The first thing you notice about Runners Four is the simplicity – it's an unadorned recording of this acclaimed quartet in their Oakland practice room. Without the layers of production heard on Milk Man and Green Cosmos, you start to understand the mania that follows their live shows: Deerhoof are a shockingly good rock combo. They play with a primal abandon and molten group chemistry that has remained untamed since the band's early days. Still, at nearly twice the length of any of their previous albums, Runners Four is more complex and challenging than anything they've ever recorded. After a few listens it dawns on you: this is more than rock, this is a wholesale rewrite of the rock'n'roll dictionary; a massive, sweeping totality; the product of a seemingly limitless collective imagination.