Interview by Matt Kivel

Baltimore music maverick Dan Deacon has had quite a year. After toiling in the indie underground for the better part of a decade, his schizophrenic dance music finally caught on with bloggers and casual music fans alike. Deacon went from playing Pehrspace (a tiny 60 person venue in Echo Park) to a packed tent at Coachella  and an equally rabid crowd at the El Rey Theatre in January. Musically restless and defiantly broad in his tastes and artistic endeavors, Dan Deacon will perform this Sunday at an undisclosed location as the headliner, and final act of the F Yeah Festival .

Q: How did you come to be involved with the F Yeah fest?

A: I really like playing LA and I was asked to play the fest last year, but I was already on tour elsewhere -- I think on my first tour of the UK. So here I am this year! What a crazy world!!!!

 Q: What do you think of the LA music scene? Do you see similarities between the artistic community you are a part of in Baltimore and the tightly-knit collection of bands here?

A: LA is just so massive. It’s hard to compare a city like Baltimore with LA, but I think what’s going on in LA is wonderful. They have a great collection of venues and a really strong, supportive community of people. Also, Kyle Mabson  is there, so it’s of course the best. Community is the most important part of anything. The most important aspect of the DIY and independent scene is the community it breeds. To a lot of casual "members of the scene" shows are just a place to meet people and get laid or be "seen" but to people who devote their lives to it, it’s a lot more. It’s about bringing people together and being proud of our city, neighborhood and the people who inhabit it. I know this sounds really dorky or like I'm giving the piece sign while cumming on a tree, but it’s true.

 Q: At your El Rey show earlier this year you chose Health and Abe Vigoda as openers -- bands one wouldn't normally associate with the type of music you make -- do you think pairing disparate bands on a bill makes for a rich and more rewarding concert experience?

A:Weird, I would think my music would be associated with theirs. I guess I'm made out to play dance music in the press, but all of my shows starting up were with noise-based bands. While our immediate sounds are different, I think we are based in a similar root idea. That idea being expanding upon pop music with large levels of dissonance and arhythmic sounds over a steady rhythmic pattern. I do think a diverse bill makes for a better show, but again, I think the only thing making my music so different from Health's is the perception the has been attached to it. Health and I have been playing shows for years. It still blows my mind that people say I write dance music. Sorry, I'm venting. I think your question is valid, but I just disagree with thinking that we are vastly different bands. I think it’s weirder when I play a show with just DJs. Health and I played a show at Perhspace in June of last year before either of us were very well known. It was awesome. That was one of my favorite shows. I guess the main difference is that I play music you can "dance" to. Most of it isn't dance music and I don't think most people dance to it, they move around really fast. I don't know, I can't really see what’s going on when I play. I have the worst seat in the whole room.

Q: You've done a number of shows with Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk ), what artistic ground do you two share and what separates you as musicians/producers?

A: I guess we are most similar as performers. We both are very focused around the audience as being the major part of the event. After that our approach to music creation is very different. We use a very different pallet of sounds and instruments. Gregg and I met in Pittsbugh years ago. He was one of the only people who went to my shows there. The night we met we both got completely wasted and went to this bar called Gooski's and almost got the shit beaten out of us on several occasions. Luckily our friend Lord Grunge is a well respected and HUGE man.

Q:    Do you have plans for more video projects in the vein of "Ultimate Reality" ? How did the experience of touring a visually-projected show differ from your standard touring experience?

A: The tour I do in 2009 for “Bromst” [Forthcoming album] will be a large scale production with a full ensemble and a large visual aspect to it. Now that the show has grown in size and I'm playing facilities that have really nice PA systems, lighting rigs and lots of open space it’s fun to experiment with those aspects. It’s still fun to play a house show or a warehouse, but it’s also a lot of fun to have technology at my disposal and also to do performances in large, open rooms. That’s more of the direction I want to go in. Fancy, ritzy-ditsy places, but still push it to the limits.

Q: What were your intentions with "Ultimate Reality?" There was an obvious political message – what was the dynamic between you and Jimmy Joe Roche as collaborators?

A: Jimmy and I are really old friends and have worked together on many projects. As for my intentions with the music, I just wanted to create something that was vast and would fill the space with sound -- very intense but at the same time really droning. The main thing I like to accomplish as a performance artist is to re-contextualize the space with my work. I sound like such a pompous dick-head, but isn’t that what interviews are all about?

Q: What can we expect from you, in terms of album releases and new projects, in the coming year?

A: I'm working on “Bromst” right now, which is my next full length record. I've been working on it for a long time now and I'm going to miss working on it. But I'm really excited about it coming out. I've been drifting away from computer music and electronics as the main instruments I compose for. I've started writing more for small and large mixed ensembles, but in the same sort of pop based, dance-tempo style I'm known for. This album is mainly live instruments with a focus on marimba, glockenspiel, drum kit, and player piano. There is also a much larger lyrical aspect to the record. Most of the songs are about becoming a ghost and my views on the coming dark age of the future -- the ancient past getting older as a positive thing. I guess it’s mainly about cycles and balance. It’s the first album I've worked on like this and I'm really happy with how it’s coming out. The tour of the record is going to be with a full ensemble so that everything will be performed live. I'll still do most of the old stuff solo -- I hate when a solo artist (or duo or whatever) that normally plays solo gets a band and then never goes back. I still really like playing solo but if I did only that forever I would go insane. After “Bromst” I'd like to start working on more site-specific compositions and sound installations. When I tour I want it to be a production that’s worth coming out to see.

(Photo by Uli Loski)