America opens with a blast of distorted noise, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Dan Deacon’s playfulness has always been balanced with a certain harshness. Squealing synths dominated the high end while the low end kept things propulsive and danceable. If Dan Deacon’s music poked our nostalgic pleasure centers — reminding us of Kool-Aid soaked bean bags in front of afternoon cartoons — his music also brought to mind the ensuing sugar headache.

But on America the static and the squeals give way for precise percussion, orchestral winds and strings, and long vocal melodies. The harshness hangs back in the mix, allowing the listener to hear all those intricate rhythms, making good on his promise to bring classical minimalism and pop maximalism together. All the polyrhythms and marimbas bring to mind Steve Reich, while the opening of the epic, four-part “USA” sounds like a Koyaanisqatsi outtake.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t be mistaken, though, Dan Deacon still marries seriousness with catchiness and pop pleasure. It all comes together best on “True Thrush.” The track starts with some micro-looping a la The Field, but then the song settles into something that sounds more like vintage Caribou. Then, like clouds parting for the sun, a big wordless melody comes floating over everything.
(more…)

Instrumental post-rock band, We Used To Be Family, came in last week and completely redesigned what they do as a band. They added acoustic guitars, glockenspiel and VOCALS. It’s what a microshow was designed for! One of my highlights was their cover of Philip Glass’s Knee Play 5, in which audience members read lyrics to songs by artists born or having lived in Baltimore. It’s magnificent and exemplary of how a microshow should be!

The songs read during Knee Play 5 were:
“The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe
“An Acrostic” by Edgar Allan Poe
“Lady Liberty Needs Glasses” by Tupac Shakur
“Friend to a Friend in Endtime” by Lungfish
“Cornflake Girl” by Tori Amos
“The Thong Song” by Sisqo
“Wham City” by Dan Deacon
“Tree” by David Byrne
“These Are The Times” by Dru Hill
“We Are The Ones” by Double Dagger
“Rainbow Six” by Tom Clancy
“What The Dead Know” by Laura Lippman
“Hall of Fame Speech” by Cal Ripken Jr.
“The Corner” by David Simon
“The Bicentennial Speech” by Thurgood Marshall
“Bros” by Panda Bear
“Shake It To The Ground” by Rye Rye
“Sleeping On The Wing” by Frank O’Hara
“Leaves” by Afaa M. Weaver
“The World” by Jan Heller Levi
“Burning Oneself Out” by Adrienne Rich
“Manhole Covers” by Karl Shapiro
“Dancin’ Fool” by Frank Zappa
“Crying in the Chapel” by The Orioles

Technical info: Suitcase kick drum: Beta52, Snare: Shure SM7, Drum overhead: Oktava 012, Yoon Electric: Sennheiser 421, Shank Electric: Sennheiser 509, Acoustic guitars: SM81, Cello: Apex 460, Violin: AT4033, Litz’s Vocals: Shure SM10a, Glockenspiel: Okava 012, Allyson vocals: Neumann U87.

Download MP3s - 106.81 MB

(more…)