Dan Deacon: "Snookered"

Minutes into my interview with Dan Deacon, he interrupts himself mid-sentence, sighing, “Oh, man. I sound like a real nerd. I’m usually not such an in-my-head dork.” I laugh and call him Poindexter, suggesting that he push the glasses back up on the bridge of his nose. After giving me his best stab at a Professor Frink laugh from The Simpsons, we giggle for a few moments. After speaking with Deacon for only a few short minutes, I already feel a weird kinship with him.

Through his sense of humor, independent spirit, and brainy inventiveness, Deacon has quietly kick-started an under-the-radar movement of underground dance, with his revisionist rebel spirit recalling the nights of early ’90s warehouse raves. Playing on the floor, surrounded by his flock, Deacon produces an evangelical mania during his live shows. For the past decade, Baltimore’s pied piper of electro-spazz has been infiltrating music festivals, warehouses, back alleys, and basements all over the world. Traveling modestly, even by coach bus at times, armed with a laptop and Casio keyboard, Deacon proudly lets his flag fly, inviting anyone with a pulse to shed inhibitions and just dance.

Building on the good will and praise won with his 2007 release, Spiderman of the Rings, Deacon is back with Bromst, a frenetic magnum opus offering his warped twist on world, ambient, and electronic noise pop. Though it may seem like a departure from previous work, much of the laptop schizophrenia has been toned down in favor of live instrumentation.

Bromst showcases Deacon’s graduate studies as a composer, giving the party crowd an excellent soundtrack while providing the intellectuals with dense, layered mania.

“I wanted to write a record where you would listen to the whole thing, start over, and it would sound different with each spin,” says Deacon from his Baltimore home.

“It has a very different feel, but it’s a sound that I’ve been trying to get at for a long time. The record is about cycles and change, and I hope that it’s a reflection of myself getting older, more mature, and wiser. I’ve been working on it for so long, and it’s been through so many different phases. I started writing it around the same time as Spiderman of the Rings, but I knew from the start that I wanted it to be a little less dance-based and built more around intensity. I wanted it to still have that same level of density, where instead of just being a wash of sound, it’s like you’re staring at an intricately woven afghan, where there are so many aspects to it, but it’s one fixed thing. That’s what I was going for. Where the last record was really focused on individual timbres and sounds, Bromst is based more around the instrumentation as a whole, and the melodies are insanely interwoven.”

"I always wanted to be a composer. I think that the only thing preventing me from that was my love affair with standing in front of a crowd and composing these dance-music pieces…Providing a good time has always been the main intention of what I do."

Before his adventure began, Deacon attended a small state art school in New York, studying composition and production. After relocating to Baltimore, where he helped to found the Wham City art collective, the Long Island native soon found himself working on electro-acoustic compositions, slowly gaining the confidence to step in front of a crowd. “When I started playing out, I never thought that I would be a solo electronic musician,” Deacon says.

“That was never the goal or a thought that I had. When I went to school, I was studying composition, and I always wanted to be a composer. I think that the only thing preventing me from that was my love affair with standing in front of a crowd and composing these dance-music pieces. I have always liked having fun and dancing at shows, so providing a good time has always been the main intention of what I do.

“It seems crazy, but I guess six years ago, a lot of people didn’t really dance at shows, and it was sort of a really radical idea for me to get up and be dancing as hard as I could, even if no one else was. Seeing me dancing encouraged people to cut loose; they would see me and think, ‘Oh, this is what this music is supposed to do.’ In the early days, no one knew how to book me. So I took whatever gigs I could, and I would be playing on the same bill with harsh noise bands, drone acts, or even opening up for a play, so it was definitely a very different context than the normal dance thing. I remember playing for a packed basement and thinking, ‘Wow, people are coming to the show to dance. This is actually working!’ I had to start redeveloping the set for people who were coming to the show to dance, and now it’s at a point where people are coming to do more than dance. It’s always nice to change things up and to flip people’s expectations.”

It takes courage to do Deacon’s thing, and the bearded, paunchy, and bespectacled artist has been winning over hostile crowds since high school. “I’ve always been a dick-head,” Deacon laughs.

“I’ve always had a loud mouth and always liked attention. I’ve never been afraid to speak my mind, and I learned a lot by being in the high-school and college student governments and realizing how politics is an everyday affair. I was able to work my way into cliques and groups and make myself heard. I enjoy working and talking in large groups. That’s how I feel most comfortable, and I think that reflects within the show. I was definitely one of the nerds, though. I wasn’t one of the cool kids. But in every group or school, there’s always a couple of nerds who can pull it off, and I feel that right around the time that I was in ninth or tenth grade, I could do that. Before that, I was a nonhuman to most of the other students.”

