Deft Ones

Alright here’s another quick and easy one.

Today should mark the release of the new Deftones album Saturday Night Wrist. I wasn’t able to get my hands on any advances before I went out of town, so unfortunately I don’t have any of the new stuff for you, but I figured this would be a fairly appropriate occasion to do a post on the back catalog of Chino Moreno and company.
Due to the period that the Deftones rose to popularity, coupled with the area they hail from as well as the fact that they play hard rock, unfortunately the band is often catagorized in the mind-numbing “nu-rock” genre with a lot of other bands that are a lot less interesting. Anyone that’s actually listened to their music over the years will quickly concur that these guys are doing a lot more than that… regardless of whether you personally care for them or not.

If nothing else you have to take notice of Chino’s vocals. Songs like Battle-Axe wouldn’t be nearly as interesting if it weren’t for the choices made in vocal delivery. It’s obvious that he’s got some chops, but often Chino chooses to eschew harmonious synchronicity with the instrumentation and create this lilty and melodic style that creates a great juxtoposition.

The best analogy I can come up with would be to have you picture a solitary leaf falling to the ground twisting and swaying as it slowly descends, perhaps catching a slight lift now and then as it floats in the wind. Now imagine this same lef falling in the same slow and gentlemanner in the m idst of a hurricane. At least that’s how I hear it.
Anyway, once again I’m still kind of rushing through these so I won’t go too deep into the backstory this time, but here are some samples of what these innovative NorCal rockers have been laying down for over a decade now.

Deftones – Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)

Deftones – Dai the Flu

Deftones – Knife Prty

Deftones – Passenger (feat. Maynard James Keenan of Tool)

Deftones – Battle-Axe

Deftones – Anniversary of An Uninteresting Event

Deftones – To Have and To Hold (Depeche Mode cover)