I guess it implies the music lacks depth beyond that novelty?
― Evan, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 20:41 (twelve years ago) link
that's the thing. video game music HAS depth. especially the "top-shelf" stuff. I mean the review isn't necessarily horrible as usual, just that it does not really tell a whole lot about the album and why it's better/worse than the other two.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 20:56 (twelve years ago) link
it also stupidly suggests that there is one thing called "video game music"
― Jandek at the Disco (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 4 September 2012 21:19 (twelve years ago) link
I think that sentence needs to be quoted in context, which suggests that jess is using "video game music" as shorthand for energetic intensity versus a more varied use of dynamics, rather than lack of depth. You might still disagree with that of course but it's not what the quote seems to imply in isolation:
"That first half proves the less successful, though at the same time the opening three-song run may be the best thing Deacon's ever recorded. For all its jittery and hyper-percussive excess, with cartoon-tribal drums the lead voice on "Guilford Avenue Bridge" (the breaks of which sound a little like Don Caballero playing a hoedown) and static all but drowning out Deacon's own voice on "Lots" (gleeful yelping in search of transcendence), this stuff flows, which is increasingly one of Deacon's great virtues as an album programmer. If his earliest records could feel like various intensities slammed at you until you staggered away dizzy or elated or both, he's grown much more assured at dynamics, bringing you in and taking you along for the ride.And that opening run's got "True Thrush" stuck in the middle, Deacon's most affecting song so far. Deacon's singing is clear and sad-eyed, though he still can't resist digitally scrunching his voice into computer pixie noises at various points, and he even throws in some angelic back-up harmonies, which make an unselfconsciously beautiful counterpoint to the information-overload of the music. It's the middle of the album that fizzles slightly after the bracing crunch and buzz of the first three songs, which bring new emotional dimensions to Deacon's music without totally skimping on the energy that was his earlier stuff's reason for being. "Prettyboy" is gorgeous, undoubtedly, but it's still on the level of really top-shelf video game music."
― Tim F, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 21:27 (twelve years ago) link
lol @ u nerds getting all defensive about video game music
― flopson, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 21:43 (twelve years ago) link
yes how embarrassing for...us
http://cheeseontoast.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/dan-deacon-web.jpeg
― Jandek at the Disco (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 4 September 2012 22:17 (twelve years ago) link
hahaha
― flopson, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 01:54 (twelve years ago) link
― Jandek at the Disco (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, September 4, 2012 5:19 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark
i dunno it's pretty dense to pretend that 'video game music' doesn't evoke bleepy 8 bit Atari soundtracks for most people
like jazz takes a million different shapes but it's ok if people hear the word jazz and think walking basslines and hi-hat tappin'
― some dude, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 02:03 (twelve years ago) link
video game music isn't just bleeps & bloops; scores are rearranged played by symphony orchestras across the world!
― flopson, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 02:11 (twelve years ago) link
i think the second sentence is the key to some dude's post and i think he's 100% otm. it isn't that video game music IS one thing, its how it may be perceived by a large chunk of the population.
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 5 September 2012 02:14 (twelve years ago) link
dan deacon will be regarded the way riley is today in 50 years
― spazzmatazz, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 04:18 (twelve years ago) link
tel, vin or ted?
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 09:21 (twelve years ago) link
Lol either way
― Jandek at the Disco (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 5 September 2012 13:59 (twelve years ago) link
anyone seen him and his ensemble on their current US tour? i'm seeing them this saturday in Baltimore - eager to see if the smartphone app is any good.
