Dan Deacon and O'Death make for a futuristic hoot-nanny. - Oh My Rockness

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Dan Deacon and O'Death make for a futuristic hoot-nanny.

August 28, 2007
Two great soon-to-be-huge bands (one represents Baltimore, the other represents Brooklyn) hit up the AV-aerie on Saturday, September 8th. It's the go-go-GADGET rock of Dan Deacon meets the go-go-APPALACHIAN rock of O'Death. Perhaps the meeting of these two unique musical minds makes for an unusual pairing, but it's one strange summit I sure want to check out.

Dan Deacon is Baltimore's finest arty-synthy-techy-singer-nerd. When Deacon leaves his "Wham City" home, he hauls along two suitcases worth of computer gadgets, city to city, pulling together an unbelievably electric performance of Future Rock from its contents. Maybe the hardest working man in showbiz, Deacon has released eight albums in the last four years, and has played hundreds upon hundreds of shows within that span. This guy ain't no dummy either; he holds a Masters degree in Electro-Acoustic Composition.

In other words, his entirely strange music of crazily mashed up beats and dumb, oddball sounds is actually kind of smart. There's definitely a strong sense of humor at play when Deacon takes the stage. He knows the spazzy video game music he makes is somewhat absurd, yet we both know it's also delightful. If you can give in to the spectacle, and cast aside your cynicism, you're guaranteed to have a good time at a Dan Deacon show.

Brooklyn's O'Death feature six members who can lead a straight-up hoot-nanny full of boot-stomping "goth-country" songs. These good ol' boys use fiddles, guitars, ukuleles, banjos, and trombones to get their rockin' revelry started. They list some of their influences as being "whiskey" and "Appalachian mountain music," which is very accurate, but I also hear Neil Young, especially in Greg Jamie's vocals.

O'Death's music is strange and scruffy and fun (kind of like "Mule Variations" era Tom Waits). If you've ever gone to a bodega and have at least been tempted to reach into the cooler for the Mississippi Mud, then O'Death is the band for you. And it certainly helps if you like the fiddle.

PS. Dan Deacon also plays The Hideout Block Party on Saturday (during the day).

Dan Deacon and O'Death play AV-aerie, on Saturday, September 8th.

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