With October hosting major music functions in its 31 days – Austin City Limits, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and the illustrious CMJ – San Francisco’s Treasure Island Music Festival nestles comfortably in between, boasting prestigious acts to grace the island shores as well as maintaining a crowd size that’s not overwhelming or annoying. Good weather afforded people the opportunity to dress up for the occasion and sample the special brownies the guy in the AT&T ballpark parking lot was offering.

Our highlights and lowlights included:

- Witnessing The Streets’ Mike Skinner being adorable: after he opened with “Let’s Push Things Forward,” he reminisced about his last SF experience that left him bruised— a jump off the balcony at The Fillmore. He then proclaimed to the audience below him “I’m gonna jump into the crowd and make love to you all” before punctuating his set with more words of adoration for the city by the bay.

- Missing Passion Pit as a result of waiting to take a shuttle to the island, which we also contemplated swimming to as a result of the delay. When someone started blasted “Sleepyhead” in the parking lot where we were congregating, it was met with “Yeah guys, let’s listen to the band we’re missing as we stand in line. Real smart. Idiot.”

- DJ Krush providing a most excellent soundtrack as we rode the Ferris wheel.

- Having dinner on a pirate ship.

- Girl Talk being all over the place: crowd-surfing during Dan Deacon’s set, jumping around on stage during his own, and then air pelvic thrusting timed to fireworks at the end of his dancetastic set.

- MSTRKRFT still is just two dudes with a laptop.

- MGMT playing “Oracular Spectacular” from start to finish, which is a good idea if the nostalgia factor is there. But having all your singles in the first half of your album – especially the dance-centric ones – guarantees that your audience takes off midway through your show.

- Afterparty with Dan Deacon, who is so rad I just want to hug him all the time.

It’s a strange world when your ex-love’s sister serves you liquor unexpectedly in the beer tent (why, how did you know I needed a beverage for this conversation?). But in all seriousness, at the end of the day when the guy in the penguin suit apologized to me for whacking my ear during Girl Talk’s set, I was glad to be in the company of some fun – and strange – folks. The Treasure Island Festival is fast becoming my favorite out of all the exravangaznas we have to offer, and it’s for good reason: we all just want to have a good time.

The Streets:

Girl Talk:

MSTRKRFT:

MGMT:

Afterparty with Dan Deacon:

Didn’t you hear?  Not planning your summer festival is the new Twitter. Dan Deacon’s Wham City label has been organizing Whartscape for a few years now.  The festival’s just a few weeks away and the lineup still hasn’t been finalized, but we do know via various MySpaces that it will include the fine musicians listed below.  If this year’s festival turns out anything like past years, it’ll be a sprawl of the best blippy nonsense that Body More Murder Land has to offer. Keep an eye on the official Whartscape website for details, and say a prayer that Baltimore will stop killing Dan Deacon.

Dan Deacon w/ensemble
Ponytail
Future Islands
Double Dagger
Vincent Black Shadow
Adventure
Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez
Crazy Dreams Band
Santa Dads
Bird Names
DD/MM/YYYY
Child Bite
Air Waves
Boogie Boarder
EAR PWR
Teengirl Fantasy
Kokomo
Talk Normal

That extraordinarily long mess of letters in the headline is either the birth of a breathtaking new word whose meaning and definition will be determined at later date, OR it’s just a metaphor for what your brain’s going to look and feel like should you catch three of indie rock’s marquee names on stage together simultaneously this summer.

Dates for No Age, Deerhunter and Dan Deacon’s collab-o-rama were just announced by Pitchfork today, the site also reporting that all three will actually be playing together at once, to help flesh each other’s song out further. So, not the “round robin” originally reported but something much, much more interesting.

From Impose:
We were supposed to be keeping a tour photo blog this whole time but its been such an insanely busy and tight packed schedule that we thought it would be best to wait until the last days to start working on it! Here is it!

Read the entire story here.

