Dan Deacon: Acorn Master

Dan Deacon: Acorn Master | |
| Label: | Psych-O-Path |
| Format: | Album |
| Media: | CD |
| Release Date: | 2006 |
| Genre: | Electronic/Dance |
More info on local actDan Deacon | |
God bless Dan Deacon. Any time you find yourself inching for the Prozac or thinking that Baltimore music has gotten too serious, too aloof, too fashion-conscious, too cool, we suggest taking in a Deacon show. If the sight of this one-man band--eyes agog under his oversized spectacles, fruggin’ with the terrified glee of someone with a lit match in his sneaker, his garden-shed electronics arrayed in front of him like an autopsy performed on a Nintendo Entertainment System --doesn’t cause a shit-eating grin to spread across your face . . . well, you’re dead inside and there’s nothing we can do for you. His new Acorn Master is utterly friggin’ obnoxious, in the best possible way.
The six-song EP buzzes with shrill synth timbres that sound like a bumblebee trapped in a coffee can, drum machine beats like colored alphabet blocks, and the Toon Town Community Choir on the mic. The tolling "It’s My Fault" is Deacon’s slow jam, featuring what sounds like the world’s first synthesized singing saw. His cover of "Splish Splash" is a kiddie 45 played at 78 rpm. Deacon puffs out his birdchest and does his best Big Bopper impression while Alvin and the Chipmunks take five to do whippets in the alley behind the studio. The gnarly Commodore 64 sound FX spiral out of control as everyone jumps in the tub. It lasts less than two minutes. In a perfect world, it’d be a Radio Disney smash for eight weeks in a row.