Dan Deacon is the Philip Glass of Our Generation

Dan Deacon - Bromst
My Thoughts: Love More Than Music (<3>)

(I started writing this about 2 months ago, and then I lost track of time and now we're here. it's done now. enjoy)
(tangent about how I feel about Dan Deacon's stuff prior to this album starts here)
To some extent, I have to say I was marginally surprised by Dan Deacon's Bromst. I say "marginally" because, simply from attending a handful of his live shows, I can tell the man understands how people work on a level that most artists would probably do anything to reach. With a wave of his hands a room of arm-crossed hipsters clears a spot for a dance contest. After the dance contest, one which everyone won, the audience links fingers with the strangers around them and, one by one, they each recall the first time they ever told a lie. Some people laugh, others cry, and the whole room comes in for a group hug. Sometimes there is music to accompany this, sometimes there couldn't possibly be anything but silence. As John Cage has taught us, sometimes the audience is the music. Dan Deacon, I argue, understands this concept better than anyone else has in a long time. Most bands want to show up and rock you out of your socks, Dan Deacon shows up and helps you realize that you can rock your own socks off.

Okay, that's a big bold statement, and really I only have my own opinions of what I felt at his shows, but this really is how I feel about this guy. Now, going along with the concept that Dan Deacon is as rad as I seem to think, someone who has that sort of understanding of humans, it would seem, doesn't necessarily have the tools to make music that suits the people, despite his comprehension. This is where his graduate degree in electro-acoustic and computer music composition comes in. Dan Deacon, it would appear, knows what's going on with this "music" thing. But this is, so far, just words about Dan Deacon the man, not Bromst the album. I'm mostly saying all this because a few people I've talked to really don't have a whole lot of respect for the man, for whatever reason. These are generally people who don't know about his background and/or haven't been to one of his shows.
(tangent ends here)

All of these things don't matter if the album is crap, however. We've seen it before, a well renowned artist who, at one point, knows what's going on, just loses it. However, I argue that, with this album, Dan Deacon is making some of the most pertinent music of our time.

Whoa. Hella bold, especially for a hater like me. But I stand beside it fully. This album is a huge step in Dan Deacon's music. This is not your average rock album, or electronic album, or anything like that. It's essentially a collection of 10 short, unconvential orchestral pieces. Each track layers instrument upon instrument, building a racous adventure of an album. Some have found the effect to be a bit overwhelming, but I submit that that's just a case for the idea that personal preferences for things still weigh heavily on future opinions. I don't know what it is about me, but I cannot get enough of this album. Some people may find themselves turned off to the idea of an album with such a complex concept behind it, but Dan Deacon would, at this point in his career, not be foolish enough to make something that would be all that alienating, so the wary among you should fret not! The album is fun for everyone! It is majorly complex, but it doesn't really sound like it is, which is pretty much the best thing one can ask for.

For fans of Spiderman of the Rings, don't be afraid, this is for you. It's a little more fleshed out, and way more full, but it's still fun and dancy. My review is so late on this one, though, that I'm certain everyone all ready loves this album. For those of you who don't, seriously, pick this LP up and never put it down.

Dan Deacon - Padding Ghosts
Dan Deacon - Snookered
Dan Deacon - Woof Woof