Deerhoof – La Isla Bonita

Fifteen seconds into the scuffed R‘n’B of Paradise Girls, you might be forgiven for assuming you’ve got the gist of Deerhoof’s 13th album. After all, this sort of lunatic glitch-pop formed the backbone of previous effort Breakup Song, and the funk underpinning Satomi Matsuzaki’s ever-delirious vocals seems to suggest more of the same. Guess again though; it won’t prepare you for the gently evocative Mirror Monster, with its guitars that shimmer and crash like waterfalls, nor the grazed-knuckle wonk-punk of Exit Only. Primarily, La Isla Bonita is a record of contrast.

Bloody-minded as ever, they run the listener ragged over ten tracks of imperfectly-formed noise fragments, pushed spectacularly into shapes that feel curiously familiar yet deeply out-of-whack. Last Fad, for instance, conjures The Shangri-Las backed by Bogshed – a fusion of ideas guaranteed to mess with your mind while forcing unspeakably wonderful gyrations from the rest of your body. Business as usual for avant-pop's finest, then. [Will Fitzpatrick]