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Dan Deacon

Spiderman of the Rings (Car Park)

By Matt Siblo
Published: July 5th, 2007 | 9:58pm

Dan Deacon’s genius is not one of subtlety. The Baltimore native known for his Masters Degree in electro-acoustic composition has created quite a racket with Spiderman of the Rings, a self-proclaimed “pop” album said to owe a large debt to the Looney Tunes. Skeptics of such a concept will be woefully turned into believers after hearing the album’s introduction “Woody Woodpecker,” the sonic equivalent of a rambunctious ADHD toddler who’s sucked the cereal bowl dry for sugar milk. It’s simultaneously excruciating and enticing in ways my brain couldn’t possibly understand. Perhaps with some graduate courses it’d become clearer.

“Woodpecker” is the perfect introduction to Spiderman because its spastic charm simultaneously attracts and repeals. “Wham City” is less forgiving; a ten-minute epic beginning with a grating group vocal laid over a synthesizer previously reserved for Falco B-sides. The song painfully meanders until it becomes something far more palatable, what seems like a sincere homage to the Electric Light Orchestra. It’s at this high point Deacon continues to push buttons (both literally and figuratively) and brings the gang back to screech their way through another few minutes of the refrain. Sheesh.

I’d be doing a great disservice to point out every ludicrous voice and Nintendo-style beeping Deacon has included here, so for brevity’s sake I’ll simply say there are a lot. If Spiderman proves anything, it’s that Deacon is having a great deal of fun. His reportedly bonkers live sets have quickly become a must-see in some circles. But digesting this kind of thing is neither for the squeamish nor anyone with an attention span over 20 seconds.

I get the feeling that digestion might not be what Deacon is going for however. He hardly seems one for the absorption of anything. That is besides some Jolt Cola or an animated bird or bunny bellowing a catchphrase.