In his sparkly white jumpsuit days, Elvis would sometimes be moved so deeply by music that he'd strike the Inverted Claw-a gesture of pure exultation. That's the spirit Deerhoof channels. Their music lifts you, surprises you, and drops you into moments of pure joy.
On previous albums, one of Deerhoof's main weapons was negative space - the stunning silences between beats and chords hit harder than any clang and clash of guitars and cymbals. Deerhoof were like painters who'd leave bare patches of canvas to highlight their strokes. On Friend Opportunity, however, they're inclined to fill in every square inch, inviting us to revel in every brilliant corner. Songs like "Perfect Me," "Believe in E.S.P." and "Choco Fight" are vastly more groove-oriented - and yeah, sexy - than anything they've ever done. There's the towering, odd-metered guitar riffarama of Chavez, the heavy metal thunder of Stravinsky, the damaged curlicues of Gastr del Sol, the klang und schtomp of Led Zeppelin, Japan's illustrious line of breathtakingly innovative female-dominated bands like Ex-Girl and Melt Banana. Friend Opportunity is a feat of reinvention that could only come from artists willing to rethink everything. "It's like being a kid again," Saunier once told Pitchfork, "because that's what kids do all the time. Every day they're learning new things that they didn't know that they could do." Man, talk about sonic youth - Deerhoof's springs eternal.