Three Imaginary Girls - Dan Deacon

Photo of the day: Dan Deacon love {vintage stylee}

imaginary liz — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:47:02 +0000

It's Dan Deacon love day today at TIG. After reading heather b's review of his recent Vera Project show, how could I not be head over heals for the the veggie oil fueled phenomenon?

To celebrate, here's a photo from a 2008 show at Neumo's courtesy of the fabulous Jeanine Anderson. After reading heather's review, can you imagine anything less blissful and slightly religious?

Dan Deacon at the Vera Project

heather b — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:19:52 +0000

25 Apr 2009

My friends and I were in kind of a low-key mood, owing mostly to Friday night hangovers, so I wasn't as jazzed about seeing some high-intensity electronica as I could have been as we approached the Vera Project on Saturday night. However, on entry, we caught the last song of Teeth Mountain and I began to perk up. With weird vocal effects and hypnotic, speedy drumming, I was strongly reminded of Crash Worship shows from my college days and immediately began to crave mescaline.

In between sets, we took note of the large bio-diesel bus which was being used to cart Dan and his peeps all over creation. As Chris B earlier reported, Dan and co. were in need of vegetable oil to power the bus and had issued a plea for donations in exchange for guest list spots. As expected, Seattle did not disappoint and we saw that the bus was surrounded by at least 10 or 15 large canisters and at least one pair of jeans hanging from a tree, filtering the dirty grease into useable fuel into a bucket below.

After a short break, Future Islands took to the stage. What the hell? They were amazing too! The Vera was pretty much at capacity at this point and people were really enjoying the strong beats and neo-new wave style, some already moved to dance in the early evening. Future Islands unlikely frontman was a great performer, very theatrical and kind of wacky, a lot of fun to watch. The throaty vocals were amazing and infectious, and the overall tone was dark yet dance-y. Boy howdy, that man could howl. By the end of the set, the whole room was bouncing up and down to the deep bass and poppy dance grooves. Good stuff. Highlight song: "Pinnochio".

I reconvened with everyone for a little motivation in the Center before Dan Deacon and then got into my perfect birds-eye view above the Vera floor. There was an extensive setup onstage, at least 14 people at one time scurrying around and testing out instruments, twiddling with pedals, components and tons of wires. The ever-present neon green skull was in the house, lording over the proceedings like a post-apocalyptic Yorick. I took note of three drummers (most of Dan's band seemed to be from either Teeth Mountain or Future Islands), a xylophone, a clarinet and a saxophone, plus loads of keyboards and samplers as well. The opening loops drew high praise from the sold-out crowd, not realizing it was just more of the (very, very) long setup. A penitent Dan addressed the crowd through his vocoder: "Sorry that we take foreeeeveeeer...We take forever every shoooow...There's no excuse, we're just lazy stoner perveeeeeerts..." Hee. The entire crew left the stage for a few minutes, leaving us with a Casio version of "When The Saints Go Marching In" followed by Enya (oh, the irony!).

The entire ensemble returned a few minutes later all kitted out in white jumpsuits. The band was ready. The audience was ready. The sound guy was ready! But no...we had to endure a little more sound check. Really? Only just a little more. Dan had his people play "Rag Doll" by Aerosmith to check all the sound out. It sounded like shit. But then they began! WHOO!

We started out with a little exercise, where Deacon instructed the crowd to raise both hands in the air, find the tallest person around them and all move in to rest their hands on said tall person's head. A long recitation followed (which I won't attempt to recreate) that was very amusing. Finally, Deacon and co. launched into the opening strains of "On The Mountains", which began with some simple chimes, followed by a great drumbeat and then a low electric hum. Deacon began pogoing up and down and the already wired audience followed suit as the lights went down and the music exploded. It was a scene, man. The lights were alternately strobing or the neon skull was lit, this was all totally worth the wait (even on the first song!). The screamy, scratchy lyrics were indiscernible, but high pitched and operatic. The core of the audience became a seething mass, all moving together as one unit.