Building on his dynamic live show, Deacon toured this spring behind Bromst as a group collective, assembling a cast of musicians to bring the complexities of Bromst to the public. “The live show will be a full ensemble, and there won’t be any backing tracks,” Deacon says.

“It’ll be multiple drummers and four people playing the electronics and synths. I think that it’ll be a lot of fun. Hopefully, it’ll affect the audience interaction in a positive way. It’ll definitely change the way that the show works. I won’t be playing on the floor anymore, because it just won’t work in this new context. It used to be that the audience would look at itself and create its own feedback, and I’d still like that to occur. It’ll be an interesting transitional period. I think that 2009 will be a real year of discovery for me as an artist, when hopefully I’ll come closer to figuring out where I want to go as a person and a musician.”

At the moment, the 27-year-old Deacon is in a very good place, with buzz building and the venues getting bigger.

“I’d like to keep writing music and have the ability to share it with people, and also to be able to relax and spend time with my family and friends,” he says. “I know that sounds like dopey bullshit, but I’ve never been very obsessed with money. At the moment, I’m very happy with the way that things are. I never thought that this many people would be into my music, and I never thought that I’d be doing interviews and leaving the country to go on tour, especially to somewhere like South America. That just blows my mind, and it feels really good. But if it all went away, I would still go back to playing to 10 people in a basement and be happy. I can say that now, but I might end up being a bitter fuck.”

Memory Tapes: "Wait in the Dark"

On July 5, New Jersey-based multi-instrumentalist Dayve Hawk, better known as Memory Tapes,will release Player Piano, the follow-up to his 2010 debut, Seek Magic. Like his first album, Hawk once again recorded in his home studio, playing each instrument himself, without the aid of sequencing software. With its doo-wop harmonies and synth-soul intersections, Hawk described Player Piano as “a sort of Motown suicide note.” A little dark, a little humorous — just like his playlist for ALARM: a musical exploration of inebriation and indignation.

Songs to Drink and Resent People To
by Memory Tapes

1. Chris Bell: "I Am The Cosmos"

This is where it starts…arrogance and self-doubt.

2. Leonard Cohen: "Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On"

Sexual frustration only makes it worse.

3. Iggy Pop: "Funtime"

Sarcastic dancing: ruining the good times for everyone else.

4. Larry Wallis: "Police Car"

Feeling paranoid and confrontational.

5. Bill Fay: "Screams In The Ears"

It's hard to make it to the end of the night with everyone speaking.

6. Neu: "Hero"

Just yelling now. Thought you were making a point at the time.

7. Sparks: "Angst In My Pants"

A second wind…maybe you'll make it work for you?

8. The Cure: "One Hundred Years"

No. Rejection.

9. Sisters Of Mercy: "Black Planet"

'Cause once the goth starts, it doesn't stop.

10. The Pogues: "Rainy Night In Soho"

Hopefully a moment of romanticism before passing out…helps justify the next time.

Mono

On the verge of its 10th anniversary, Japanese post-rockers Mono issue their first album in three years, and like its predecessor, Hymn to the Immortal Wind was recorded by Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studio, resulting in a grand sound that showcases the group's epic sound. Complementary instruments make the minor-key material that much more beautiful, including glockenspiel and strings on the nearly 12-minute opener "Ashes in the Snow."

A virtual orchestra appears over the course of the album, which holds two dozen string players and two guest flutists. The main quartet handles organ, harpsicord, tympani, and piano in addition to the glockenspiel and its original instruments, creating a majestic sound that is well worth the three-year wait.

Mono: "Ashes in the Snow"
Mono: \"Ashes in the Snow\"

Dan Deacon: Bromst (Carpark)

Coming as the next logical step in Deacon's sonic evolution, Bromst finds electro-spazz surrounding his trademark whirring synthesizers and warbling alien-esque vocals with beautiful flourishes of organic instrumentation.

"Snookered" combines the older elements with pretty glockenspiel melodies, chopped vocal bits, and traces of real singing. "Of the Mountains" throws live drums under mounting buzzes and chants, and a lively marimba part steals the show on "Baltihorse."

Being joined by a large-scale percussion/synth/guitar ensemble for his upcoming tour, Deacon may define the rest of his career with Bromst and its resultant live performances.

Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Warner Bros.)

Possibly the best Mastodon album since Remission, the loosely themed Crack the Skye finds one of metal's biggest names branching out ever so slightly. A banjo briefly introduces "Divinations," newfound vocal harmonies appear on "Oblivion," and "The Czar" is an epic four-movement affair.

