4. Dan Deacon, Bromst (‘Red F’)

Do not adjust your set.

Dan Deacon is electro-acoustic, Dan Deacon is electro-punk.

Although Bromst as a whole is quite proggy, he kicks out the jams and condenses down a bit here on the second track. Coincidentally, the second track on Spiderman of the Rings is ‘Crystal Cat’, a speed-punk-pop hit that is the Ramones brought into the digital era and modern zany-ness. In the context of a rather sprawling album, where sounds are stretched out and built up over five-plus minutes, ‘Red F’ is, though not in itself that short, a concentration of noise and manic attitude. Like the cover, Bromst has darkness encroaching in from the outside, but it’s centred on a thin and perhaps flimsy tent of bright light and colour; inside there’s more headspace than before, more extensive production and instrumentation, but the same recognisable basic playfulness.

Part of the playfulness of Dan Deacon is found not on record, but in the live shows. However, they’re not everything either, despite all the on- and off-stage antics, the thrill of forming the human tunnel, etc. Probably the best thing I took away from his ‘09 show in Dublin was in fact something tangible: the Teeth Mountain Live On record. Basically comprising of Dan Deacon’s percussion players, plus bassist, saxophonist and so on, that were by far my favourite of the support acts (my sense of irony doesn’t extend to enjoying Future Islands), the live recording is two tracks, one for each side of the LP, of hypnotic, circling free-jazz drumming. Which makes for an awesome underpinning of the songs on Bromst.