POP NOISE VS NOISE POP GIG OFF: My Bloody Valentine (Tivoli, 20th Feb 2013) VS. Deerhoof (Zoo, 1st Mar 2013)

It's a gig off everyone! Who will win between two bands I don't know enough about: veteran adored noise shoegazers MBV and quirky noise pop tunesters Deerhoof? GUITAR SOLOS OF ANTICIPATION!

My Bloody Valentine

source: thequietus.com

Every indie music fan has to respect and hopefully love this band to have any credibility (it seems), since Kevin Shields and co. propelled the shoegaze genre with their airy, wall of fuzz creations. I've only listened to Loveless a handful of times and of course the song in Lost In Translation; all enjoyable listens, all with something to come back to. Shoegaze as a genre is something a tiny little lost on me, as repetitive fuzz is a little....repetitive and fuzzy, for me. Nevertheless, I was happy to see them for their first live Brisbane show in  a million years, joining my companion after a day of excess due to my uncle's wedding.
We arrived not long before the band came onstage, greeted by a Tivoli audience not as filled out as I expected. Kev and the Gang, all looking a little old and weathered but not distastefully so, started their set with the blaring feedback filled drones of "I Only Said". We were given earplugs when we went in, and I didn't really expect to have to use them as we weren't very close, but Great Odin's raven I came close. All I could really hear was the distorted reverberating guitars, and really not much else. Even as "When You Sleep" started, the only song I proudly recognised off the bat, I still could only imagine the vocals rather than actually hear anyone sing. I know MBV is a noise band and there was definite noise, and in that manner they delivered, but due to the distortion, whether you want to blame it on the Tivoli or the band, it was difficult for this casual listener to differentiate song from song. After a tiring day, I needed more to stimulate me than just blare. 
I kept my feelings quiet until my companion shared the same ones... and sadly, during the repetition of one thunderous note during "You Made Me Realise" which could only be described as eardrum rape, we caved into our feelings and made to leave a little early. Ahh, quiet bliss. I know it's what fans of the band probably jizzed over, and reading a few reviews suggest this last (apparently TWENTY MINUTE LONG) one note session called "Holocaust" was incredible and thrilling and 'had to be there' type stuff, but for me it was more like a real holocaust, which I assume is similar to what hell is like. 
Speaking of hell, I'm probably going to reviewer hell for this, but it definitely wasn't the most enjoyable show of my life. Unfortunately MBV you get like maybe one star for being so influential to begin with. 

Really too cool to give a fuck about what I think anyway.

V.S. !!!!!!!!!!!!

Deerhoof

It turns out I have had an album by Deerhoof on my itunes for a while, but didn't pay enough attention to know how I felt about them. Turns out, I would probably dig them. This time, said companion scored some free tickets from the shop The Outpost (Save all your money and go there sometime). We headed over in time to check out a little bit of support acts Primitive Motion and all of Blank Realm. I had seen Blank Realm at Black Bear Lodge a while back and really enjoyed their sonically shifting sound, and tonight was no different. Their set was warming and empowering, a great mood setter for the night ahead. 
Deerhoof are fronted by one of the cutest ladies to hold a bass guitar, Satomi Matsuzaki. Satomi with her sweet upbeat vocals and energetic jumpy stage behaviour, held a lot of the presence onstage. The jangly pop of the band was instantly attention grabbing, and got the crowd, again quite small, moving along in time quickly. Jovial, harmonic poppy numbers accompanied noisier synthy jams, with entertaining results. Deerhoof definitely have a distinctive style, and though there were some brief change-ups in the pace and mood, it was all of a similar high energy. However, the best way to tell if a band are any good live is if you can enjoy it without knowing any of their music beforehand, and in that way they were definitely a solid live act. Knowing that neither Satomi nor a few of the other band members had any real musical background before becoming Deerhoof, also makes me want to join a band more than ever... and in that way they were also inspiring. 
Listening back, the cutesiness of the Japanese-poppy voice of Satomi is a little overpowering, but they're a band I can definitely get into. Their live show is however something you really have to see, and I was disappointed to see so few people there. Having said that, the Stone Roses were playing that same night... a band I really wish I hadn't missed (look, I'm too poor). But another defining feature of the band is how much they seemed to really enjoy just feeding off each other onstage to put on a show for us anyway, which is another thing I didn't really get from MBV. So, for an unexpectedly excellent experience, Deerhoof gets 7.5 out of 10 flashing kanye sunglasses.

YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! DEERHOOF WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Oh nice, cheers Steph!