Dan Deacon sounds like a rainbow that threw up. In a good way.

Sue us if we’re a couple of months behind Pitchfork. We realize that’s like three years in nouveau hipster blog trolling years. Regardless of our delay, there are two things that we here at the Culture Warrior are fascinated with: the obscene and the bizarre. Better than either is the obscenely bizarre, which is why we like Dan Deacon so much.

Listening to Dan Deacon is, for the lack of a better word, a trip. With his Masters degree in electro-acoustic composition in hand, this classically trained composer is pretty much the embodiment of musical experimentalism. Opinions on Deacon run the gamut; I’ve had people tell me they love his applesauce brand of noise, and I’ve had others tell me they’re going to have nightmares. Personally, I’m of the former group. There are no, nor should there be, any pretenses to Deacon’s music. It’s unapologetic, it’s crazy, it’s fun.

Deacon is currently on tour with party masters Girl Talk and relative newcomer White Williams and is well-worth your allowance, folks. Houston, be warned: tonight is your night.

Upcoming Shows:
Sept. 24 - Houston, TX @ Walters on Washington [Editor’s Note: No Girl Talk, though]
Sept. 25 - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
Sept. 27 - San Diego, CA @ Epicentre
Sept. 28 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (SOLD OUT)
Sept. 29 - San Francisco, CA @ Meet & Greet at Virgin Mega Store (4-6)
Sept. 29 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore (SOLD OUT)
Sept. 30 - Oakland, CA @ Lobot Gallery
Oct. 1 - Brekeley, CA @ Lower Sproul Plaza
Oct. 4 - Oberlin, OH @ Dionysus Disco
Oct. 5 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Oct. 6 - Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
Oct. 11 - St. Louis, MO @ The Billiken Club
Oct. 12 - Grinnell, IA @ Grinnell University Gardner Lounge
Oct. 17 - New York, NY @ CMJ: Bowery Ballroom
Oct. 19 - Bennington, VT @ Bennington University
Oct. 20 - Alfred, NY @ Alfred University

Featured Song: “Splish Splash” by Dan Deacon


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Featured Song: “Ohio (Demostration Version)” by Dan Deacon


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Jens and decapitation.

Damn Swedes have done it again. With the exception of Ace of Base, the Scandinavian country has a relatively unshakable reputation for hosting some brilliant pop acts with timeless music. Enter: Jens Lekman.

The 26 year old is and old dog at this game. His previous albums (”When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog” and “Oh You’re So Silent Jens”) were two of the most entertaining albums of their respective years. They were both drenched in a minimalistic Brill Building sound a la Burt Bacharach with his Stephen Merritt-esque vocals (a very popular trait among Scandinavian male singers, it seems. Refer to Suburban Kids with Biblical Names as well.)

Whereas some other European indie pop male singer/songwriters (how are those for qualifiers?) seem to barely tip-toe the borders of their own ingenuity (I’m looking at you, Sondre Lerche), Lekman is more than happy to do what he does best…only better. There’s a sense of richness and depth in his third album, “Night Falls Over Kortedala,” that he’s hinted at before, but is dominant here. The album is nothing if not a natural progression from his previous work polished to perfection. Lekman manages to bridge that Brill Building pop with old-school rhythm and blues, a connection that would usually pass over most of our heads but makes complete sense.

Do yourself a favor and catch him if he stops by your city.

Featured Song: “Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig” by Jens Lekman


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Featured Song: “The Opposite Of Hallelujah” by Jens Lekman


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Nice hat.
After spending a semester making music in eastern Alaska, who wouldn’t seek out troubadour Zach Condon (of Beirut fame) and A Hack And A Hacksaw’s Heather Trost? With the appropriately-named Alaska in Winter, Brandon Bethancourt did just that, the end result being his first LP, “Dance Party In The Balkans.”

First of all: one of the best album titles of the year. Already, you half-expect stomping on old, dirty floorboards in some obscure Eastern European town with a troupe of traveling gypsies. Or is that just me? Either way, the imagery works. The album itself marries East(ern European) to West(ern European), combining the Balkan-influenced instrumentals with synths and vocoders. Lots and lots of vocoder. In fact, it can get a bit much; it’s like that damned Imogen Heap song infused itself with 80 percent of “Dance Party.” Unlike Imogen Heap, Bethancourt’s vocals are actually more delicate and more appropriate, especially when they’re in put in conjunction with very subtle piano and relatively unaltered (and currently unidentified) female vocals in “Horsey Horse.”