Song 2 (which I believe was "Red F" but I could be wrong) was even crazier, with a breakneck drum beat and some spiritual sounding vocals, also barked through the distortion mike. The energy was infectious and the music hypnotic, everyone with their hands in the air like they just don’t care, clapping along - it was just so much fun already! The song ended on a dime, to the audiences collective "WHOOP"! A wonderful xylophone began "Paddling Ghost", which quickly turned into another high energy tune, with more of an island vibe, owing to the prominent xylophone and drums. The floor was a sea of people swirling and swarming up towards a very sweaty Deacon at the forefront. It's stuff like this that makes me forget that I'm getting old; it's joyous, consuming and definitely aerobic.

At the break, Dan had us with our arms wrapped around ourselves, eyes closed. "This is the sound of an alcohol-free venue. It's so quiet and everyone is doing what I say!" He had the audience shuffle and rotate slowly, bumping into strangers and instructed everyone to just continue on in one direction when the music began.

And everyone did. "Snookered" began peacefully with a metronome and xylophone and low, rumbling bass. I liked the vocals on this song; it was like they were coming from somewhere else but I realized by watching Dan that they weren't coming from a sample. The song was a bit disconnected and the drumming seemed a bit off, but I forgave it. The xylophone parts were absolutely beautiful and when the organs kicked in on top, it created a good, soul-shaking effect. People were actively crowd-surfing! I haven't seen that in years, y’all.

Then the fun really started. Instructing the house crew to turn up all the lights, Deacon split the crowd in half and had them leave a large circle in the center of the room for a "fancy dance" competition between the two sides of the room. It was great. While the band played "Woof Woof", the whole audience was clapping and cheering, so many people taking turns dancing wildly for the whole room, completely unabashed and unashamed and having the best time. You just don't see stuff like that too often. The song was almost incidental to the dance-off, just a lot of "SQUEEEEEE" and drums/xylophone beats.

Finally, Deacon corralled the entire crowd into one corner of the venue, clearing a huge space. I’d heard about this and squealed out excitedly, “Dance Gauntlet!!” The girl next to me looked at me like I was crazy. Crazy like a freakin’ fox, ‘cause that’s exactly what he was setting up. Dan had plans to take the gauntlet out of the room, through the hall, up the stairs, outside and then back into the venue through the back doors. And that’s exactly what happened. To the tune of “Balti Horse” (an exceptionally long song), the whole room bounced while everyone waited their turn to dance through others entwined arms, laughing and having a great time.

The song was simple throughout and contained no vocals, but busted into a jubilant, psycho dance party vibe when the room began to refill as people made it all the way through the line. Drummers were going insane, the saxophone was belting out fat little hoots all the while, the gauntlet still going strong. Once the gauntlet ended, the room turned into one huge dance party, and the music changed into this hyperkinetic song with heavy guitar, tight drum and howly vocals. It was a truly exceptional experience and difficult to just be an observer. They play the hell out of the song to a strong finish and wild screams from the crowd.

I thought we were done at that point, but we had one more left to go as Deacon directed us through “Silence Like the Wind.” Everyone sang along to a single note organ and faint tambourine, until the organ took over, church-style and it was eerily reminiscent of hearing a hymn in church. Suddenly, everything erupted into more dance party madness and the entire house was dancing with all heart and conviction. Dan was leading all up front with his weird, operatic-aria posturing, hollering “One more time!” over and over. All I could think was “Anyone who was not here missed out and I feel sorry for them.”

My friends and I went out and danced until 3am, not a hangover in sight.

(Photos: Andy Aupperle and Kristina Moravec)

The opening loops drew high praise from the sold-out crowd, not realizing it was just more of the (very, very) long setup. A penitent Dan addressed the crowd through his vocoder: "Sorry that we take foreeeeveeeer...We take forever every shoooow...There's no excuse, we're just lazy stoner perveeeeeerts..."