In honor of the Memorial Day weekend, we took a very small poll asking a few friends to give us their ideal summer song. You know, the kind you would want to hear if you were outside driving around right now without a care in the world. Then we narrowed it down to seven eleven (an arbitrary number, who knows, it still may expand). So, here are seven eleven summer classics from Sister Nancy, Pavement, The Pharcyde, Donovan, Dizzee Rascal, Animal Collective, Screeching Weasel, People Under the Stairs, Dan Deacon, Queen and the one, the only, The Notorious B.I.G..

Sister Nancy – “Bam Bam”

Pavement – “Gold Soundz”

The Pharcyde – “Runnin”

Donovan – “There Is A Mountain”

Dizzee Rascal – “Bonkers”

Animal Collective – “My Girls”

Screeching Weasel – “Totally”

People Under The Stairs – “Acid Raindrops”

Dan Deacon – “Crystal Cat”

Queen – “Fat Bottomed Girls”

The Notorious B.I.G. – “Juicy”

Have you ever wondered what would happen if High Places and Dan Deacon had a love child? Aside from the hotly disturbing picture this thought paints (no offense to anyone), it would probably sound something like Best Hits.

We first heard Best Hits at a show on April at New York’s Cake Shop where they played alongside fellow freak, dance-electronic outfit dANA. A three-piece (two guys, one girl), Best Hits take the calypso-meets-jungle aesthetic of High Places and adds the increasingly popular 8-bit acid house glitch to create something that is equally at home in both the noise/avant continuum and a straight up glo-stick waving dance party.

After catching their incredibly fun set at Cake Shop, we approached them and asked for recorded material. Later that week we were hit up with an e-mail letting us know they recorded the entire set and made it available for download. So here is their entire set from that night with track listing below. And if you like what you hear, you can download the entire set here, or go to their MySpace to hear more.

Best Hits live April 10 @ Cake Shop | NYC

Best Hits April 10 set list @ Cake Shop | NYC
1. Queen Reade
2. Hot Water
3. Finally
4. Cheriol
5. Tons of Eyes
6. Like Dat
7. Secret Miami

Three bands. One stage. No, it’s not another festival line-up announcement. It’s the second coming of the round robin, and this time Dan Deacon’s bringing his whole band and playing alongside No Age and Deerhunter.

The round robin concept has all three bands set up on stage at once, alternating songs, just as Deacon did this past fall. It’ll all be going down this summer. According to Pitchfork, no dates or venues announced yet, just epic, pants-wetting excitement. Brace yourselves for the full details coming in the next few weeks. In the meantime, you can follow Dan Deacon’s current tour via his blog on Impose.

“It’s very easy to identify ‘negative’ in change, but I want this record to showcase the positive aspects of change, and how things like getting older, or dying, or the end of civilization, or the end of a species isn’t a … bad thing.”

From any other artist, in practically any context, this quote would wreak of absurd neophytic existential posturing, but spoke by Dan Deacon in Pitchfork TV’s In The Studio piece about Bromst, why can’t he also challenge our traditional ideas of life and dying? After all, along what process did we associate getting older with the loss of youth? Why can’t getting older remeble the the explosive surge at roughly 0:58 on ““Get Older”“?

Yes, we know we might “obsessing” a bit, having already featured “Snookered”, “Paddling Ghost” and Get Older, compounded by Tripwire Editor Derek Evers’ “blowjob of a review”, but hey, we’re not the only ones:

The Onion A.V. Club: “Deacon has always said that he writes within his physical means (then: homemade equipment, sweltering clubs; now: actual studios, actual venues). A word of advice for anyone who crosses Dan’s path: Give this man anything he asks for.”

Pitchfork: “The music becomes something like a natural process: one clean, simple sweep, but built from an insane complexity of detail. And there’s enough to un-knot in there to make this a terrific step for Deacon — out from the sticky basements into a space where he can try to tackle the sublime.”

Tiny Mix Tapes: “The way Deacon transitioned from the format of his cartoon-y debut to the sparkling sidewalk-chalk innocence here is astonishing, comparable to the bump in quality and focus we all felt when Ágætis Byrjun proceeded Von or Person Pitch followed Young Prayer. It’s the hyper-distinguishable leap from idiosyncratic-but-lovable to just-plain-lovable that makes Bromst — and Danny Boy himself — of increased import.”

