DeerhoofFriend OpportunityKill Rock StarsFour out of five stars

Want more cowbell?

Deerhoof’s latest offering, Friend Opportunity, is your answer. Buried deep beneath layers of screeching trumpets, tinkling triangles, roaring guitars, sugary bass lines, space sounds and the odder-than-odd, child-like vocal stylings of Satomi Matsuzaki lies the forgotten sound of the cowbell.

But you’ll have to put up with all that other stuff.

Which, after some getting used to, will make you forget all about your cowbell.

Deerhoof, champion of the chaotic, has released one of the best albums of early 2007–it’s rockin’, it’s weird and it’s not afraid to parade lyrics like, “If I were man/ and you a dog/ I’d throw a stick for you.”

Lines like that are what help Friend Opportunity achieve its Zen balance between cuddly cute and utter chaos. One minute it’s a noise traffic jam and the next you’re coasting on the moon.

So about that cowbell?”Believe E.S.P.” is loaded with it–along with stomping rhythms that near ritualistic, backing “whooping” and “peeping” vocals.

“The Galaxist” goes from crunchy anthem rock to spaced-out, ’70s-sunshine theme-song melodies in about .02 seconds.

All in all, Friend Opportunity is a beautiful disaster of an album. Given a few spins, Deerhoof’s antsy antics will grow on you. It may even be your new BFF.