― spazzmatazz, Wednesday, 12 September 2012 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
and imo America is really holding up listen after listen...I wonder how many people going to the shows have heard it or are just looking to dance/be goofy/hear the crystal cat
finally d/led that boot...I'll post thoughts later
I do think America is going to hold up as well. I listened to it on headphones for the first time yesterday and it was incredible. Previously I had only listened to it in my car. My woofer goes nuts for Dan Deacon so I hadn't noticed everything underneath the surface there.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 19 September 2012 13:46 (twelve years ago) link
like this song, fuck this app
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF9dtgNvrcI
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 15 December 2012 02:26 (eleven years ago) link
haven't listened to america yet but his new mashup cd is great
― THE NATIONS YOUTH DANCED TO THE MACARANA (innocent) (zachlyon), Saturday, 15 December 2012 03:27 (eleven years ago) link
latest listen to America after putting it away for a month+: this is really, really good. I'm still unsure if it's better than Bromst but given the way his music sounds I think the shorter runtime is probably better. I definitely get the "two sides" concept and feel now that side two really makes you forget about side one (as good as it is). When I listened to it in the car the hairs on the back of my neck stood up for the whole thing. I actually wish it were 5-10 minutes longer. You can listen to the entire album or just the "USA" part and it's satisfying. I think "Great American Desert" is the best part of it but "Rail" is really intriguing, I feel like this is the kind of thing DD's going to do a lot more of in the future.
either way I'm still kind of irritated by the way a lot of reviewers are handling this album. I think Deacon's persona is not really an act at all, he really does seem like an enthusiastic goofball in everything he does, I dunno why some writers think that this guy has to put out stuff like Spiderman of the Rings his whole career or else he's overstepping his boundaries. to me SotR was about layering sounds past the breaking point which seems like Deac's main obsession. He hasn't exactly stopped doing that...
― frogbs, Wednesday, 19 December 2012 06:07 (eleven years ago) link
had no idea what to expect, but he put on a really fun show last night in millennium park.
― clouds, Friday, 12 July 2013 14:01 (eleven years ago) link
he played a show at the crown (100 capacity) last week, playing all material, it was great!!
― i also enjoy in line skateing (spazzmatazz), Friday, 11 October 2013 18:59 (ten years ago) link
i'm glad he wasn't messing with that immaterial stuff like last time
― ^^ post obviously honoring and supporting Qualcomm (zachlyon), Friday, 11 October 2013 22:59 (ten years ago) link
^eugh, new material!
i wonder how much new stuff he's doing in the basketball arenas and enormodomes he's opening for arcade fire in
― i also enjoy in line skateing (spazzmatazz), Thursday, 27 March 2014 17:49 (ten years ago) link
by new do you mean, newer than America?
― frogbs, Thursday, 27 March 2014 17:50 (ten years ago) link
he's definitely playing some stuff from the upcoming album
― festival culture (Jordan), Thursday, 27 March 2014 17:52 (ten years ago) link
i've been waiting 5 months for that correction
― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Friday, 28 March 2014 02:06 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBVd-7tJb8o
new disc out Feb 2015very excited since America is starting to make a run for my favorite disc of this decade thus far
― Abstinence Hawk (frogbs), Tuesday, 9 December 2014 15:27 (nine years ago) link
wasn't as into the song in that video, but obv it was just a minute worth. and i've not enjoyed the singles released prior to the albums... i think his stuff comes across better when he has time to stretch things out. esp like the song 'lots' i didn't think was v representative of america really
― global tetrahedron, Tuesday, 9 December 2014 15:52 (nine years ago) link
excellent hour+ interview with dan https://soundcloud.com/height-zone-world/episode-24-dan-deacon-all-of-the-satans-of-every-religion
― when is the new Jim O'Rourke album coming out (spazzmatazz), Monday, 12 January 2015 03:55 (nine years ago) link
ah cool, Height's interviews on there have been really good so far
― un chill goon (some dude), Monday, 12 January 2015 10:54 (nine years ago) link
that was a really fun listen, love dan's laugh
― flopson, Monday, 12 January 2015 13:27 (nine years ago) link
gliss riffer is amazing. like steve reich dj rashad with that signature deac' euphoric build. completely love it
― flopson, Sunday, 22 February 2015 04:38 (nine years ago) link
agreed, i'm really happy his sense of humor is more apparent than on the super serious (but great) America. that one chord progression he overuses in the sig deac euph build is only on one song, too, i think. masterfully crafted but with the spirit of pizza horse or lion with a sharks head or totally boner eat shit.
