Posterized: HEALTH 7/14/2008

While I have some very artistic and interesting posters from shows I’ve attended over the years, some of my favorite are the most basic.  One of these posters would be the crumpled, basic album cover poster for the HEALTH show I caught with my friend Paul in Denver back in 2008. Not only does the poster remind me of the night, but it also symbolizes the chaos that went down in the cramped venue that night. Here’s how I remember it…

Dan Deacon “America”

Dan Deacon

“America”

[Domino; 2012]

Rating: 7.8

Over the past couple weeks, both political parties gave us their vision for Amerca’s future at their respective conventions, and the difference couldn’t have been starker. At the Republican National Convention, conservatives took to the stage to wax ecstatic about the America that once existed before the evil Obama came along and ruined it all. Jon Stewart said it best, “The message of this convention is that apparently up until about November of 2008, Americans lived in a utopian ideal born of our own gumption and individual hard work.” The Democrats, on the other hand, presented a vision for the future, begging Americans to give Barrack Obama another four years to make it happen.  Basically, one party looks to the past while another aims for the future.

In Dan Deacon’s latest opus “America,” this same clash of views can be found in his blend of classic orchestration and in your face futuristic electronic blips and hisses. But this dichotomy of sound goes beyond the political landscape – it forces these two beasts to face off – an audio battle royale where the grand American landscape goes nine rounds with the technological progress that dares to spit into the wind. It’s Cowboys vs. Indians, North vs. South, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant, all wrapped into one ambitiously, epic album.

BDWPS Podcast #7

On the latest episode, I cover past mistakes made on podcasts and listen to new music from Tallest Man On Earth, Marissa Nadler, Liars, Fang Island, Mission of Burma, and even a new song from Bob Dylan. Also, I pay tribute to one of my favorite bands from high school, Fishbone. Check it out here! 

OR subscribe to it at iTunes (search “BDWPS”).