Bromst Is Awesome.

Dan Deacon tour dates
04.03.09 – Philadelphia, PA (First Unitarian Church)
04.04.09 – Baltimore, MD (TRANSMODERN FESTIVAL: H&H BUILDING)
04.05.09 – Williamsburg, VA (The Little Theater)
04.06.09 – Asheville, NC (Orange Peel)
04.07.09 – Knoxville, TN (Catalyst)
04.08.09 – Birmingham, AL (Bottletree)
04.09.09 – Athens, GA (88/cp)
04.10.09 – Atlanta, GA (Eyedrum)
04.11.09 – Tallahassee, FL (FSU/Club Downunder)
04.13.09 – New Orleans, LA (The Candle Factory/The Heavy)
04.15.09 – Baton Rouge, LA (Spanish Moon)
04.16.09 – Houston, TX (Orange Show)
04.17.09 – Austin, TX (Emos)
04.18.09 – Fort Worth, TX (Fort Worth Modern Art Museum)
04.20.09 – Tempe, AZ (The Clubhouse)
04.21.09 – San Diego, CA (Che Cafe)
04.22.09 – Los Angeles, CA (Troubadour)
04.23.09 – San Francisco, CA (Great American Music Hall)
04.24.09 – Portland, OR (Wonder Ballroom)
04.25.09 – Seattle, WA (The Vera Project)
04.26.09 – Vancouver, BC (Richards on Richards)
04.29.09 – Salt Lake City, UT (Kilby Court)
04.30.09 – Denver, CO (Bluebird Theater)
05.01.09 – Kansas City, MO (Pistol K.C.)
05.02.09 – Minneapolis, MN (Triple Rock Social Club)
05.04.09 – Madison, WI (Majestic Theatre)
05.05.09 – Milwaukee, WI (Turner Hall Ballroom)
05.06.09 – Urbana, IL (Canopy Club/Club Void)
05.07.09 – Chicago, IL (Metro)
05.08.09 – Mount Pleasant, MI (CMU / The Wesley Foundation)
05.09.09 – Detroit, MI (TBA)
05.10.09 – Toronto, ON (The Deleon White Gallery)
05.11.09 – Montreal, QC (La Sala Rossa)
05.12.09 – South Burlington, VT (HG Showcase Lounge)
05.13.09 – Cambridge, MA (Middle East Downstairs)
05.14.09 – Providence, RI (RISD Market Square)
05.15.09 – Brooklyn, NY (Danbro Studios)
05.16.09 – New York, NY (Bowery Ballroom)
05.17.09 – Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club)

Anyone who’s familiar with the Brooklyn and Baltimore scenes has run across GDFX at one point or another. You might know him better as one of the members of Teeth Mountain and the newest drummer for Liturgy. Or maybe you’re looking forward to seeing him on his current stint backing Dan Deacon as part of Deacon’s 14-person touring ensemble. And if you’re really in the know, maybe you’ve booked a show at Market Hotel through him or are hip to his micro-label Infinite Limbs. Either way, Greg Fox is a man who wears many hats whose solo project goes by the title of GDFX.

GDFX sees Greg step away from the drum kit and take a stab at twisting knobs. Filled with integrity, we’re actually fond of his work as GDFX because of it’s pop-sensibilities. Much like our friend Dan Friel — although with heavier nod to the 8-bit gods — Greg’s hob-knobbery (like that one?) is filled with plenty of catchy hooks. Too bad few of them are present in the clip below, because as fate would have it, Greg’s gear — along with a flash card that held the last five years of GDFX material — was stolen before his New Year’s show with, ironically enough, Dan Friel and These Are Powers. From the GDFX >MySpace blog on New Year’s day, 2009:

thank you to the people who broke into my car and stole all of my gear

be wary of the false gdfx.

But don’t fret, GDFX has pressed on, as his show last night with Double Dagger and Future Island and the brand new 20-minute epic track “Long Chord” will attest.

