Dan Deacon’s Bromst Streamed On NPR

Encouraged by Mikhail’s post on Tom Waits, I decided to come out of hiding and post this link to Dan Deacon’s new album Bromst: 

 

NPR.org, March 2, 2009 – Baltimore native Dan Deacon has built his reputation on live shows: comically unpredictable messes of frenetic dancing, audience participation and theatrics, all powered by Deacon’s wildly addictive, electro freak-pop. Deacon shuns the stage, instead planting himself on the dance floor with a tangle of cables, analog drum machines and vintage electronics, where he pushes fans to the point of blissful exhaustion. Deacon’s infectious energy is captured on his latest album, Bromst, which can be heard in its entirety on NPR Music, as an exclusive first listen.

When Deacon got his start playing small clubs and parties in 2003, it was hard to take him seriously. Fans were never sure whether his goofy antics and quirky sound were a joke, or simply the result of an artist playing with abandon. But Deacon quickly became a figurehead in the Baltimore area’s electronic music scene. He self-released a number of EPs, and put out his first commercially released album, Spiderman of the Rings, on Carpark Records in 2007. Many music critics ranked it among the year’s best albums.

Bromst is, by far, Deacon’s most fully realized and accessible recording to date. It’s also his first to include more traditional analog instruments, such as piano, glockenspiel, marimba and live drums, collaborating in the studio with a number of other artists. He’s also touring with a 15-piece band in support of Bromst.

Bromst will be released on Mar. 24. It’s available early on NPR Music as part of the Exclusive First Listen series.

P.S. Beirut has a new record out as well – March of the Zapotec – it’s very good, I recommend.

Vocal Impressions: The Candidates

I was driving home the other day listening to NPR (who’s the more pretentious one now Mikhail?) when I heard the tail end of a segment on All Things Considered called Vocal Impressions:

“Vocal Impressions” is a listener contest where we play a voice and you write about it. This time, we asked you to consider the voices of some of the people seeking the presidency of the United States. Listeners’ descriptions of the candidates’ voices reflected a healthy degree of insight, playfulness and skepticism.

Here are some of my favorites:

John McCain’s voice was described as “An undertaker explaining to the family why grandma’s funeral will cost $15,000,” as well as, “Casey Kasem announcing for the 10th straight week that your least favorite song is still No. 1.”

Barack Obama’s voice was described as “A glass of pinot noir with a Ph.D. in philosophy,” although I’d change that one to “a glass of chardonnay with a Ph.D. in English,” and “A public address system at a retail store when there’s a clean-up on aisle three.”

Hillary Clinton’s voice was described as “Lucy from Peanuts, home from college on her way to grad school, still berating Linus and Charlie Brown,” and “The sex ed teacher talking about abstinence.’

You can read more descriptions of McCain, Clinton and Obama, as well as descriptions of the voices of Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee here.