See Dan Deacon tonight for $11 - or a bunch of grease

ChrisB — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:31:49 +0000

Tonight, Dan Deacon is playing at the Vera Project and if you bring him some vegetable oil, he'll totally get you in to the show.

Kyle Johnson's Top Ten Live Music Photos of 2008

Kyle Johnson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:05:43 +0000

TIG photographer Kyle Johnson has been quite busy this year. Taking the impeccable press and editorial photos as well as covering shows and festivals for TIG, Kyle has amassed a great portfolio for 2008.

Here's a recap of his personal favs from the past year.

Dan Deacon's Dance Music for the D & D Set

ChrisB — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:30:37 +0000

20 Jan 2008

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On Sunday night, Dan Deacon, a Baltimore electronic composer, found his way to Neumo’s for a set I enjoyed quite bit – probably even against my better judgment.

Deacon is an interesting artist. He makes electronic dance music and finds inspiration from sources like Tolkien novels and comic books (his latest LP is called Spiderman of the Rings). It’s like Kraftwerk for nerds instead of robots. He’s got a pretty diverse fan-base, which was out in full force to see him over the weekend. This included lots of nerds, geeks, electro-music aficionados and rock writers.

Deacon’s part of the show began with a screening of his new DVD Ultimate Reality, a collaboration with artist Jimmie Joe Roche. It was a trippy experience to say the least. Mixing loud, psychedelic colors with footage from Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and homage to Star Wars, all set to Deacon’s music, it suggested that we were in for a different experience. Or at least I, a Deacon virgin, was. Deacon enlisted two drummers to provide live percussion during the 35 minute screening. It was pretty intense and riveting.

After the screening, Deacon set up all of his gear on the main floor, not on the stage. The only equipment set up on stage were two large speakers and a light on a pole with a skull attached to the head. Neumo’s is not a small club and it was far from empty, so seeing what Deacon used to replicate his sound in a live setting was next to impossible from where I was standing (which was not all that far away). I think he helmed a table full of all kinds of gadgets that made sounds and noises. Had I known what his setup would be, I might have made a better effort to get close and see what was going on. With the crowd that was there, probably filling up 2/3 of Neumo’s, it would have been easier to see what was going on if the show was held at the somewhat smaller El Corazon. I’m not in the habit of saying El Corazon is preferable to Neumo’s but in this one case, I think it would be. Deacon probably would have sold out El Corazon, but I don’t think too many would have been turned away at the door.

The first thing Deacon did during his set was announce that he was upset with a review of Ultimate Reality that was in The Stranger this week. He called the writer, whose name he didn’t mention (it was Eric Grandy), an asshole and said he was pissed off to have someone accuse him of ripping off his older friends. I don’t know why I feel the need to defend Grandy (whom I've never met), but I found Deacon’s comments (at least twice during his set) lashing out at a fellow rock critic in poor taste. We reviewers are under absolutely no obligation to enjoy everything that shows up in the mail. The hero rock star playing to large crowds railing against the asshole critic who wasn’t feeling the same inspiration for their grand opus is the most tired cliché in rock and/or roll.

Yet, in the long run, none of that mattered — the stage setup, the rant against a critic, being close but too far away to see what was going on... What Deacon did was bring lots of people (many of whom were stepping inside of a rock club like Neumo’s for the first time) out of their homes on a Sunday night for a set that was always engaging and entertaining. I saw several Dungeons and Dragons nerds dancing on the stage. His fans sang along to every word when there were words and danced when there weren’t. He’s a populist who tries to get everyone involved in the show. Some of his songs I really enjoy, others I’m not feeling. His music is often disjointed and lacking a cohesive structure (but that’s my problem, not his), so of course it’s going to be hit or miss. I may not always like the destination, but that doesn’t mean I’m not happy to go along for the ride.

