CMW Live: Deerhoof THE PHOENIX – MARCH 5 - by Jennifer Kentfield - It's all about the music for these guys. Deerhoof keeps the vocals to a minimum to let the music take the lead. Tiny female singer Satomi Matsuzaki looks and sings like Bjork. When her voice is used, a powerful force emits from her tiny frame. She is not the lead singer per say, as there isn't much singing going on. Mainly she is the bassist of this four-piece. Her soft voice adds power to the tunes. There are a lot of unconventional sounds going on with this band. The instrumentals are hard and expressive, contrasting with Matsuzaki's vocals. Her voice almost gives a dreamlike quality to the music. The band played the first half of the set non-stop, not even stopping for a water break. The energy was strong and the enthusiasm could be felt. The band experiments with their music, giving ears a full symphony of sounds. Matsuzaki's tiny frame led the band through new and old songs alike. "Plus 81" from the newsest album, Friend Opportunity, shows off the skills of mixing the sweet vocals and the hard instrumentals. Many of the songs such as "Green Cosmos" leave you wondering if she is singing in English. There was some variety between the songs but most of them ended up mixing together to sound like one. More vocals would have been good in order to keep my attention. The instrumentals were amazing but lyrics are good way of keeping the audience in tune with the song.