Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Spin Dan Deacon at The End, 10/5/09
Posted by The Spin on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 11:27 AM
It seems a rare occasion in this town a rock show not only starts by 8 p.m. and people show up, but due to an intended all-ages demographic and a conflicting city-wide curfew, rock o'clock was pushed up to prime time, and a roomful of youngsters arrived on the dot.
The night was off to a rollicking start as former MEEMAW frontman Daniel Pujol kickstarted things with some upbeat, freewheeling bluesy jangle pop. The angsty scream-singing and absurdist pop culture references from his last band are vaguely shadowed now and replaced with a smooth-sailing croon laid down over a swift beat and relentless guitar strum--resulting in what could be best described as attention deficit psychedelia. Pujol and his mates occasionally dip into a noisy, noodling instrumental dirge, but never wander too far into the deep end before returning faithfully to a hook.
On the patio after Pujol's set, a growing mob of juveniles were doing their best to make us feel old, especially with the ubiquitous and audacious scent of reefer hitting us from all sides. A familiar theme blasting from inside led us back in, only to find it was former one-man band Totally Michael covering The Village People's "YMCA." Michael still plays guitar and sings along to prerecorded synth and drum machine tracks, but is now backed by a drummer able to match his own hyperactivity. Steeped in irony and self-aware to a fault, Totally Michael's jams all build from a pop punk base with some New Wave keys sprinkled on top, dipped occasionally in artificial hip-hop and R&B flavors. The routine wore thin over time, and we found ourselves getting a little annoyed--until we remembered that most everyone else was there to have fun, and Totally Michael was doing a great job of accommodating them.
Next up was a visually arresting and sonically disturbing treat from Baltimore's Nuclear Power Pants. Assaulting the crowd with menacing costumes and a black-lighted backdrop, the eight-piece band elicited a collective "WTF?" with some frenetic, eclectic chaotic punk rock complete with droning dual lead vocals, squelching, defective, circuit-bent synths and a trio of backup singers. It was as if Sid and Marty Krofft pre-imagined The Blues Brothers on a fatal combination of Ritalin and Robitussin.
By this time the house was packed and growing increasingly impatient for the main event to get underway. Backed by a wall of speakers adorned in Halloween masks and colored tape, headliner Dan Deacon set up on the floor surrounded by his own light show, delaying his start until the venue was entirely pitch black. He proceeded to ramble into the mic a bit, lead the crowd in a Casio-backed rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In," rambled a little more and led the audience in a series of stretches along to Simon & Garfunkel's "Cecilia" before really kicking things into gear. Neck-snapping tribal beats (which resembled death metal) laid the foundation, over which dinky bass melodies and layer upon layer of synths, pitch-bent vocals and erratic lights provided an epileptic's nightmare.
With half his shtick relying on audience participation, Deacon couldn't have asked for a better crowd. A floor full of whippersnappers were more than willing to do his bidding as he emceed a dance contest and created a human tunnel that led out the door and onto the street. Say what you will about the youth of tomorrow--they're punctual, they love to rock 'n' roll, and not even your curfew can stop them from having a good time.
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share & enjoy,
john
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