Deerhoof - Offend Maggie

This Deerhoof album slipped completely under my radar, not realizing it was released until late December. Maybe I hadn't been checking Pitchfork enough or something, but I was surprised that I actually really enjoyed the album. I'm somewhat over noise-rock these days, but Deerhoof managed to expand on the musical aspect, bringing in more melodies and a more "pop" aesthetic, if you want to call it that.



The artist behind the cover is Tomoo Gokita, a contemporary Tokyo-based artist who works in charcoal, pencil, gouache and spray-paint to create strange images of black & white figures and portraits. He seems to be fairly popular in the Japanese contemporary art world, recently getting recognized in the States. He has several books available, like Lingerie Wrestling, which looks pretty intriguing. He also created the artwork above for the band Loose Fur's album, Born in the USA Again. Below is a video featuring Jim O'Rourke, Masaya Nakahara, and Gokita making some electronic noise, so I assume he's into music as well.



Tomoo Gokita
Deerhoof
Loose Fur