As 2012 has come to an end, we are taking a look back at some of our favorite posts of the year by our guest editors.
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: It’s really rare when a band reforms and doesn’t lose any of the brilliance of their earlier incarnation. I love with all my musical heart the band Arab On Radar, and I was nervous that Doomsday Student would be a cheap or watered-down version of that. Seeing them play at the Floristree in Baltimore allayed those fears. I hadn’t been that excited at a show since I originally saw Arab in the early 2000s. The broad musical choices were the same. The dissonant counterpoint in the guitar lines, the halting, pulsing drums. Plus Eric’s voice. It’s what makes the music more creepy than just aggressive. The creepiness is important. It’s hard to be tough and creepy at the same time. I’m not a tough guy and I don’t really like tough things. And these guys are making heavy, intense music that isn’t masculine in the conventional sense. And it’s music that’s really sexual without being “sexy.” And it’s the kind of thing I love hearing at a party, but there’s no way you’d call it party music.
Video after the jump.
