Dan Deacon Talks New Album "Bromst": "It's Not Dance Music"

On his last album, Spiderman of the Rings, Baltimore electronic-music maven Dan Deacon threw a giddy neon dance party — sort of like kids' music for very hip kids, complete with Woody Woodpecker samples. On the follow-up, Bromst, arriving March 24th via Carpark Records, he aimed for a more substantial sound. "If the first record was like some tasty hors d'oerves, this is the meal," Deacon said on the phone from his hometown, where he just wrapped up the Baltimore Round Robin tour, featuring several of the city's critically acclaimed new bands, including Beach House and Double Dagger. Bromst, which Deacon spent three years writing and recording, uses more acoustic instrumentation, including marimba, glockenspiel, winds and brass, and fewer gimmicky samples than its predecessor, giving it a more lush, organic vibe. But Deacon, who built a scene largely around high-energy live shows, says the new sounds won't stop people from grooving. "I think people can dance to it, but it's not as much 'dance music,' " he says. "It's less about dance and more about motion."

Last spring Rolling Stone named Deacon's Baltimore scene one of the Best of Rock, and also spotlighted the red-hot female MC duo Get Em Mamis and onetime RS Breaking band Beach House. The Bromst track list — which includes a song for Gwen Stefani, perhaps? — is right here:

1. "Build Voice"
2. "Red F"
3. "Paddling Ghost"
4. "Snookered"
5. "Of The Mountains"
6. "Surprise Stefani"
7. "Wet Wings"
8. "Woof Woof"
9. "Slow With Horns / Run For Your Life"
10. "Baltihorse"
11. "Get Older"

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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