Dan Deacon‘s newest album, Spiderman of the Rings, is among the discs in rotation at the ALARM office this week.
Dan Deacon
Spiderman of the Rings (Carpark Records)
Release: 5/8/07
Quirky electronic artist Dan Deacon is far from ordinary. Whether getting bodies in motion with thick synth sounds, arranging frequently scaling compositions, or shifting the speeds of a sampled cartoon bird on aptly titled opener “Wooody Wooodpecker,” his newest full-length album, Spiderman of the Rings, is both danceable and fantastically silly.
Grails
Burning Off Impurities (Temporary Residence)
Release: 4/24/07
Grails’ fourth album clearly is its most far-reaching effort to date. Burning Off Impurities combines Indian and Asian influences with acoustic guitar, violin, highly echoed guitar lines, and more to create instrumental, long-form pieces that could be included in many film scores. The disc is full of dynamics; most songs build to crescendos with frenzied drum fills.
Capital Steps
I’m Not Listening (Go Midnight)
Release: 4/10/07
I’m Not Listening is a batch of noisy, pseudo-minimalist electronic tunes that is entirely performed on a Nintendo Gameboy. Capital Steps’ disc was released on new label Go Midnight, which is co-run by drummer Mark Gajadhar of Blood Brothers and Neon Blonde.
Billy Martin & John Medeski
Mago (Amulet)
Release: 4/10/07
Two-thirds of jazz/jam artists Medeski, Martin, and Wood – organist John Medeski and drummer Billy Martin – get together for some rollicking tunes. The duo’s material starts off wilder than it normally is with bassist Chris Wood, but reverts to its standard fare in short order.