Deerhoof Friend Opportunity Kill Rock Stars Released 1.23.07 Rating: 9 out of 10 This record has been haunting me for the past couple weeks. I guess when you’re in a position to sell yourself as an opinionated know-it-all, as I try to do on a sporadic basis, it becomes daunting when faced with something as uncharacteristically strange an album as, Friend Opportunity , the latest offering by indie trio, Deerhoof . Why is it so strange? Well, try to wrap your head around how the background noise of any 80s era arcade sounds coupled with progressive time signatures, syncopated drum styling, fairy-tale trumpets and a vocalist that sounds like a teenage Muppet Baby with a penchant for magic mushrooms and Burroughs novels. In fact, this is one case where the album’s artwork perfectly illustrates the content herein: an imagination as rampant and full of wonder as any developing child, but disturbed as if that child talks to his finger and spells backwards. Friend Opportunity is...

To whom it may interest, I love mixed tapes. Since my teenage years, I’ve enjoyed many hours at a time figuring out new song sequencing, selecting songs, making cuts and creating themes. Assuming the role of a producer, being someone that will never grace any switchboard or guide any band into creating a masterpiece, is probably its main attraction. For a couple hours, I’m bringing songs together in a format that hadn’t been initially intended, working only on instinct and expressing myself through another’s art. The hardest mixed tape I ever made, was a Beatles tape. On one of my first dates with my future wife, I was employing my brand of “gettin’ ta know ya” questioning. To me, there’ve always been two types of people in the world: You got your Rolling Stones type people, and you got your Beatles type people. Granted, there are exceptions to the rule, but I’d say a good percentage of the people in the world are one or the other. I myself am a Beatles person. I’ve nev...