GDFX – “Long Chord”

In case you haven’t already noticed, Dan Deacon’s new album Bromst is a work of fucking genius. It’s such a lovely cacophony of sounds and ideas that I hardly know where to begin, though discussing “Snookered” seems like a good start. Abstaining from his strategic neurosis, “Snookered” is a moment of musical accessibility and bold honesty from Dan Deacon. He sings precise and clear, declaring the most evocative lyrics of his career: “Been wrong so many times before/ but never quite like this.” With only two short stanzas, Deacon layers “Snookered” over a sprawling eight minutes. Beginning with notes from a music box amidst thick fuzz, Deacon sings loudly as if he refuses to be drowned out. Though never using “you”, his confessional words atop such a bittersweet melody makes “Snookered” feel entirely dedicated to one person.

“Snookered” is just one more example of Deacon’s ability to transgress genre without ignoring structure or traditional pop hooks. Easily one of the best songs of his young career, this track is another reason why Bromst is a stunning accomplishment.

Dan Deacon – “Snookered”

The Death Set have been tearing up warehouses and traditional venues alike with a vengeance, and now the early incarnations of the band and it’s songs (of which there have been many) are being released to the world on April 17. Here is the Rad Warehouses To Bad Neighborhoods version of their single “Around The World”.

Rad Warehouses To Bad Neighborhoods is a collection of The Death Set’s first two EPs, including this original versions of classics like “Around The World”, flagship smash-ups like “Paranoia” and “Zombie” and remixes by Dan Deacon, Bonde Do Role and more.

The Death Set – “Around The World” (Warehouse Version)

There are few musicians who deserve the respect that Dan Deacon merits. Through all of the successes he has enjoyed recently, he has remained a man of the people — and of his people. Not only does he still play on the floor amongst the fans whenever possible, but he has tried with much effort to bring as many of his friends and fellow musicians to prominence with him. These are the reasons we like Dan Deacon. These are the reasons we respect Dan Deacon. But none of these — or the many other reasons I’m sure there are to be a fan of Dan — would mean a thing if he didn’t produce good music. So after a three-year recording hiatus and a full two-years after the release of Spiderman Of The Rings, many of us have been anticipating with wonderment what will become of Mr. Deacon’s trademark sound?

We read the quotes about Dan bringing a darker, more mature aspect to his sound. This might have scared a lot of people, but for a man who has spent much of the last two years on the road, there must have been considerable time to contemplate some pretty weighty subjects. And so we’re left with Bromst; a record that takes the spazz-out party and integrates enough maturity to allow those outside of the warehouses to appreciate what Deacon can produce. To put it quite simply, Bromst is — in this editor’s opinion — the best record of 2009 to date.

There’s still a lot of time left in ‘09 for sure, but in Bromst, we are reminded that Dan is a classically trained musician even if his spectacles are missing a few parts. There is more singing on his sophomore Car Park release (both by Dan and others), there is more instrumentation (as evidenced by his 14-person touring ensemble), and he has brought in guests to help (as evidenced by his Baltimore Round Robin tour last year), but the beauty of Bromst lies in it’s recognizability. For all of the movement forward, for all of the new sounds and lusher production, there is nothing available today — nothing — that you can compare to Dan Deacon’s sound, and his signature is all over Bromst. Whether it’s his shouts through a vocoder, the spazz-out moments or the ascending build-ups to the climax that will leave all the kids screaming, it’s still all there — it’s just crafted and produced better and with many more layers. When you hear the lead into the opening track, appropriately titled “Build Voice”, you can’t help but get excited. And it’s so representative of what we should expect. Dan’s real voice is used to sing a beautiful melody while the layers underneath seamlessly work together to build our anticipation of what he will break into next. You can almost picture the green skull and and floor boards bouncing.

Comparisons are hard to come by sonically, but references to Bromst’s importance can be drawn. Remember when DJ Shadow put out Endtroducing, and it combined the fun elements of hip-hop with a serious undertone that struck a nerve with more people than any DJ record prior had? Remember when Refused dropped The Shape Of Punk To Come and brought an intelligent theme to hardcore that will allow the record to live on in a timeless bubble? Remember when Neutral Milk Hotel put out In The Aeroplane Over The Sea — an indie rock record that made us forget the genre was nearly a decade old and we all felt better when listening to it? Of course Bromst sounds nothing like any of these, but it deserves to live next to them in it’s scope.

