Many of my favorite artists can’t sing. No vocal coach would attempt to school their charges on the warbled stylings of Bob Dylan or Lou Reed.  But there is a humanity and a feeling present in those voices that no operatic diva or Three Tenors alum can replicate no matter how many octaves their range might span.

Which brings me to the new Deerhoof that came out Tuesday – Offend Maggie.  On first listen, not as consistently rewarding as Milk Man (2004) or Friend Opportunity (2007), but the crunchy guitars and Greg Saunier’s powerhouse drumming are present and accounted for.  And Satomi Matzusaki’s childlike yelps about pets and fruit add another dimension to the diamond-edged ensemble playing.  Check out “The Tears And Music Of Love”.

Baltimore’s Ponytail is cut from the same cloth.  In this case, the Onoesque pipes belong to Molly Siegel.  Listen to “Celebrate The Body Electric” from Ice Cream Spiritual.  They eschew bass guitar so the focus is squarely on the six-strings and that bewitching banshee wail.  Resist if you can.  Or just go with it and spin madly around the room, reckless, forgetting everything your vocal coach tried to instill in you.