Dan Deacon – Woof Woof EP review

Artist: Dan Deacon
Title: Woof Woof
Label: Amazing Sounds
Genre: Broken Beat/Nu Jazz
Format: 12″, Digital
Buy From: Juno Records, Juno Download

Technicolour writer and producer Dan Deacon is possibly one of the most unique sounding musicians in the world. A credible and unpretentious exponent of avant-garde pop, he dazzles both on record and at live shows, where Deacon typically performs amongst the crowd armed with a table full of gadgets and pedals, as well as a mic. Anyone yet to be exposed to his sound would get the vibe from hearing “Woof Woof”, which features layers of manipulated and pitch-shifted vocals, a slowly rising Farfisa organ and drums that build and stack on top of each other to create a joyous orgy of sounds by the end.

Reigning in the wildness somewhat is a mix by Glaswegian golden boy Hudson Mohawke, who turns in a mix that’s strangely conventional for him. Not that that’s a bad thing at all, his take on “Woof Woof” is a gem – full of twisted loops of acoustic guitar, wildly pitched-up vocals and live drums. London duo Allez Allez are also let loose on the opening track of Deacon’s Bromst album, “Build Voice”, and create a powerful and epic nu-italo backing for it – with some impressively heavy synth work making it instantly loveable. A stalwart on James Holden’s Border Community label, Luke Abbott takes on “Surprise Stefani” to round off the EP, and stays true to Deacon’s fondness for elegantly building a song continuously to a huge climax.

Review: Oliver Keens