Deerhoof Recruit Saul Williams For 'Under Rats'

(Chromatic) Two legends of the game unite at last on "Under Rats (Feat. Saul Williams)," Deerhoof's latest electrifying single previewing their anticipated new album, Noble and Godlike in Ruin, due out on April 25th (Joyful Noise Recordings). Drummer Greg Saunier took to Deerhoof's Instagram on Monday to describe the collaboration and the esteem in which the band holds Saul Williams:

"Almost as bad as the crimes of the ruling class are the crimes that enable them: tricking everyone into thinking that no one else cares. There were so many times when we were making our new record when we became almost overwhelmed with doubt: "What's the point of music when genocide is standard fare and the murderers are the most rewarded people in society?" Saul Williams was and is someone we look to. Who's doing it like Saul? He's been there every day with poetry, with grief, with news that oligarch-owned media doesn't touch for months. Making us all feel less alone. We express ourselves in order to find our chosen family.

I met Saul at a tiny music festival in Switzerland. I was performing a duo with Marc Ribot, and Saul was performing with a string quartet. When it was over Saul, Marc and I talked American politics backstage for hours, and I immediately felt I'd become acquainted with someone I would respect for a lifetime. I've been grateful ever since."

Deerhoof often use their collective virtuosity to summon feelings of joyous exuberance; even if the subject matter is dark, the invention in the music can't help but sustain a certain faith in humanity. On "Under Rats," that invention is still very much there, but it's expressing paranoia, claustrophobia, and anxiety. All the instruments are tightly packed, writhing against each other, then suddenly cohering into something strangely upbeat, though the soundscape remains doomy. The critically acclaimed poet/rapper/singer/polymath Williams handles most of the vocals, his rapid-fire lines filled with scenes of internet-age bleakness ("Mountains of zeroes/Countless in fear-o"), with Satomi Matsuzaki joining midway. But there are flickers of the old hope, both in the imagery and in the music's ceaseless invention: "Tell me how the trees/Long held beliefs/and all our dreams evolve/being and becoming with no end."

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