Dan Deacon

Dan Deacon – Spiderman Of The Rings

Wildly goofy and with the BPM pitch shifted into a warp speed overdrive, Dan Deacon has manufactured the 8-bit rave that Nintendo characters walk away from, sleepy-eyed, on Sunday morning. Magically, he’s synthesized down a barrage of antique electronic influences (Wendy Carlos’s maniacal Moog and Vocoder exploration, the score to first wave arcade shooters like Galaga, and the blistering pacing of the near-forgotten electronic genre Happy Hardcore) into a sum that’s better than its parts. Instantly danceable, “The Crystal Cat” convulses with a ferocious mechanized beat and a helium laced vocals that is more rhythmic than lyrical recognizable. Ten minute hyper epic “Wham City” pops the collar as a call out to his Baltimore collective, and “Big Milk” offers a moment of Gamelan-infused reprieve. But all this supposes you can get past the agitating cackle of Woody Woodpecker and blitzkrieg-beat of the opening track. This is dance music for a new age. Parents, expect to be appalled.