The album is one of the group's most accessible works, but the big riffs remains and Crack the Skye's psych-metal sounds tie them together nicely.  Though melodramatic vocals are splashed over too many good stand-alone riffs, there's just enough of the group's old-school gruffness to atone.

(MF) Doom: Born Like This (Lex)

Dropping his "MF" prefix, incomparable rapper and Marvel-inspired supervillain Doom prepares a disc full of two-minute hip-hop masterpieces for his newest solo album.

Like hip-hop brethren Madlib and J Dilla, Doom often grows tired of five-minute snooze fests, so he keeps most tracks short on this 17-tune affair. And like any Doom-related release, Born Like This features a nearly impenetrable wall of rhymes and flow, dizzying listeners with his ever-shifting, slowly delivered lyrics.

"That's That," one of the album's "singles," stands out with a vibratoed string loop and a bit of Doom "singing," and "Cellz" is the absolute highlight — using the Charles Bukowski poem "Dinosauria, We" with the author's narration of the world's depressing reality and a post-apocalyptic future.

Clark: Growl's Garden EP (Warp)

After whittling his engaging IDM soundscapes to focused dance tunes midway through this decade, English electronic artist Chris Clark went only by his surname and issued two more full-length discs on Warp. The newer sound isn't as ornate as that of 2003 album Empty the Bones of You, but it more aptly fits the designation "intelligent dance music."

Growl's Garden keeps Clark in line with his last few releases, but a few melodic moments recall the older sound. It also pushes forward a bit with cut-up vocals on "Gonk Roughage" and computerized vocals that are sung/spoken on the title track.

Dan Deacon: Bromst (Carpark, March 24)
This electro-spazz solo artist emphasizes live instrumentation for this anticipated follow-up to Spiderman of the Rings.  On Bromst, Deacon's sonic evolution is highlighted with lively marimba and glockenspiel melodies, live drums, and "real" singing.

Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Warner Bros., March 24)
Mastodon's publicity team has done a great job of building the buzz for Crack the Skye, an album whose themes deal with wormholes and astral travel.  Even if it turns out to be a disappointment, it likely will be better than 95% of all metal albums released this year.

Jerseyband: Beast Wedding (late March)
This incredible unsigned band is in the mixing stages of its new album, one that should further the band's "lungcore" style with mathy grooves, heavy horns, and metal breakdowns.

Staff Benda Bilili: Tres Tres Fort (Crammed Discs, April 7)
This group of paraplegic Congolese street musicians is releasing an album of inspiring material via Crammed Discs. The band's feel-good music will also be celebrated in a forthcoming documentary.

Karl Sanders: Saurian Exorcisms (The End, April 14)
The newest solo album of Nile linchpin Karl Sanders is another beautiful acoustic release of Arabic flavors mixed with Western structures.  Following Saurian Meditation from Relapse in 2004, this album will be released through The End Records.

Prefuse 73: Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian (Warp, April 14)
Guillermo Scott Herren's newest album as his glitchy alter-ego is meant to be a linear work — one that Herren describes as both straight ahead and obscure.

Mr. Lif: I Heard it Today (Bloodbot Tactical Enterprises, April 21)
Continuing a great few months for independent hip-hop releases, outspoken rapper Mr. Lif issues his newest full-length on his own, collecting songs meant to reflect on the recent political landscape and meant to inspire others.

Coalesce: Ox (Relapse, April or May)
Following the outstanding Salt and Passage 7″ from late 2007, this recently reunited pummeling hardcore group unveils a proper follow-up to 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening from 1999.  Taking the Salt and Passage release as a portent, the decade between albums should be worth the wait.

Isis: Wavering Radiant (Ipecac, May 5)
These purveyors of epic, accessible heaviness have gotten progressively more melodic. Whatever this new album sounds like, it should take another step forward while remaining heavy as hell.

Instrumental(-ish) Boston group Irepress has completed its sophomore album, Sol Eye Sea 1, which will be released February 17 on Translation Loss (a new song can be heard here). The group's mathy, melodic, chugging, epic songs can be heard on a five-week US tour that begins March 4.

Les Claypool has announced a four-week traveling mini festival, scheduled to begin in early March, that is officially titled The Oddity Faire: A Mutated Mini Fest. The fest's outstanding lineup is different depending on the city; guests include Secret Chiefs 3, Saul Williams, DeVotchKa, Yard Dogs Road Show, O'Death, and The Mutaytor.

And speaking of Secret Chiefs 3, the incomparable Indian/surf/metal group has a concert DVD being released in March on mastermind Trey Spruance's Mimicry label.

Hardcore trio Young Widows has announced a major list of tour dates that run from February through April. See the list here.