I may not always like the destination, but that doesn’t mean I’m not happy to go along for the ride.

Spiderman of the Rings

Whitney Gould — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:23:34 +0000

8.9

http://www.amazon.com/Spiderman-Rings-Dan-Deacon/dp/B000OHZK5O/wwwthreeimagi-20

dandeacon06oct.jpg

I think Dan Deacon is possessed by a cartoon character.

He makes bizarre electronic music with absurd vocals that are typically in reference to the finer things in life, like you know, special cats that just so happen to be made of crystal, emotional bee attacks, snake mistakes, and even the act of your dad fighting your enemies.

Throughout Spiderman of the Rings, Deacon’s voice is typically hidden in a vocoder or shifted in pitch and drenched in enough chorus to make it sound as though he is not a man named Dan Deacon at all, but is actually an entire choir of cartoon characters trapped in the second dimension. The drums are usually loud and simple, leaving the focus on his very unique style of musical tomfoolery. Spiderman’s synth sounds range from soothing to fully abrasive, and are most comfortable when arpeggiated and modulated heavily. Knobs get tweaked. Buttons get pushed. Video games get robbed. The end result is a weirdo landscape opera full of bizarre sounds and ideas. Though oddly enough, all of his shenanigans are pulled off very well. The strange thing about Deacon is not that his music can go from absurdly experimental to baroque in five seconds or less, but that his music is usually fully baroque and absurdly experimental all at once.

Spiderman Of The Rings begins with “Woody Woodpecker,” one of those songs that… well actually, I have never heard another song like this before and neither have you, probably because no has ever thought of an infamous woodpecker’s creepy call as sampleable. “Woody” is one of those songs you hear once and never want to hear again, but then you can’t stop thinking about it. Then you listen to it again. And then you play it for your friends. Then your friends want to hear it again. Then, before you know it, you are in car full of people listening to the song on the way to the beach and no one can decide if it is terrifying or funny. But the most important part about it is that a song with a sample of a woodpecker laughing or pecking or whatever could ever make you think so hard. I guess that may be why “Woody Woodpecker” is the first song on an album full of oddball chamber electro. The whole album is sort of like that now that I think of it.

Throughout its entirety Spiderman is the musical equivalent of taking acid and running around Disneyland as an adult. But this is some pretty serious shit. Imagine if that were your entire life. Terrifying? Joyous? Funny? Laughing? Crying? Convulsing? But not over the course of a few hours, not even over ten minutes; every single moment would be the kind of emotional turmoil that might happen if you were to hear Donald Duck’s unreleased techno albums remixed by Ren and Stimpy while plowing through a recently expanded Wonderland on a jacked up dune buggy.

In a way, Dan Deacon is a musical existentialist to the highest degree; he makes nothingness seem terrifying and gorgeous all at once. But, the difference between Deacon and other absurdists is that songs about the necessity of having nonsense in your life can fringe on being preachy (Talking Heads – “Girlfriend is Better,” Morrissey’s entire career, Raffi, The Junglebook), whereas Spiderman is much better at showing by example. Deacon’s kind of absurdity is the kind that holds residence in Brian Eno’s four rock albums; this stuff is only as challenging as it is rewarding and enjoyable. And it makes you wonder if a world totally gone Nickelodeon would be so bad after all.

The strange thing about Deacon is not that his music can go from absurdly experimental to baroque in five seconds or less, but that his music is usually fully baroque and absurdly experimental all at once.

CMJ initial line-up announced; Betsy finally gets her festival excitement

imaginary ash — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:06:19 +0000

Not terribly excited with this early offering, but you know I'll be all over the Brunettes; and, if they're not trumped by other bands I want to see more, will also probably try for Spoon, Xiu Xiu, Eisley, Dan Deacon, and Deerhunter (though of course they'll all be playing sets at exactly the same time in venues far far away from one another, because that's just the way it is).