If Future Teenage Cave Artists is the only cultural artifact left behind in an apocalypse, future generations will at least have an interesting scripture to use to rebuild.
Future Teenage Cave Artists is the kind of album that only a band like this can pull off. Managing to be both a continuation of and a departure from the lo-fi trajectory of Mountain Moves and The Magic, the sounds here are more polished and refined.
As disorienting as Future Teenage Cave Artists gets, it packs a potent emotional wallop. There's as much empathy as frustration in its songs, particularly when Saunier sings lead.
With a reliance more on eliciting an emotional response than showing off any production expertise, the album is typical of peak Deerhoof. Uncompromising, challenging and above all, a complete freaking delight.
Deerhoof's new concept album is as fun as apocalyptic surrealism can be.
Bigger may be better, but Future Teenage Cave Artists serves a wonderful reminder: there’s magic to be found when you instead go back to basics.
This might be Deerhoof’s first overt concept album, but in every other regard, it fits comfortably into their well-worn blueprint.
It’s another strong album from a band whose sheer continued existence (and refusal to bend to conventional recording standards) often feels like a triumph of absurdity in the face of encroaching hopelessness.
On Future Teenage Cave Artists, they’ve reverted back to their core line up, and dialled up the strangeness, to produce a restlessly energetic record that’s constantly shifting in mood and tempo.
The music shows it carries its own meaning, and demands a replay to make sense of the nonsense.
These are dark and unspeakable times, and it feels comforting to have a band so consistent serve up great, weird noise-pop as a way to make the darkness feel less uncertain.
Album number 16 find the band ... as fascinated as ever by the blurry slideshow of history. They’ve also made one of their sharpest-sounding records in at least a decade.
Deerhoof is one of those acts whose music has always intrigued me but never fully caught my attention enough to dig deeper. I've only ever listened to their 2005 release The Runners Four, which is perhaps even more outrageous than Future Teenage Cave Artists, which is unbelievably their fifteenth studio album.
This shouldn't lead you into their newest record expecting something tame, as this is far from the case. Future Teenage Cave Artists is just about as eclectic as indie rock music comes, ... read more
Unfocused and disjointed, Future Teenage Cave Artists comes off more as a slightly disturbing/mostly annoying collection of nursery rhymes than a post apocalyptic concept album. Repeated listens don't help
Standouts: I Call on Thee
Dropouts: Sympathy for the Baby Boo, The Loved One, O Ye Saddle Babes, New Orphan Asylum for Spirited Deerchildren, Zazeet, "Farewell" Symphony, Reduced Guilt
Think this might just get the title of most overwhelmingly average album of the year - a pure, crystalline ‘exact 50%’ on the dial.
So that’s a NR from me Bob
weird and echoing like the name implies. The production sometimes became too airy for my liking and ended up losing me, but the highlights on this album are nicely intriguing. I want to give this another listen with more knowledge of the concept now.
particular favs: Future Teenage Cave Artists, Fraction Anthem, I Call on Thee
1 | Future Teenage Cave Artists 3:26 | 100 |
2 | Sympathy for the Baby Boo 2:23 | 80 |
3 | The Loved One 2:38 | 70 |
4 | O Ye Saddle Babes 3:32 | 80 |
5 | New Orphan Asylum for Spirited Deerchildren 3:56 | 85 |
6 | Zazeet 2:28 | 85 |
7 | Fraction Anthem 2:52 | 95 |
8 | "Farewell" Symphony 3:49 | 100 |
9 | Reduced Guilt 3:44 | 70 |
10 | Damaged Eyes Squinting into the Beautiful Overhot Sun 3:58 | 100 |
11 | I Call on Thee 3:17 | 100 |
#44 | / | The Needle Drop |
#66 | / | The Quietus |