Future Teenage Cave Artists is the fifteenth studio album by American group Deerhoof. It was released on May 29, 2020 under Joyful Noise Recordings.[1] A tour to support the release was scheduled for May and June 2020; however, these are being rescheduled due to COVID-19.[2]
| Future Teenage Cave Artists | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 29, 2020 | |||
| Length | 36:26 | |||
| Label | Joyful Noise | |||
| Deerhoof chronology | ||||
| ||||
Two singles from the album, "Future Teenage Cave Artists" and "The Loved One" were released on March 25, 2020.[3] The third single, "Farewell Symphony", was released April 20, 2020.[4]
Greg Saunier said in an August 2020 interview that a "sort of a sequel" to Future Teenage Cave Artists would be "coming out in a couple months".[5]
Critical reception edit
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.7/10[6] |
| Metacritic | 79/100[7] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| DIY |  [9] |
| Exclaim! | 9/10[10] |
| Loud and Quiet | 9/10[11] |
| MusicOMH | [12] |
| NME | [13] |
| Our Culture Mag | [14] |
| Paste | 7.3/10[15] |
| Pitchfork | 7.8/10[16] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+ ( )[17] |
Future Teenage Cave Artists was met with generally favorable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 79, based on 10 reviews.[7]
Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Heather Phares opined that, "In Future Teenage Cave Artists, they explore what happens when that fight is lost. As Deerhoof dives into the messes that younger generations have to clean up, and art's role in the process, they sound rawer than they have in years. These songs are filled with intentionally frayed edges and jarring edits, as if they were created with whatever broken equipment the band could find after society collapsed." he concluded by claiming that, "the band's long-standing need to reflect and confront the world's problems, make Future Teenage Cave Artists remarkable proof that their experiments are as crucial as ever."[8]
In the review for Exclaim!, Bryon Hayes claimed that, "Thematically, Future Teenage Cave Artists imagines a not-too-distant future in which our society's collective outpourings are seen as the cave art of a primitive civilization that has since decimated itself. While this all sounds rather bleak, there is a slightly unfinished essence in Future Teenage Cave Artists, indicating that perhaps society hasn't written its own death sentence; there is still hope."[10]
Assessing the album for DIY, Nick Harris was less enthused by the album and the band's performance. He stated that, "They’re a band with a very definite foot (or hoof?) stuck in the past, everything they touch holding a vintage sheen of some kind, but it’s such a broad and masterful selection that there’s no sense of pastiche. The lyrics across the record let it down - they match the random patchwork of the sound, but take a step too far in the direction of gibberish for the most part."[9]
Daniel Felsenthal of Pitchfork wrote, "...much of Future Teenage Cave Artists was recorded on laptops and phones, a tech-forward simplicity that reflects the album’s scrappy and cataclysmic milieu. It sounds less polished than their last couple of albums, but never as raw as their recently reissued early oeuvre...We’re left contemplating how a rock band, 26 years into their career, have managed to not only pin down the chaos of our time, but also to point toward our uncertain future."[16]
Track listing edit
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Future Teenage Cave Artists" | 3:26 |
| 2. | "Sympathy for the Baby Boo" | 2:23 |
| 3. | "The Loved One" | 2:38 |
| 4. | "O Ye Saddle Babes" | 3:32 |
| 5. | "New Orphan Asylum for Spirited Deerchildren" | 3:56 |
| 6. | "Zazeet" | 2:28 |
| 7. | "Fraction Anthem" | 2:52 |
| 8. | "Farewell Symphony" | 3:49 |
| 9. | "Reduced Guilt" | 3:44 |
| 10. | "Damaged Eyes Squinting into the Beautiful Overhot Sun" | 3:58 |
| 11. | "I Call on Thee" | 3:17 |
| Total length: | 36:26 | |
References edit
- ^ Ismael Ruiz, Michael (March 25, 2020). "Deerhoof Announce New Album Future Teenage Cave Artists". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Renshaw, David (March 25, 2020). "Deerhoof announce Future Teenage Cave Artists album". The Fader. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Krol, Charlotte (March 25, 2020). "Deerhoof announce new album 'Future Teenage Cave Artists' and share two new songs". NME. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Bernstein, Jonathan (April 20, 2020). "Deerhoof Mull Humanity's Big Goodbye on New Song 'Farewell' Symphony'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Webb, Dan (August 7, 2020). "Deep dive with Deerhoof: Greg Saunier reveals 'sequel to Cave Artists' out 'in a couple months'". Sungenre. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
- ^ "AnyDecentMusic? Review". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ a b "Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
- ^ a b Phares, Heather (May 29, 2020). "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
- ^ a b Harris, Nick (28 May 2020). "DIY Magazine Review". DIY. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ a b Hayes, Byron (May 25, 2020). "Exclaim! Review". Exclaim!. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Haley, Dominic. "Loud and Quiet Review". Loud and Quiet. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ White, Chris (May 26, 2020). "MusicOMH Review". MusicOMH. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Neale, Matthew (May 29, 2020). "Deerhoof – 'Future Teenage Cave Artists' review: experimental rock veterans dig deep to cement legacy". NME. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ Pappis, Konstantinos (June 4, 2020). "Album Review: Deerhoof, 'Future Teenage Cave Artists'". Our Culture Mag. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
- ^ Schonfeld, Zach (May 26, 2020). "Deerhoof Make a Revolutionary Racket on Future Teenage Cave Artists". Paste. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ a b Felsenthal, Daniel (June 2, 2020). "Deerhoof: Future Teenage Cave Artists Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
- ^ Hull, Tom (January 26, 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved January 29, 2021.