It’s extremely rare for me to commend an artist so gratuitously, so I feel like I should stop this blow job of a review, but whether or not you are a fan it must be noted that Bromst will live alone in 2009. It will forever stand as a testament to originality, community and that good feeling you get when you hear the perfect song at the perfect moment. Because when all is said and done, music that makes us feel good will always stand the test of time, and at it’s core, Bromst is a near-perfectly crafted pop record — made even more incredible by the fact that all but two-tracks time in at over 4-minutes in length.

Dan Deacon is already one of the most innovative musicians of this generation, and now Bromst can live harmoniously next to the definitive albums of any generation.

We’re big fans of Dan Deacon here at the Tripwire, so we thought it would be in good taste to give you a preview of his new album, Bromst, due out tomorrow (March 24). In standard Deacon style, “Padding Ghost” follows in the footsteps of Deacon’s organically high-energy, electronic signature sound; leaving your head swelling by the end of the short track.

Deacon became well-known for his interesting style with the release of 2007’s Spiderman Of The Rings. Deacon had recorded several EPs prior to the album, but the nine-track record placed him on the map of must-listen-to artists after its release on Carpark Records. Deacon’s newest album, Bromst — which he spent three years writing and recording — will also be released on Carpark, is 11 tracks in length and is already one of our favorite records of the year.

Dan Deacon – “Padding Ghost” [via Rubin Recommends]

We don’t want to pull an elitist music-blog move and brag about how we’ve been jamming out to Bromst for the last month, but we will just so we can go on the record as saying the new Dan Deacon LP is one of our favorites of 2009. Well, now you don’t have to take our word for it, because the people at NPR have the full album streaming for you to check out.

Yes, we certainly love us some Mr. Deacon — so much so that we took him bowling. But more to the point, you can go here to check out the record that will undoubtedly land on many Best Of 2009 lists by years end.

And as we told you, Dan will be hitting the road in support of Bromst with a 14-piece ensemble and Future Islands and Teeth Mountain in support starting April 3 in Philadelphia.

Dan Deacon is taking his show on the road in April in support of his new album, Bromst, out March 24 on Carpark Records, and if you’re lucky enough to be in New York you can get your Deacon fix this week.

This Friday he’s hitting up Danbro Studios in Brooklyn for a solo show, and on April 3 he kicks thing off in Philadelphia with a full live ensemble, not unlike his all-star line-up from his December gig at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, but with new faces.

Future Islands and Teeth Mountain, both out of Baltimore, will open for Deacon on the entire tour. Bromst has been three years in the making, and is rumored to be a departure from the solely electronic sound of Spiderman of the Rings, bringing in acoustics, mechanics and all sorts of other ics. Brace yourself.

