You can hear the classical in the chaos from Baltimore based electronic artist Dan Deacon. There’ a frenzied, mischievous, almost stupid blast of noise in his off kilter electro pop, yet whilst it comes across as careless or just dumb fun, it’s very carefully honed with an ear for dynamics and a certain rigour in structure. So it may come as little surprise to learn that Deacon is apparently a classically trained composer. It’s just that he prefers lame keyboards, samples and electrics and would rather be making banging party music for weirdo nerds than be enticed by the mannered acclaim of the concert hall. There’ something anthemic about his tunes, yet he’ not afraid of a little tenderness, such as on the inspired glockenspiel opening to Big Milk, which begins cute and folktronic, yet his inability to reign himself in has him increasingly treating the sound and alters his playing style until he comes across like a petulant four year old banging away on his first toy xylophone. These kind of compositional decisions don’ carry much weight in the concert hall, yet Spiderman of the Rings is brimming with this kind of unconventional creativity. The humour in this music comes not so much from gags or vocals, rather it’s in his desire to push things on occasions just a little bit further than is commonly acceptable. He holds onto the noise at the end of the bar or ramps up the beats to stupid bpm’, then nonchalantly kicks into the next verse as if nothing just happened. It’s definitely idiosyncratic music, quite experimental, yet it never loses touch with its pop roots. It’s catchy pop fun, even when it begins to get abrasive. Yet it’s also really quite inventive. If you can imagine the outcome if Ministry met the Smurfs then you’re halfway there.
Bob Baker Fish
