Deerhoof announce new album and tour dates, premiere track “I Will Spite Survive" with Democracy Now!

Deerhoof announce new album and tour dates, premiere track "I Will Spite Survive&quot with Democracy Now!
Photo: Shervin Lainez

WOW! GOOD MORNING and Holy Deerhoof, my fellow Deerhoofs! The four Deerhoofs in the very dear-to-us-all band Deerhoof have just given the whole Deerhoof-cognizant world a good wake-up SMACK in the FACE with their deer hooves by announcing that they’ll be releasing a brand new Deerhoof album on September 8 via Joyful Noise! DEEEEEER. HOOOOOOOOF.

The forthcoming album is called Mountain Moves and, in addition to our four deerhooved heroes, it also features guest appearances by Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier, Awkwafina, Juana Molina, Xenia Rubinos, Matana Roberts, and others. It’s composite 15 tracks (12 original songs and three covers), were “recorded, performed, and produced by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, Ed Rodriguez, Satomi Matsuzaki & John Dieterich, with the Children of Hoof Radio & Television Orchestra.” A hefty bio for the album, penned by Seattle-based music writer Kurt B. Reighley, partially assesses its vaulting socio-political ambitions thusly:

Experiencing one emotion at a time is a luxury of the past. Think back to that moment at the women’s march or the pro-science rally, when you spied a small child holding a handmade sign that read “I love naps but I stay woke” or “Boys will be boys good humans” or “May the facts be with you.” How adorable! How upsetting! How the hell are they going to make it to adulthood in this toxic environment?

Deerhoof is right there with you. They recognize that we are simultaneously living in two worlds, one a maniacal, mainstream monoculture hell-bent on driving humankind into extinction, the other a churning underground teeming with ideas and dogged optimism and the will to thrive and survive. Mountain Moves refutes the former by ecstatically celebrating the latter.

And, as their first Mountain Moves-related act of refutation-by-way-of-celebration, the band is also premiering the album’s first single “I Will Spite Survive (Ft. Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner)” today with independent (a.k.a. “real”) news organization Democracy Now! and has issued the following bang-a-rang-esque statement of their own:

In this world of tyrants and CEOs seemingly hellbent on achieving the termination of our species, perhaps the most rebellious thing we could do is not die. Should we survive the global warming, the lack of healthcare, and the bombs, a more humane future may await us. Maligned for shirking their capitalist duty, it is the younger generations we center. Safeguarding our consciences is only part of the daily challenge, since we also need to navigate corporate-owned electronic media which both aids and saps our energies. Fans of Wye Oak will be thrilled (as we were) to hear Jenn Wasner harmonize with Deerhoof singer Satomi Matsuzaki, while fans of Gloria Gaynor, Bee Gees, or The Bobby Fuller Four may detect homage in the lyrics:

“I Will Spite Survive”

You could outlive your executioners but you’re on tv.

You’re expendable.
Sleep at night, if you can stay alive.
Stay alive, if you can sleep at night.
City breaks, if you can stay awake.
Let her dance, all night long!

The voices of reason and humanity are puzzlingly but systematically iced out of our national conversation by politicians and media bought by large corporations. Whether we’re talking about money in politics, trade deals, surveillance, bank bailouts, healthcare, climate change, Middle Eastern wars, or wealth equality, the mainstream popular view is dismissed as unrealistically “far left,” while the views of a small dissenting minority are advanced as acceptably “conservative,” “centrist,” or “liberal.” That’s why news outlets NOT owned by large corporations are so lovable, and Democracy Now! may be the most lovable of them all

Umm. Fucking BANG-A-RANG! You ARE the Pan, Deerhoof!

Anyway, head here for more information and to pre-order Mountain Moves now, listen to “I Will Spite Survive (Ft. Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner),” and peep the tracklisting and upcoming tour itinerary down below. After that, you should be just about fired-the-FUCK-up enough to get back to work helping Saunier, Rodriguez, Matsuzaki, and Dieterich move all these heavy-ass mountains.


Mountain Moves tracklisting:

01. Slow Motion Detonation (ft. Juana Molina)
02. Con Sordino
03. I Will Spite Survive (ft. Jenn Wasner)
04. Come Down Here and Say That (ft. Lætitia Sadier)
05. Gracias a la Vida (Violeta Parra cover)
06. Begin Countdown
07. Your Dystopic Creation Doesn’t Fear You (ft. Awkwafina)
08. Ay That’s Me
09. Palace of the Governors
10. Singalong Junk (ft. Xenia Rubinos)
11. Mountain Moves (ft. Matana Roberts)
12. Freedom Highway (The Staple Singers)
13. Sea Moves (ft. Chad Popple & Devin Hoff)
14. Kokoye
15. Small Axe (Bob Marley)

2017 Trail of Deerhoof-prints:

06.28.17 - Milwaukee, WI - SummerFest 2017
06.29.17 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
06.30.17 - Chicago, IL - United Center *
07.01.17 - Chicago, IL - United Center *
07.02.17 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups
07.03.17- Cincinnati, OH - Urban Artifact
08.18.17 - Sudbury, ON - The Grand Theatre
08.19.17 - Ottawa, ON - Arboretum Fest 2017
08.20.17 - Toronto, ON - Wavelength Music Festival
08.25.17 - Praha, CZ - Underdogs’ Ballroom & Bar
08.26.17 - Storkow, DE - Alinæ Lumr Festival
08.27.17 - Hamburg, DE - Kampnagel Sommerfest
08.28.17 - Darmstadt, DE - Oetinger Villa
08.30.17 - Opwijk, BE - Nosta
08.31.17 - Nijmegen, NL - Doornroosje
09.02.17 - Aarhus, DK - UJazz Festival
09.03.17 - Dorset, UK - End of the Road Festival
09.04.17 - London, UK - Village Underground
09.05.17 - Ramsgate, UK - Ramsgate Music Hall (sold out)

* Supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers

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