Dan Deacon: "Get Old" & "Okie Dokie"

I am not going to kid you with this one. The music of Dan Deacon is not that accessible - it is just really stinking weird. Now before you brush of this post and just move on to people.com or facebook you have to understand the context of this music - this music is made for a live club scene where dancing is involved. Weird dancing, but none the less dancing just the same. Mr. Deacon is releasing a new album next month which is far more accessible to most people than any of his previous works. Here is a great, be it redundant, track from this album entitled Bromst (don't bother looking it up it is a word he made up).

It sounds like a sound orgy for sure. It is exciting and vibrant material crafted from the cold software world of synthesizers, computers, and modulators. Here is a track of his new album, "Get Old."

Dan Deacon - "Get Old"

There is also another track off an older album of his which has caught my attention. It is entitled "Okie Dokie" and I have found it to be absolutely amazing. I'm not going to lie it blew my mind a little bit. No here is the thing. Below I have posted the music video for the song. There is also a really good live version you can find below it (way even better than the studio version in my opnion), however be for warned there is a string of expletives so offensive, so profane to some (ok, most) before the song begins that some of your grandmothers will roll over in their graves. I am not kidding you. If you do choose to listen to these songs - pump up the volume and dance!

Dan Deacon - "Okie Dokie"

(flip the High Quality Switch on this one)

LISTEN AT YOUR OWN RISK - (or fast forward to at least 0:20)

Dan Deacon - "Okie Dokie"

Steve Reich: "Piano Phases"

Some people don't even consider the work of Steve Reich music calling his music noise instead. Regardless how you feel about Mr. Reich what is certain is that he is one of the most controversial composers of our time. As strange as it may be Steve Reichs "Phases" has become one of my favorite pieces of music to listen to. I wont deny that his music is not for everyone. But let me tell you that this man is ahead of his time. The following work was written in 1967 and sounds like something that could be on the very cutting edge of music today.

The first time I heard "Phases" I sat memorized for hours listening to the slow modulations of notes and tempos. I loved it from the very first time I heard it. I was fascinated by the almost machine like mathematical progressions of different phrases. It is just cool stuff. It bends your mind a little if you listen to it closely.

Here is a brief description of the following video:

The original 'Piano Phase' for two pianos was composed in 1967. Both pianists play the same repeating pattern but one of them gradually increases tempo so as to slowly move one-eighth note ahead or out of phase with the other. This process is repeated with three repeating patterns that get shorter in duration. The video portion of this piece was created by David Cossin in 2000 and utilizes a pre-recorded video of him playing the piece on midi percussion pads that then trigger piano samples of the notes of the piece. Against this pre-recorded video, projected on a screen in front of him, he then plays the moving part that gradually moves ahead, or out of phase with the recorded part. The audience can then see and hear the process unfolding. Steve Reich

Steve Reich - "Piano Phases"

Blitzen Trapper: "Furr"

This Portland, OR based experimental folk rock band had released several albums over the years but not until their most recent album Furr was released in 2008 did they begin to gain some serious national and international attention. Their previous album Wild Mountain Nation had gained critical acclaim from critics like Pitchfork Media and Spin. One thing I love about this band is that their sound is quite broad.

This song was actually in the short list for my top songs from 2008. Which is an entirely different beast from albums of the year, perhaps I whill run that list here soon. In the mean time here is Blitzen Trapper's song "Furr" of their forth album of the same name - I hope you enjoy it.

Blitzen Trapper - "Furr"

MGMT: "Time to Pretend"

I just love this song. This band is quickly gaining notoriety and I should have posted on them when I first hear this song a few months ago. It has an upbeat darkness to it. Cool stuff. This song comes off their album Oracular Spectacular. Just don't let the kids listen to it. Cough. Cough.

MGMT: Time to Pretend

Portishead: "The Rip"

Ok, here is one I have been meaning to post on for a while now. This English band is from a town close to Bristol and actually made it all they way to #2 on the UK charts last year. You may find it surprising that it made it up to #7 on the Billboard top 200 list - but there it is none the less - and I believe it deserves to be there. I hope you like it. Its pretty trippy. Let it take you somewhere else. It is very thought provoking to me. I don't know if the song if referring to ripping emotions out of you or not, but that is what it does for me. It just rips them out of me.

