Show Review: Deerhoof, Christina Schneider’s Genius Grant, Mayya and the Revolutionary Hell Yeah at Teragram Ballroom, 09/22/17

Deeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrhooooooooooofff!

Deerhoof-30

I cannot start this without immediately stating my bias. I love Deerhoof. I’ve been in love with this strange quirky band since I was 16 years old in high school, and a friend of mine played the cleanest version that exists of “Gore in Crown,” though we knew it as “Gore in Beans.” They are a band that — for whatever reason — manages to attack their inspiration ceaselessly and never get redundant in doing so. Like Fugazi‘s later career, each album is new, fresh, and exciting, better than the album before it. This says nothing of their performances — of which the following is my fifth as an audience member — which always retain some of the highest energy of any show I’ve ever been to.

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Show Review: Rihanna, J Cole at Oracle Arena, 6/30/11

I’m not going to beat around the bush here… I really like Rihanna. I respect the fact that she doesn’t write her own music (or pretend to write their own music), because she doesn’t need to. I appreciate that, unlike many of her Rocafella peers, she doesn’t need to placate to the indie community for credibility. Because, quite frankly, I don’t need my pop stars hoping to get caught by the paparazzi at a Dirty Projectors show or swooning over Ratatat on their “blog.” Rihanna is a pure, classic pop star. And she knows how to handle an arena-sized live show.

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