dan deacon

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."

lol @ u nerds getting all defensive about video game music

yes how embarrassing for...us

http://cheeseontoast.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/dan-deacon-web.jpeg

hahaha

it also stupidly suggests that there is one thing called "video game music"

― 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'

video game music isn't just bleeps & bloops; scores are rearranged played by symphony orchestras across the world!

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.

dan deacon will be regarded the way riley is today in 50 years

tel, vin or ted?

Lol either way

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.

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.

like this song, fuck this app

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF9dtgNvrcI

haven't listened to america yet but his new mashup cd is great

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...

had no idea what to expect, but he put on a really fun show last night in millennium park.

he played a show at the crown (100 capacity) last week, playing all material, it was great!!

i'm glad he wasn't messing with that immaterial stuff like last time

^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

by new do you mean, newer than America?

he's definitely playing some stuff from the upcoming album

i've been waiting 5 months for that correction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBVd-7tJb8o

new disc out Feb 2015
very excited since America is starting to make a run for my favorite disc of this decade thus far

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

excellent hour+ interview with dan https://soundcloud.com/height-zone-world/episode-24-dan-deacon-all-of-the-satans-of-every-religion

ah cool, Height's interviews on there have been really good so far

that was a really fun listen, love dan's laugh

gliss riffer is amazing. like steve reich dj rashad with that signature deac' euphoric build. completely love it

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.

"feel the lightning" is one of my favorite songs this year, sounds like Black Moth Super Rainbow.

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

^^ all the song titles on meetle mice back you up there

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

p4k not on his side with this one. it's a drag

xp lol maximum groove

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

Bromst is his masterpiece imo

this is great b/c his prankster side is back tho

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

Awesome album, lovably weird & uplifting. Also, I continue to somehow strangely connect him to Eno ca. Taking Tiger Mountain.

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.

Dan Deacon bashing Poptimism

http://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/2015_artist_survey_dan_deacon/

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGZ9ICeyiic

Is "Bjork's House" like a space or...

I'm assuming that's a yes looking at the other videos in the channel.

Oh my Dan Deacon
We could make it together

Saw a good amount of DD this past year through connections between the people we were dating. Unsurprisingly a nice a fun guy.

Forgot how much I liked this, really glad there's footage of it.

https://vimeo.com/19247287

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-BZduxT2h4