Portishead - "The Rip"

Radiohead: From the Basement - "Bodysnatchers" & "Bangers 'n' Mash"

For all of you Radiohead fans out there here is one of a series pf amazing videos they released recently, entitled - From the Basement. I remember seeing them around 2004 at Hi-Fi Buys amphitheater - which was awesome, but this is a lot better in some ways. For one I can actually see them. At Hi-Fi Buys I could hardly make them out through all the pot smoke out on the lawn., but this is different, this is crystal clear (especially if you purchase they real thing of iTunes), this my friends, - this - is awesome. The concert was awesome to, just frustrating being so far away and all of that. It is also a lot cheaper. Here are two of my favorites.


By the way "Bodysnatchers" is a heck of a lot of fun to play! Just in case you were wondering.

Radiohead -"Bodysnatchers"

Radiohead - "Bangers 'n' Mash"

Animal Collective: "My Girls"

I recently came across the band Animal Collective at friends house and absolutely loved their sound. It's one of those bands whose name I have heard thrown around over the years but I think this was the first time I ever actually listened to them. I really like this song because it is a hybrid of some of my favorites styles - the minimalist classical music style of Steve Reich and the killer melodies and harmonies of bands like the Beach Boys. This track entitled "My Girls" from their new album Merriweather Post Pavilion and it's a really cool track. Let it grow on you.

Animal Collective - "My Girls"

Building Bridges: Gnarles Barkely, Radiohead and Christopher O'Riley

As many of  you know, I absolutely love the band Radiohead.   Perhaps even more of you wonder why.  To explain my love I could try to show you the pervasive operatic themes the permeate their melodies, or the deep electronic rhythms and organic beats that create the foundation for their music, the catchy guitar riffs, or even the significance of their experimental music that influences other musicians today - but none of that would really matter to many of you, would it.  Nope, didn't think so.  So I am going to try a different approach.  

When introducing your ear to new music, I am a firm believer in building bridges.  Mostly because that is how I have come to love certain types of music I once hated.

In this case, I am attempting to build a bridge to the band Radiohead - whom many just simply find "scary" or "weird."  I have selected the song "Reckoner" as a starting point off of their near perfect album "In Rainbows" from 2007.   Reckoner is a simple and powerful song that has very operatic vocal harmonies and lots of soul.  I am posting two versions of this song for your listening enjoyment.  The first is a cover by the band Gnarls Barkley - you remember, they did that absolutely amazing song, "Crazy," a few summers back; and secondly, the original version by Radiohead.  Both versions of this song are awesome.  Gnarles Barkey opens up the music of Radiohead to their audience and in turn introduces Radiohead fans to the alternative soul scene.  It is a two way street.  Not only has Gnarls Barkley covered songs by Radiohead, but so has the classical pianist and host of "From the Top" on NPR, Christopher O'Riley.  There is also his version of "Exit Music for a Film" written  by Radiohead after both versions of "Reckoner."  It is one of the ways I was first introduced to classical music, along with films I have mentioned in previous posts.  I hope you enjoy all of them. 

With all of that said.  I just want to leave you with one thought about building bridges.  In music, as I just illustrated , different types of listeners can be introduced into new types of music.  I truly believe that music is not the only medium that this phenomena occurs.  It happens with cultures, it happens with ethnicities, or at least has the ability to.  So I encourage all of you to not only stretch your musical pallet and explore the many different forms and genres that music takes around the world, but to also to get out there and met someone different than you.  Whether it be culturally, economically, or even politically explore someone else point of view and see what makes them tick.  In the end you may learn more about yourself than the other person.  Celebrate the diversity and the freedom we have to express it, especially here in the good ol' US of A!  Don't hate what you don't understand or even what you may disagree with - in the end the hate and demonization of those with whom you disagree accomplishes little.  However, what does accomplish something is reaching across aisle because it builds bridges.  

Gnarles Barkely - "Reckoner"

Radiohead - "Reckoner"

Christopher O'Riley - "Exit Music for a Film"

Radiohead - "Exit Music for a Film"