To understand Dan Deacon’s music, it is best to start with the man ““ or the fat kid.
“I was the weird, funny, fat kid. There were a couple other fat kids, but they weren’t funny,” said electro-composer Deacon.
Years later, not much has changed. The goofy looking, yet slightly slimmer twentysomething still wears his thick-rimmed red glasses with pride.
As for his music, he says, “It’s like two Sheryl Crows meeting each other, and 400 Phil Collins.”
His description is accurate, as it makes no sense at all. With track titles including, “ksjfhgljkhertykjlehgskjhkjvhda,” Deacon’s music is more about fun than formality.
“There’s no tangible or describable goal (in the music), but fun is definitely part of it,” Deacon said.
Deacon’s sound fits into the multi-category world of underground electronic/pop/future shock, probably because it doesn’t fit any existing category. Synths, sound effects and high-pitched vocals flood speakers with the magic of a transcendent dance party in the heads of his listeners ““ at least, that’s Deacon’s goal.
A Dan Deacon concert is every fire marshall’s worst nightmare. Hordes of fans surround Deacon, who always sets up in the middle of the floor, as opposed to on stage.
Deacon encourages dancing, though not much persuasion is needed after about 30 seconds of his infectious rhythms. Arm-flailing, booty-shaking dance offs are the result.
“I started out performing at warehouses and galleries where there weren’t stages at all, and I just got used to it,” Deacon explained. “It makes it a lot more comfortable for me.”
While any musician’s sound is the result of endless experimentation, Deacon’s sound has been shaped by other, more academic, forces as well. Deacon attended Purchase College, where he studied electro-acoustic and computer music composition. Essentially, he split his time between the library and the garage ““ and he’s got the degrees to prove it.
“It definitely influenced (my music),” Deacon said of his education. “I know I hear music and approach it differently.”
His latest tour, which he’ll be bringing to Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre, is a collaboration with his long time friend and video artist Jimmy Roche.
The tour, called “Ultimate Reality,” begins with a 40-minute film homage to Arnold Schwarzenegger, set to a Deacon piece, and is followed by a full set.
The film portion, birthed by Roche, is just as euphoric as Deacon’s music. Roche edited together a handful of Schwarzenegger classics, from “Terminator,” to “Junior,” to “Conan the Barbarian.” The result is a collage of footage defined by oversaturated color and dizzying graphics, with Schwarzenegger dancing to Deacon’s beats. The result is a kaleidoscopic visual effect.
“When I was young, I had these dreams where I would combine movies in my head,” Roche explained. “That’s what I wanted this piece to capture. It’s almost like a drug, like the sensation that a child has when they see “˜Total Recall’ for the first time, the static buzz in your mind, but instead of being internalized, it’s pushed onto the screen.”
The visual high isn’t just for fun, though. Roche considers it a representation and a commentary about the way films create cultural identities.
“If you wanted to see who I was, you might check out my MySpace or something. It would be a catalog of media that would define me as an individual,” Roche said.
“By taking these pieces (of film) and reprocessing them, it says we can still take these pieces of industry, of art, of cinema, activate them and collage them into a relationship, into huge pieces of art that guide the way American culture defines itself.”