Dan Deacon has announced a six-week tour, starting April 3, that will feature a full ensemble in support of Bromst, his new album due March 24 from Carpark.

Marking its final recording with long-time member Reed Mathis, the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey has made a new studio album, Winterwood, available for free downloading on its website.

Next Tuesday, February 3, Tibet House US hosts a benefit concert and dinner at Carnegie Hall. Performers include Philip Glass, Antibalas, Keb' Mo', Vampire Weekend, The National, and more.

Nile linchpin Karl Sanders has another solo album in the works, this time to be released through The End Records. Titled Saurian Exorcisms, the album will be out April 14. Some awesome preview tracks are already posted on Sanders' MySpace page.

Despite comments from main member Tobacco that the group was on indefinite hiatus, dreamy hip-hoppers Black Moth Super Rainbow have a new album, Eating Us, that will be released on May 26 via Graveface.

New York jazz group Dred Scott Trio has a live album being released via Ropeadope on February 3.

Hardcore group Pulling Teeth has a new album, Paranoid Delusions | Paradise Illusions, that takes a crushing and despairing direction. The album is available today to preorder from Deathwish Inc. and its official release date is March 31. Hear a preview track, "Foreshadowing," here.

Grindcore group Agoraphobic Nosebleed will release its fourth full-length album, Agorapocalypse, through Relapse on April 14.

The Bad Plus: For All I Care (Heads Up International)
With a penchant for reworked rock songs, this hard-hitting jazz trio issues a new album full of covers. Three of the disc's tunes are classical pieces; the rest are rock/pop and include vocals, a first for the group.

Powersolo: Bloodskinbones (Crunchy Frog)
A pair of oddball Danish brothers, dubbing themselves "the Railthin Brothers," create eclectic, off-the-wall rock creations as Powersolo. This full-length follows their recent X-mas single Beam Mig Op, Jesus.

Zu: Carboniferous (Ipecac)
This experimental Italian trio combines sludgy alt-metal with complex rhythms and free-jazz freakouts. If it's possible, Carboniferous presents the group's accessible side for one of the winter's better albums.

March

Kylesa: untitled (Prosthetic)
With a new disc for Prosthetic Records, Georgian stoner-metal squad Kylesa issues its first full-length since Time Will Fuse its Worth from 2006.

Dan Deacon: Bromst (Carpark)
Electro-spazz solo artist emphasizes live instrumentation for this anticipated follow-up.

Jerseyband: untitled (self-released)
It's a downright travesty that this East Coast septet is unsigned. Horns + math metal = 100% awesome.

Spring

Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Warner Bros.)
Even when Mastodon issues a dud, it's better than 95% of all metal albums. Here's hoping that it's a return to the form of Remission.

Summer

Mondo Cane: untitled (Ipecac)
Mike Patton's orchestral Italian pop covers. Enough said.

TBD

Coalesce: untitled (Relapse? Hydra Head?)
This previously defunct hardcore outfit doles out crushing grooves, mathy rhythms, and the trademark tracheal attack of vocalist Sean Ingram. Following the outstanding Salt and Passage 7" from late 2007, the group unveils a proper follow-up to 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening from 1999.

Coliseum: untitled (Relapse)
These Louisville hardcore/metal staples Coliseum continue life as a three-piece with their sophomore effort for Relapse.

Converge and Supermachiner: untitled (Epitaph / Deathwish Inc.)
This isn't a joint release, but they're worth mentioning together as Supermachiner is a semi-ambient side project from Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou.

Crudo: untitled (Ipecac?)
Mike Patton and Dan the Automator, who were the heart of the Lovage album released in 2001, unite as Crudo for what should be one of the better hip-hop efforts of 2009.

Fantômas: untitled (Ipecac)
The brainchild of Mike Patton, Fantômas resurfaces after a four-year hiatus with another unpredictable release. The music could be anywhere between incongruous genre spasms and ambient dirges, but Rock-a-Rolla magazine says that it might be an electronic record.

Garage a Trois: untitled (Telarc)
Beautiful groove rock from vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon, drummer Stanton Moore, saxophonist Skerik, and keyboardist Marco Benevento.

Isis: untitled (Ipecac)
These purveyors of epic, accessible heaviness have gotten progressively more melodic. Whatever this new album sounds like, it should take another step forward while remaining heavy as hell.

Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians 2 & 3 (Indirecto)
The famed jazz/jam trio continues its experiment of meeting for brief writing sessions, testing out that new material (and only the new material) on the road, recording the material, and then repeating the process.

Secret Chiefs 3: Book of Souls (Mimicry)
The long-awaited follow-up of Book of Horizons from this incomparable Indian/surf/metal ensemble. It has to happen this year…right?