Long before electronic wizard Dan Deacon released his commercial debut, 2007’s Spiderman Of The Rings, he’d gigged with a high-school ska band, earned a computer-music-composition degree from SUNY at Purchase, blew tuba for Langhorne Slim, shredded improv grindcore guitar with Rated R, started a chamber ensemble, co-founded Baltimore’s Wham City arts/music collective and released a series of experimental computer-music/sine-wave recordings. Deacon continues to pursue an eclectic musical course—his Carnegie Hall debut in March was part of a John Cage tribute—but his greatest successes have been in the electronic/dance scene. America (Domino), Deacon’s new album and the follow-up to 2009’s highly regarded Bromst, could cement his status as one of the country’s most adventurous and inspired electronic architects. Deacon will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.
Deacon: Probably my favorite living composer is Tristan Perich. He’s one of those musicians whose style you can’t pin down, and that’s important to me. He could just as easily be on a noise show as play Lincoln Center. His work transcends what it means to be a composer in the 21st century, and while his music is very sophisticated, the listener doesn’t need a knowledge of the previous century’s art-music repertoire to appreciate it. His unique approach to performance, reproduction of music (to sound itself) is very exciting. I’m looking forward to the coming decades as his body of work grows and develops.
Video after the jump.