I think that most people would agree that the last track off of “Dance Party” is the best. Featuring a singing Zach Condon, it might sound a bit discrediting of Bethancourt’s abilities to call “Close Your Eyes We Are Blind” the album’s best, but the combined use of Condon’s slightly-strained vocals with Bethancourt’s vocoder along with the instrumentation plays off well and makes it the richest of the tracks. Enjoy.

Featured Song: “Dance Party in the Balkans” by Alaska in Winter

Download: “Dance Party in the Balkans” by Alaska in Winter

Featured Song: “Close Your Eyes We Are Blind” by Alaska in Winter

Download: “Close Your Eyes We Are Blind” by Alaska in Winter

As you’ve probably picked up by now, we here at Culture Warrior are firmly dedicated to the unfolding drama of Joel Gardner, the merry mooner [aptly titled Assgate- or should it be A$$CATgate!?], not least of all because the spunky lil guy is my very own lil brother!

You see, growing up in our rowdy household, Joel often found it a personal delight [as the resident trouble-maker] to moon various family members, presumably in order to garner a strong reaction and/or test our brotherly love. Thus, it seemed that the Moon Rover Event was an original, signature Joel Gardner kind of reaction in the wake of Karl Rove’s presence.

But was it original? Not so! As the BBC would tell us, it seems that young Mr. Patrick Devine was given a suspended sentence and 200 guinea fine for mooning a Senegalese governor whilst volunteering abroad. While Devine’s cheeky [ha! HA!] actions were more of the prankster variety rather than an act of protest, it’s disappointing to know that it’s all been done. Looks like A$$CAT will have to find some new original protest strategies. I’m sure he’ll have a VERY difficult time with that, eh, little bro?

Featured Song: “You and Me and the Moon” by The Magnetic Fields

Source:
‘Mooning’ teen avoids jail term BBC

Whitey is a bit of a mystery man. With two full albums and a MySpace page, the Briton is primed to take over your local dancefloor.

Having released “The Light At The End of The Tunnel Is A Train” last year, Whitey managed to give us an idea of what his aesthetic is. The best way to describe said aesthetic is music underlined by dark, heavy and complex beats highlighted with a light attitude, mainly though his vocals; this reads pretty stale and broad, but it’s accurate.

The description rings truest with his latest work, “Great Shakes.” You get all of Whitey’s dimensions emphasized at one point or another: the guitarist, the lyricist, the synth-seducer. His second coming is really his strongest. “Great Shakes” has excellent production value and genius melodies, each of which is relatively easy to find in most albums, but rarely both.

Whitey is actually one of the few musically unique acts to recently pop up in the limelight. You know that old commerical: “You got CHOCOLATE in my peanut butter!” “You got PEANUT BUTTER on my chocolate!” Well, substitute “chocolate” for “rock” and “peanut butter” for “electro,” and congratualtions: you’ve got yourself a Whitey.

Featured Song: “Cigarette” by Whitey

Featured Song: “Sweet Words For The Sour” by Whitey

Featured Song: “Wrap It Up” by Whitey

They like to graze.
Well, it seems recent Portland-based musical exports are more abundant than we thought. Busier and exponentially diverse, at that. Let’s take a gander at Blitzen Trapper.

“Wild Mountain Nation,” Blitzen Trappers’ third full-length album, is overflowing with experimentation. In what can only be described as an alt-country-indie-rock explosion, the band is most easily compared to early Beck and late(r) Flaming Lips. Yeah, yeah; we hear it too. But aside from the requisite generic indie rock comparison, “Wild Mountain Nation” is fierce. It fluctuates between psychedelic, sweet, twangy, rocking and extravagant, but always weird (in a digestible way).

The six piece, most of which is originally from Salem, Oregon, recently signed to Sub Pop Records and plans to release two more records with the indie label.

Anyway, you have to give props to a band that gives the banjo the respect it deserves.

Featured Song: “Devil’s A-Go-Go” by Blitzen Trapper

Featured Song: “Miss Spiritual Tramp” by Blitzen Trapper

Featured Video: “Devil’s A-Go-Go” by Blitzen Trapper

This is a really creepy video.

If you remember our best of music of 2006 post, you’ll remember that Girl Talk’s Night Ripper and Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House were both on it, right smack dab in the middle. Naturally, were suckers for the mash up. You might also check out Grizzly Bear’s blog sometime, they’re pretty sharp dudes.

Featured Song: “Knife” by Grizzly Bear (Girl Talk Remix)


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