ARTIST DIRECT (November 21, 2008)
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TINY MIX TAPES (October 31, 2008)
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THE WIRE (December 2008)
“Ever since their sixth album, 2001’s Reveille, they’ve had a voice. Finding a voice is a tired trope usually kciked about in the context of writers, but it means that when Deerhoof switch musical languages, those languages do not take over and speak through them, which is what happens to career eclecticians like The Beastie Boys, Beck or most post-rock outfits. Offend Maggie continues to refine that voice. New second guitarist Ed Rodriguez slots in unobtrusively. Greg Saunier’s butterfly/bee drumming underpins masterfully. And John Dieterich’s guitar with Satomi Matsuzaki’s vocals continue to hit on a sweet sourness, a magical-realist matt neon glow. The group can do with any given note what the blues scale does with its harmonic seventh: hover between minor and major, happy and sad. Equally important is the pleasure principle that animates Deerhoof. In so many outfits, ‘avant’ moves like dissonance or disjuncture work negatively, as ways of refuting the logic of commercial pop. Deerhoof’s swerves aren’t attempts to negate pop centrism, they’re positive declarations of aesthetic faith. Offend Maggie is the sound of a group mind at work, deep in spontaneous collective play but a kind of play taken very very seriously. As it should be.”
BILLBOARD
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BLURT-ONLINE.COM
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KEXP (October 20, 2008)
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POPMATTERS (October 20, 2008)
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TREBLEZINE.COM (October 20, 2008)
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GIGWISE.COM (October 20, 2008)
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THE BOSTON PHOENIX (October 17. 2008)
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PITCHFORK MEDIA (October 10, 2008)
"With newly added guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Ed Rodriguez on board, the band recaptures the dual guitar interplay of previous albums and then some. I'm not talking about namby-pamby prog fiddling, either; there's legit Pete Townshend-style windmilling here, from the "Rockin' Me" bite on opener "The Tears and Music of Love" to the Chuck Berry seventh chords that propel the "Fresh Born" verses. Inevitably, Satomi gets intertwined in all this, yet never lost. There's still a melodic quality to Maggie, and it can still sound pretty and coherent at times, but the album's heartbeat is six-stringed and often distorted. Don't worry though, Deerhoof haven't pulled the plug on their pop tangent. They're just folding their canon on itself, taking the songwriting tricks they've learned during the last handful of albums and applying them to a raw rock aesthetic somewhere between Reveille and Apple O'."
POPMATTERS (October 8, 2008)
"I wouldn't hesitate to call Deerhoof the best live act on tour right now, a frenetic powerhouse that peaks on the edge of collapse. Their furious energy is seldom equaled, hyperkinetic noise blasts coupled with snippets of sing-song-y tunefulness. “Get your hooves out of control”, mutters Matsuzaki on “Jagged Fruit”, and it's the best summary you'll find. Whether intentional or not, this is the best album representation of Deerhoof's live restlessness and sonic punch since Apple O', absolutely brimming with those off-kilter melodic ideas that should not work but do. It's loud, it's rich, downright danceable, but could it be their first career-defining album? Deerhoof is too spontaneous for that, too intuitive. Don't think, just feel."
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PASTE (November)
“It might seem patronizing to assert that Maggie’s best lyric is “la la la la life life,” but these words, which appear on the bouncy, spooky, Buzzcocks-inflected “Chandelier Seachlight,” cut to the heart of the album’s appeal: a wonderful tension between the band’s light touch, occasionally serious subject matter and always serious musical reach.”
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."
NYLON (October)
"For every pop gem such as the lighthearted "Chandelier Searchlight," there is a bitter love song like "Numina," and when the band chants in tandem on the film score-esque centerpiece, "Family of Others," Deerhoof prove that sunshine in best served with a side of salt."
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."
CMJ (October 6, 2008)
"Fourteen years into a band as diverse and uncompromising as Deerhoof - 14 years of albums that skittered from twee electronics and J-pop to sizzling explosions of art-noise-you might expect that the quartet would have comprehensively explored every possible avenue of artistic innovation. Offend Maggie evidences a band that hasn't settled down, because they don't have to…Plenty of groups suffer something similar to sonic death at this point in their career. Deerhoof has been reborn."
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EAST BAY EXPRESS (October 1, 2008)
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VH1.com (September 29, 2008)
The 15 Best Albums of October
#3 Deerhoof, Offend Maggie
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BUST (Oct/Nov 2008)
"Like a creamsicle full of caviar, San Francisco's Deerhoof is a strange pairing. Yet, like so many odd combinations, crowds of folks have acquired the taste and swear by it. Since their inception, the mixed-gendered, international band has confounded some and delighted many with their original take on pop. Offend Maggie continues to blend willfully crude, occasionally pounding art-punk with sweet ‘60s textures...Deerhoof is still wonderfully weird."
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (September 23, 2008)
Deerhoof, "Offend Maggie"
"We're calling it right now: The title track from the San Francisco art-rockers' latest is hands-down the year's catchiest song about wrong-number voicemails." link
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