Milk Man

While no one would ever Deerhoof accuse of conventionality, the San Francisco quartet presented their closest stab with 2004's Milk Man, their sixth full-length. Based on a cartoon character dreamed up by the artist Ken Kagimi, the song cycle tells its story in song and finds the band pruning their aural paroxysms with a cleaner, more steamlined sound. Chris Cohen and John Dieterich offer splashes of electric angularity and off-balance riff eruptions with reference points across the art guitar gamut from Zoot Horn Rolo to Marc Ribot and even approach classic rock simplicity on songs like the title track and "Milking." As on all Deerhoof's outings, singer-bassist Satomi Matsuzaki once again keeps things thankfully clear of avant-prog wankery with her familiar turn as Japan's answer to Astrud Gilberto--most notably on childlike charmers like "Giga Dance" and "Dog on the Sidewalk."