Dan Deacon-Wish Book Vol. 1

I should hate this. Detest this with a large chunk of my being. A mash-up mix-tape composed by Dan Deacon made up entirely of various different songs, that range from Grimes to James Brown to Animal Collective to Nicki Minaj to even Lightning Bolt. In any other situation, this would have just been some terrible variation on the generic material Girl Talk has been pushing out for years. But through the magic of Dan Deacon and his ability to understand every facet music, he manages to craft something incredibly wonderful and unique with Wish Book Vol. 1. To a certain degree I think it has to do that these mash-ups feel like Dan Deacon songs at their core; they have the same euphoric and joyous sense to them under their demented electro-dance skin that Deacon's original tunes have. The fact that Deacon stakes all the samples on top of one another rather than just jumping from one to another adds helps add to this sense. These songs just so evilly addictive looping and looping around in the brain due to three million different hooks flying at you at once. Just listen to "Someone Area (Rod)" which places cheesy Rod Stewart synths next a manipulated Beyoncè "Single Lady" vocals before diving into LCD Soundsystem's "Someone Great", which sets a memorizing tone for the rest of the tune. Everything on Wish Book Vol. 1 is like exactly as insane and wonderful as that description sounds.



Links:

Dan Deacon's Website
Download Wish Book Vol. 1 here, from Dan Deacon himself

Dan Deacon-True Thrush

A shift from a small indie label to one of the "major" indie labels usually also signifies a shift for the artist as well. I don't think it's pressure from the label per se, but jumping to the big leagues usually manages to bring out new dimensions to the artist, a desire to strive to new heights. That's what's running through my brain while listening to Dan Deacon's "True Thrush". Not that I am at all dismissing Deacon's previous work in anyway. But the way Deacon has gone from sprawl to focus with his songs is just magnificent. I thought "Lots" was the pinnacle of this, a hyper compression of Deacon's music, but "True Thrush" just blows every expectation through the roof. It's not as explosive as some his other songs, but that's because "True Thrush" is operating on a level completely different from those other songs.  It melds all of these electronic manipulations and effects with soaring choir samples and Deacon's most directly catchy music to date. It's the lyrics through which, despite never having been at the forefront of Deacon's music, are now the greatest aspect of the song. The pairing of lyrics like "Feast on my brain/every body's the same" to the music just rises it beyond belief. It's like an electronic, apocalyptic, but joyous hymn, one that will ring out through the ages. Listen and start chanting along.



Links:

Dan Deacon´s Website
Pre-order America here, from Domino Records

Dan Deacon-Lots

Dan Deacon's maturing. I know people have been saying that since Bromst, but it seems more true than ever with "Lots", the first peek into what will be Deacon's new album America. But maturing is very different in the world of Dan Deacon. It will never mean Dan Deacon discarding his manic textures to his songs, somehow making spastic electronics be an eruption of joy. Instead it means Deacon has focused his songs more than ever before. "Lots" is less than three minutes, but instead of losing the sprawl of of his early work, Deacon manages to condense it all within that time frame, from the insane vocals to light speed electronic drums, and nothing feels lost. More so, it feels like Deacon is singing not only real lyrics, but something important. Even though you can't understand what it is, it still pushes "Lots" higher within own Deacon's discography, and shows how Deacon can manage evolution in his own elegant and crazy way.

(mp3) Dan Deacon-Lots

Links:

Dan Deacon's Website
Pre-order America here, from Domino Records 

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Day 2 (Part 1)

Purity Ring



How does a band that has barely any songs, which are also more suited for an atmospheric night club perform an early slot in the middle of the day? By being super impressive of course. I am kicking myself for missing most of their set, but am more than happy to have caught the few bits that I did. Somehow they managed to turn the Blue stage into an intimate setting, drawing the crowd into their hypnotic, electronic world. As a finale the band played their last songs on a pipe system they had miked up to produce the songs' beats. It was astonishing and something that truly needed to be seen to believe. One can only guess if Purity Ring's buzz will hold, but from the moments I saw, it only looks bright for the duo.







The Joy Formidable



The Joy Formidable will never be big. Not in the indie Grizzly Bear or Animal Collective sort of way. They will always be a little too unhip for all the cool kids to like with wild abandonment like they do with other bands. Which is a shame because as The Joy Formidable proved with their wind filled set, they are fucking great. They rage with the intensity of the greatest shoegaze bands but throw in genuine, indie rock hooks that rise the songs to thunderous, anthem like levels. Ritzy Bryan is an incredible frontwoman, creating explosions from her vocals and guitar. They tipped of their set with the inflation of two giant, black cats that felt out of place, but for a band this grand, they deserve rock star moments like this.







tUnE-yArDs



Coming off that guitar filled high, tUnE-yArDs' was there to deconstruct it all for me. Seeing Merrill Garbus put together her songs piece by piece is really an experience, one that manages to be so much more captivating than one would think. The chants, the fragments, the tribe like garbs to a certain extent all draw you in so slowly that you don't notice as you are yelping along with Garbus without knowing it. The compete minimalism that tUnE-yArDs didn't transfer completely off the stage and into the crowd (the far too few songs they were able to play made the end feel sudden as well), but the band still made deconstructed, off-kilter, jazz horn filled, Afro-pop groove filled with bright, neon colors as captivating as they could.







Dan Deacon



Dan Deacon's live shows aren't about the music so much as they are about the experience. While usually this a backhanded way of saying "this band sucks live" with Dan Deacon that not at all true. Deacon is a master of the live form, using his music to soundtrack wild/insane dance parties. Discarding the stage to set up in the crowd, he orchestrated the crowd to have a dance competition, and managed to get some fans to walk on the crowd, Iggy Pop style. It's a pity half the set was devoted to Deacon dealing with audio problems and trying to fix them, otherwise this would have been a incredible set. But that never stopped him trying to give the crowd everything, so I don't think he'll mind settling for "pretty good".