Dan Deacon with Future Islands and Teeth Mountain
01.30.09 – Brooklyn, NY (Danbro Studios) *solo set
04.03.09 – Philadelphia, Penn. (First Unitarian Church)
04.05.09 – Williamsburg, Va. (The Little Theater)
04.06.09 – Asheville, NC (Orange Peel)
04.07.09 – Knoxville, Tenn. (Catalyst)
04.08.09 – Birmingham, Ala. (Bottletree)
04.09.09 – Athens, Ga. (88/cp)
04.10.09 – Atlanta, Ga. (Eyedrum)
04.11.09 – Tallahassee, Fla. (FSU / Club Downunder)
04.13.09 – New Orleans, La. (The Candle Factory / The Heavy)
04.15.09 – Baton Rouge, La. (Spanish Moon)
04.16.09 – Houston, Texas (Orange Show)
04.18.09 – Ft. Worth, Texas (The Ft. Worth Modern Museum)
04.20.09 – Tempe, Ariz. (The Clubhouse)
04.21.09 – San Diego, Calif. (Che Cafe)
04.22.09 – Los Angeles, Calif. (Troubadour)
04.23.09 – San Francisco, Calif. (Great American Music Hall)
04.24.09 – Portland, Ore. (Wonder Ballroom)
04.25.09 – Seattle, Wash. (The Vera Project)
04.26.09 – Vancouver, BC (Richards on Richards)
04.29.09 – Salt Lake City, Utah (Kilby Court)
04.30.09 – Denver, Colo. (Bluebird Theater)
05.01.09 – Kansas City, Mo. (Pistol S.C.)
05.02.09 – Minneapolis, Minn. (Triple Rock)
05.04.09 – Madison, Wisc. (Majestic Theatre)
05.05.09 – Milwaukee, Wisc. (Turner Hall Ballroom)
05.06.09 – Urbana, Ill. (Canopy Club / Club Void)
05.07.09 – Chicago, Ill. (The Metro)
05.08.09 – Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (CMU / The Wesley Foundation)
05.09.09 – Detroit, Mich. (Scrummage)
05.10.09 – Toronto, ONT (The Deleon White Gallery)
05.11.09 – Montreal, QC (La Sala Rossa)
05.12.09 – South Burlington, Vt. (HG Showcase Lounge)
05.13.09 – Cambridge, Mass. (Middle East Downstairs)
05.15.09 – Brooklyn, NY (Danbro Studios)
05.16.09 – New York, NY (Bowery Ballroom)
05.17.09 – Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club)

So what if every other blog is posting this track too? We share a love for Mr. Deacon that cannot be denied.

The track, appropriately titled “Get Older”, is about a more mature Dan Deacon. According to the press release, it is about realizing that aging, growth and change should be embraced, not feared. The music is more about a celebration than a party. The party’s not over, it’s just not a drunken rager anymore. It is a music to celebrate with, to get excited with.

Always the ambassador for his fellow Baltimore musicians, the guitar parts on “Get Older” are performed by Matt Papich of Ecstatic Sunshine and the song will appear both on his upcoming LP Bromst, as well as a split 12′ with fellow Baltimorians Adventure.

As we previously mentioned, Dan Deacon’s now much anticipated follow-up to Spiderman Of The Rings has a track listing and cover art to accompany it’s name and street date.

We doubt Bromst is an acronym for the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, but that’s where he unveiled the new material — featuring a 15-piece live ensemble including all four members of So Percussion alongside various Baltimore civilians from Ponytail, Double Dagger, Ecstatic Sunshine, and Future Islands. Though it was previously reported Dan would be taking the ensemble on tour with him to support Bromst, he clarified himself in an interview with the Village Voice’s Rob Harvilla, saying the show in Brooklyn was a one-time thing. The album will be released on Carpark Records on March 24.

Bromst Track Listing
01. Build Voice
02. Red F
03. Paddling Ghost
04. Snookered
05. Of the Mountains
06. Surprise Stefani
07. Wet Wings
08. Woof Woof
09. Slow With Horns / Run for Your Life
10. Baltihorse
11. Get Older

With one of our New Music Thursday features today hailing from the 8-bit musical realm, we were reminded of our 8-bit hero, Dan Deacon. It’s an interview and performance from February 18, 2005 on Savannah, Georgia’s WSAV NBC morning show, Coastal Sunrise. We love this video for so many reasons, not the least of which is its home-video quality, Dan’s hand movements while the interview is talking to him, and the enjoyment of getting to see one of our favorite musicians before he was who we know today.

Crime Novels is actually just one guy; Ellery Widener Martin Samson. And even if you don’t like his music, if you get the chance to witness him perform, we promise you will never forget it.

Regularly finding himself on great line-ups around the NYC area, Ellery likes to boast about his 7-minute sets, which finds the bombastic performer rolling around on the floor, banging on various percussive instruments and a healthy does of “in your face” attitude. That is to say, like a (more) avant-garde Dan Deacon, Ellery performs on the floor and usually finds himself singing directly at people.

Crime Novels may be Samson’s spoken word, electronic hardcore one man band, but he moonlights for That Ghost. Also in the multi-instrumental role for That Ghost, Ellery proves to be a man of many hats, and one we think we will be hearing more from in ‘09.

Crime Novels – “New Is New”