Dan Deacon --- Bromst

This album is beautiful.

I know a lot of people don't care for Deacon, but I encourage everyone to give this a listen, even the haters. Give it a chance at least.

I finally caught up with the new Animal Collective recently, and for all this talk about it being the best album of the year and really "new" sounding and being their "pop" album and pushing the envelope of pop music, I thought it was only OK. Some good ideas, but ultimately most of the songs sound too similar, the palette too thin.

Not so with Bromst. To me, this sounds like the future of music. It's electronic music with soul. I've never listened to electronic music with this much heart before. It's not a giant step forward from Spiderman of the Rings, other than tonally. Gone are a lot of the pop culture references (like the title of that record, Woody Woodpecker samples, lyrics with nods to Beast-Man) and although there is somewhat more of a serious tone throughout, it's still a fun record. You can get lost trying to pin down all the sounds, the hooks, and they bring you back to the album over and over again.

Deacon pushes his own sound quite a bit simply by adding piano and horns. Usually, when artists add horns to a record it's a real bore. Oooh, horns. How revolutionary. But Deacon is such a particular artist, and it's not that he's using horns and piano, it's how he's using horns. When the first tracks electronic background melds seamlessly into nothing but player piano, you don't even notice at first...until an all piano breakdown. The way Deacon uses sampled voices is incredible. It doesn't matter what he's saying half the time, just how it sounds. He samples mono-syllable nonsense sounds and makes it sound like Native American chanting. Some songs sound like they could come right off the Akira soundtrack.

Also, it feels like a real album. The sound layering is beautiful, consistent and meaningful. If you absolutely hate Deacon's sound, this probably won't convert you. He still manipulates his voice all over the place, including doing his signature 1000 chipmunks sing-songing thing. But that is reduced and is actual voice is used more.

Check it out. Best record of the year thus far.

To be fair, I think he's a love him or hate him type of artist. I totally get why people wouldn't get into this record for A B or C reason. But I think it's good enough that it deserves everyone, even people who've hated his earlier stuff, to check it out. Maybe listen before you buy, though.

I saw him live well before Spiderman of the Rings came out and it was one of the best live experiences of my life, no joke. It's not for everyone, but Deacon really puts everything he's got into his shows. For a one man show, that's saying something. I've heard he's touring with an ensemble this time (which makes sense, given the denser arrangements on Bromst) but he set the bar pretty high when I saw him before.

As for tracks, it's tough for me to decide because...well, I'm a fan and a lot of the quirks you find annoying and bad I actually like. I don't think this is a matter of good/bad taste. Just different taste. Like I said, I totally understand why someone would listen to Spiderman of the Rings and say "fuck no."

But I'll give it a go. Check out Snookered and Of the Mountains. I'd say listen to the pair of them together because they're sequenced nicely. Maybe Build Voice and Slow w/ Horns Run for Your Life.

I don't expect you to be totally turned around on him, Dave, because honestly Deacon is still pulling from the same bag of tricks. But again, I think the album is good enough that it deserves a listen from everybody. I'll be curious to see what you think.

Oh, one more thing: try listening to the album (or individual tracks) with the volume turned down low. Deacon has a very dense sound and to appreciate the layers I think it helps to break it down rather than letting it all hit you at once.