― when is the new Jim O'Rourke album coming out (spazzmatazz), Monday, 23 February 2015 22:45 (nine years ago) link
"feel the lightning" is one of my favorite songs this year, sounds like Black Moth Super Rainbow.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 24 February 2015 00:52 (nine years ago) link
he doesn't get enough credit for his song titles. "Learning to Relax" followed by "Take it to the Max" is hilarious. "Steely Blues" is great too, i remember for a long time he was impossible to find on youtube because of deacon blues
― when is the new Jim O'Rourke album coming out (spazzmatazz), Tuesday, 24 February 2015 01:10 (nine years ago) link
^^ all the song titles on meetle mice back you up there
― global tetrahedron, Tuesday, 24 February 2015 01:49 (nine years ago) link
that one chord progression he overuses in the sig deac euph build
lol true, the one in crystal cat that is also used on like half the songs on spiderman of the rings
take it to the max is awesome but... he could've taken it a little bit more to the max, imo
― flopson, Tuesday, 24 February 2015 01:56 (nine years ago) link
p4k not on his side with this one. it's a drag
― when is the new Jim O'Rourke album coming out (spazzmatazz), Tuesday, 24 February 2015 03:01 (nine years ago) link
xp lol maximum groove
― when is the new Jim O'Rourke album coming out (spazzmatazz), Tuesday, 24 February 2015 03:02 (nine years ago) link
i just thought the last 2 albums were a major snooze so this one's kind of back to the basics, super fun upbeat scannersheadexplode.gif zany dan d madness
― flopson, Tuesday, 24 February 2015 03:12 (nine years ago) link
Bromst is his masterpiece imo
this is great b/c his prankster side is back tho
― global tetrahedron, Tuesday, 24 February 2015 15:37 (nine years ago) link
oh yeah, he's absolutely hilarious. he's a great stand-up/improv performer. the long interview i posted a bit upthread has so many amazing throwaway lines and bits and voices...the way he imitates the concert promoter from Texas trying to book the Sex Pistols ("um...I have a cohn-certe hall...") just LEVELS me
― when is the new Jim O'Rourke album coming out (spazzmatazz), Tuesday, 24 February 2015 19:54 (nine years ago) link
Awesome album, lovably weird & uplifting. Also, I continue to somehow strangely connect him to Eno ca. Taking Tiger Mountain.
― the european nikon is here (grauschleier), Friday, 13 March 2015 15:41 (nine years ago) link
it really is gorgeous. I don't think it's much like Spiderman really; more like an album of "True Thrush" in the way Bromst was an album of "Crystal Cat". I've been floored with it on every listen thus far, "Meme Generator" in particular is really neat. related note, I've come to realize that America is one of my favorite albums ever.
― frogbs, Friday, 17 April 2015 02:02 (nine years ago) link
Dan Deacon bashing Poptimism
http://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/2015_artist_survey_dan_deacon/
― i;m thinking about thos Beans (Michael B), Thursday, 11 February 2016 14:40 (eight years ago) link
in a recent interview -
Mainstream pop music is increasingly embraced by indie rock musicians and listeners, as well as serious music critics. At this point, do you draw any distinctions between Top 40 pop and indie rock/pop? Are you comfortable with this shift?
The only part of the shift that feels weird is that so much of pop music and mainstream culture revolves around the ideals of capitalism and wealth fetish culture. I don't care how people want to arrange tones, rhythms, words, and textures but I do care when it works to perpetuate our fucked system and I feel lots of pop music does that without realizing it.
― i;m thinking about thos Beans (Michael B), Thursday, 11 February 2016 14:42 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGZ9ICeyiic
― flappy bird, Saturday, 18 February 2017 00:23 (seven years ago) link
Is "Bjork's House" like a space or...
― circa1916, Saturday, 18 February 2017 01:29 (seven years ago) link
I'm assuming that's a yes looking at the other videos in the channel.
― circa1916, Saturday, 18 February 2017 01:31 (seven years ago) link
Oh my Dan DeaconWe could make it together
― salthigh, Saturday, 18 February 2017 01:36 (seven years ago) link