Deerhoof - My Pal Foot Foot

Deerhoof just announced via Facebook that they have recorded a four-song session for Daytrotter, which you can download for free here. This has put me in fine mood for listening to some old Deerhoof records. I've got a few that I've had for years, but not gotten around to playing, so let's try...



...Uh-oh. Deerhoof covering the Shaggs. Already having a tendency to go off into tuneless but twee meanderings, Deerhoof, unfettered of any noise or alt.rock bent, could be about to deliver the ultimate in cutesy pain to my ears.

Well, Deerhoof's 'My Pal Foot Foot' is pretty much unlistenable. No tune, rhythm, meter, just Satomi drivelling on and on about 'Foot Foot' over some sporadic drum beats, scratchy gee-tar and splodgey synth sounds. It's got a charm of it's own, though, with Satomi breaking out into a laugh at the end of the song. Seems like the band are just having some fun, but it sounds like they must have totally deconstructed the original. Right? I am familiar with the Shaggs, and I know this is their most notorious song, although I've never actually had the pleasure of...

...Egad. Just listened to it on YouTube. I can't believe that's from 1969, since it sounds a lot like the sort of stuff you might hear on a Kill Rocks Stars compilation. Now, I'm all for indie-pop. I love Beat Happening. Daniel Johnston is good by me. I value creativity and expression of ideas and feelings above technical prowess. Yet while this song made me smile, its atonality rivaled Merzbow for most grating sounds ever thrust upon this listener's brain. But you know what? I kind of liked it.



Now, YouTube is typically a dumping ground for some of the most uninformed, ludicrous, aggressive and downright banal comments, so while I am loathe to reproduce any quotes from there I feel this gent has summed up the general consensus in rather an astute manner:

"Foot Foot probably died after listening to this pile of aural excrement."

A bit harsh, but then certainly more considered than some of the other comments, which would make a fishwife blush.

There's plenty of people bleating about how amazing this music is in its naivety and authenticity of expression, but what these people fail to acknowledge in their nice, little, tied-up-with-a-bow world is that the girls didn't want to be writing or playing this music and were only forced into it by their domineering and pushy father; confirmed by the fact that they didn't break up until the day he died. This isn't the sound of freedom and innocence - it's the sound of untalented musicians trying to make music with a gun to their head. I suppose that's also some of the appeal; although it is outwardly friendly, sincere, child-like etc. it is also unsettling, awkward and so in some ways, dark.

Anyway, I should be gassing on about the Deerhoof version and having now heard the original I can see where they're coming from. It's actually a fairly faithful cover and it's the Shaggs and not Deerhoof that are responsible for the weirdness that is 'My Pal Foot Foot'. Makes you wonder why they bothered? Probably because it was originally commissioned for a Shaggs tribute album, Better Than the Beatles.

Some people may be underwhelmed by the artwork, but I quite like the hand-made look. It's just a plain red sleeve with 'DEERHOOF MY PAL FOOT FOOT' hand stamped on, with the song titles upside side and backwards ("TOOF TOOF LAP YM," anyone?) The label has some drawings of geometric shapes and what-not and that, sirs, is it.



The B-sides are 'Sunny Forty Fours' and 'Aho-Bomb'. 'Sunny Forty Fours' is a lush guitar-driven track with flute accompaniment, leading to occasional electronic and keyboard embellishments before the songs cascades away. 'Aho-Bomb' starts with a repeating chiming guitar refrain and slowly builds in sound and atmosphere, before it bursts into a blast of bassy, all-out rock. Pretty cool and certainly the best track on the single.

Either song sounds like it would fit nicely on the Reveille album (in fact, I think they may be bonus tracks on the Japanese version). Other than that, I believe that this is the only place to get both songs, and would make for a nice addition to your stack of Deerhoof LPs.

(Edit: Turns out 'Aho-Bomb' was included on the 2006 download-only E.P. +81. Damn these downloads).

Ween - Even If You Don't

I don't really know that much about Ween, other than that they are wearers of many a musical hat. This one finds them in super-polished radio-friendly pop mode, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and seems to be the prevailing concern for their White Pepper album, from which this is taken.

The problem is, the song itself doesn't cut the mustard. It's quite sweet and catchy, and reminds me a lot of Paul McCartney; but just as a lot of his solo work misses the mark, so does 'Even If You Don't'. It just isn't that interesting. It is a grower, though, so check out the video directed by Trey Parker and if you don't like it the first time, give it another go!



To me, the B-side has always been more interesting. Whenever I've pulled this record out in the past it's been 'cos I wanted to get me some o' that Cornbread Red. 'Cornbread Red' isn't going to blow your mind, but it's a nice little ditty with violin, and that refrain of "Cornbread, cornbread red, all that cornbread goin' to your head," has a way of lodging itself in your brain for days. It's a chugging, twangy country jangle that certainly wouldn't be out of place on their 12 Golden Country Greats album.

The CD edition of this single also included a dub mix of 'Cornbread Red', which adds psychedelic elements to the track, sounding like a Beck outtake or even mid-80s Butthole Surfers. But was the CD coloured translucent green!? I think not!

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Weeping Song

I like it when an A-side has one particular B-side and that is that. The big, chart-bound radio-friendly song, twinned with its strange half-brother that was deemed too weird and wiry for mainstream album consumption. No juggling tracks about or sticking live versions or remixes on there; the two songs are to remain forever associated. The songs, though different in nature, complement each other, forming a one-two punch. And that's what we have here with 'The Weeping Song' and 'Cocks 'n' Asses'.

I'm very underwhelmed by the sleeve of the record. The cover has Cave and Blixa Bargeld sat in a boat under the moon. Bit Echo-y. Nothing wrong with that, but it's pretty naff and well-charted territory. The thing is, it's not a very good photo. I'm sure there must have been better pictures from the session. I mean, Cave is all kind of stooped and hunched up like a shitting monkey and appears to have been caught mid-sentence.

As seems the norm with other Bad Seeds releases of the 80s and early 90s there's some shoddy design work, with the band logo lazily slapped on top of the snap with 'The Weeping Song' in some kind of Sunday papers women's magazine supplement typeface.

'The Weeping Song' is a highlight of The Good Son. Like most of that album it moves away from the intense and visceral sound of previous album Tender Prey and concentrates on creating a delicately mournful song. Notably, Blixa Bargeld shares vocal duty with Cave in the role of the 'Father' answering his son's questions on the nature of human sorrow.

The title of 'Cocks 'n' Asses' is a wilfully puerile pun; the song is replete with samples of cockerels clucking and hee-hawing donkeys. It has the unenviable distinction of being earmarked by fans as one of, if not the, worst Nick Cave B-sides. A shame, as it's not really quite like anything else in the Bad Seeds' repertoire; a mostly instrumental drum-machine lead track sounding like a catchier Throbbing Gristle. The song seems to be improvised, built up around an industrial-lite programmed beat courtesy of producer/engineer Victor Van Vugt. Cave adds some hypnotically rhythmical piano, both doom-laden and bouncy and this continues throughout, making for a pretty odd vibe. He also mumbles and murmurs in spectral fashion. Layers of samples and guitar are built up gradually by Mick Harvey and some string synths get thrown in for good measure. The whole thing trips along for a few minutes and then ends in a blast of rapturous applause. I think it would be fair to say that the song doesn't really go anywhere and do anything much, which I suppose is a pitfall of improvised music, but while it's on I find it an enjoyable and creepy little song. Not every Nick Cave track has to be an epic exploration of the darker side of the human condition!

'Cocks 'n' Asses' was included on the 2005 compilation B-Sides and Rarities.