Deerhoof share the (sheet) music

I’ve written about Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails turning their music over to their fans for remixing, reinterpreting and sharing. As you know, I think this is really cool and shows an amazing level of trust and connectedness.

Avant indie rockers Deerhoof have taken this practice to a new and very interesting level, with a twist. About a week ago they “leaked” the song “Fresh Born” from their upcoming album, Offend Maggie (scheduled for release in October).

The twist is they leaked it in sheet music form only.

They’re asking fans to produce cover versions of the song (that’s right, covers of a song they’ve never heard), post them on fan sites and blogs and share them with the band.

Pretty cool, huh? I love that it’s simultaneously retro and cutting edge.

Here’s a video of the band talking about their idea, plus on-the-fly interpretations of the sheet music by New Yorkers who apparently can’t sight read.



More info, sheet music and links to completed fan covers here.

Thanks to Carr for alerting me to this. Sorry it took a while to get it up.*


* Yep.