Dan Deacon’s come-as-you-are party jams light up the night

The News Review:

- Dan Deacon’s come-as-you-are party jams light up the night
- A Healthy Dose of WTF
- Alt-rock star Billy Corgan has his band back … sort of

Dan Deacon’s come-as-you-are party jams light up the night
Detroit Metro Times – Jan 23, 2008
“It” is the jams conjured by 26-year-old Baltimore artist Dan Deacon. His “Ultimate Reality” Tour — a multimedia experience combining Deacon’s left-field dance music with collaborator Jimmy Joe Roche’s day-glo freak-out films — rolls into Scrummage University in Eastern Market this weekend. “Ultimate Reality” is the kind of take-no-prisoners faux hyperbole that 10 years ago you might have expected from say a too-serious-by-half death metal outfit. But reality as we now know is up for grabs. And “Ultimate” anything (annihilation party fighting championship) is no longer the domain of devil-locked headbangers and marketing executives. If Deacon and Roche declare theirs the “Ultimate Reality” well then so be it. What’s more the tour rolls into town on a wave of underground goodwill that puts artists between “saw them when” and “mainstream curiosity.

A Healthy Dose of WTF
TheStranger.com – Jan 23, 2008
‘”In previous years STIFF has shown movies about a supergeniushead-wound victim who has occasional issues with nymphomania (TheGlamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai); a mockumentary political comedyabout a small-town man running for mayor (A New Tomorrow); areal documentary about one man’s battle with cancer (My LeftHand); and more “professional” films that also star familiar nameslike Christian Slater Elisa Cuthbert and William H. Macy (He Wasa Quiet Man). STIFF has also shown music-related films includinglast year’s documentary about local band the Briefs. As STIFF garnered more attention from media and movie fans alikesince being founded in 2005 it expanded its programming in 2007 toinclude live music and comedy which Nelson also assisted with lastyear. The lineup flaunted both up-and-coming and established musicalacts like Cancer Rising A Gun That Shoots Knives H Is for HellgateNeezie Pleaze Sleep from ldominion and the Transmissionary Six. This year with Nelson at the helm of the musical portion STIFFhopes to take things even further and better exploit the fact that itisn’t just about the (fucked-up) movies. Since moving to Seattle in 1999 Nelson who grew up in SouthDakota has had a deep love for the local music scene… He’s been doinglocal consignment for Easy Street Records for four years and he’s beena KEXP DJ for two. He’s also one half of the comedy act Black Daisywhich he describes as “anticomedy comedy. ” (For a good laugh searchfor their nu-metal parody “Voltage Periscope” on MySpace. ) His tastesrange from weird avant-garde jazz stuff to college rock and he planson catering to all his likes in this year’s festival. “Last year STIFF had live music after the films but a lot ofpeople were coming to watch just the movies or just the music” saysNelson. “This year there will be some bands that have something to dowith film. Instead of one musical act after a movie or a couple bandsplaying while the movie’s projected in the background it’s gonna bemore of a multimedia event.

Alt-rock star Billy Corgan has his band back … sort of
Prague Post – Jan 23, 2008
But as the reformed band’s recent releases demonstrate Corgan and Co. aren’t toying with the band’s classic formula. n the aggressive album Zeitgeist and acoustic American Gothic EP the Chicago songwriter clearly has his music back. Corgan has called Zeitgeist a “comment on the state of the nation” a notion reinforced by its cover art a picture of a drowning Statue of Liberty created by artist Shepard Fairey. While it’s a striking image the most noteworthy thing about the album is how excluding a few lyrical clunkers and poorly written political rants it resurrects the band’s muscular side something notably absent on Corgan’s poorly received synth-driven 2005 solo album The Future Embrace. New songs like “(Come n) Let’s Go!” and “Tarantula” driving tracks thick with layered guitars certainly sound like retreads. But at least they do justice to the original formula… But at least they do justice to the original formula. The Smashing Pumpkins became an oversize commercial success during the alternative-rock era — the band’s 1995 double-disc album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness debuted at the top of the Billboard charts and has sold more than 4 million copies — by fusing equally bombastic musical elements. The classic Pumpkins sound on albums like Gish and the breakout Siamese Dream blends some of the more showy styles of ’70s rock like Sabbath-style metal riffs and the symphonic pretensions of groups like the Electric Light rchestra with the Gothic tendencies of the Cure and the swirling effects-laden heavily overdubbed sound of psychedelia and shoegaze acts like My Bloody Valentine. Lyrically the group is no less overblown since sole songwriter Corgan has made a career out of emotionally charged diarylike diatribes. His extreme passion and perfectionism have been both an asset and a catalyst for the band’s shaky internal politics. Rumors of Corgan’s extremely controlling nature and single-minded actions such as re-recording other band member’s parts in the studio have swirled around the group since its inception and are considered the main reason Wretzky and Iha didn’t sign up for the reunion. ther facets of the band’s shaky history — Chamberlin’s history of heroin use and the death by overdose of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in 1996 among other things — have ensured that this group has always had its share of drama.