renamed), in a musically diverse, eclectic career where time signatures, musical genres and instrumentation have been given the thorough shake-up they have long needed.
For the last few years (as well as remixing bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Pet Shop Boys, The Futureheads, Tunng and Von Südenfed), Max Tundra has been working on his third album for Domino. This record has been completed, and is scheduled for an October 2008 release. Six years have passed since the release of his previous LP. During this time many bands have formed, recorded albums, and split up. In a time when groups are encouraged to bang out new records two or three times a year, it is almost quaint to encounter a project which took the best part of a decade to record. Despite the attention to detail in the densely layered programming, these new songs are Max's catchiest, brightest and most memorable yet, and make much of his earlier work sound home-made and clunky. Now that it's finished he can leave the house once more.
Max Tundra's warm, emotive, uplifting songs will capture your spirit, pour it over ice, and serve it back to you at the best disco in town (where you won't get turned away for liking both Destiny's Child and Frank Zappa). Incidentally, there's no dress code either.
