Bromst
Dustin Jones
When you think of music, what's the first image that pops into your head?
I'm certain no matter what image comes to mind, it isn't a chubby balding man playing with a board full of electronics, composing impossible-to-play beats.
Well, that’s what Dan Deacon’s Bromst album is - a deep electronic dance album, composed by a silly man.
Bromst is the epitome of goofy electronic dance music. Dan Deacon is an electronic artist who uses his board of wonder to compose space age beats, sometimes mesmerizing and trance-inducing, sometimes annoying and headache-inducing. Bromst is a ride. Like a good movie you'll feel love, hate, annoyance, and joy. A voice through a vocoder sounds a lot like a chipmunk. After an hour of this most people will call the exterminator, unless they open their minds.
The entire album plays off of Dan’s playfulness. It's rich: rich in beats, rich in drums, and rich in sound. Deacon turns otherwise childish and screechy sounds into dance music.
His first song, “Build Voice,” starts as nothing, in fact you may think your cd is skipping, until slowly over time you're engulfed in noise. The depth of the noise is astounding, with synth and piano playing melodically while his soothing voice rides over the top, grabbing you and pulling you into the music. The entire cd could be composed of this song, and I would be stupefied by it.
“Red F,” his second song, shows off his vocoder skills. Deacon uses his vocoder as another instrument, similar to a guitar plucking high note after high note; Dan modulates his voice to coincide with the beat. This song follows the same pattern as most of his other songs, but has slightly more irritating noise than most. I could understand some disdain for this song, but I personally love it.
“Snookered” is his fourth and arguably best song. The beat starts off slow, and builds into one of the most powerful choruses I have ever heard. The hook repeats itself until you forget you’re listening to music, and instead feel as if you are in some sort of euphoria. Percussion is played in the background, while a synthesizer overlays. Neither overpowers the other. The song isn't too fast or too slow. It's a perfect harmony.
There honestly isn't much nitpicking I can do from here. The rest of Deacon’s songs all follow the same general outline, start out slow, build up the percussion, and mesmerize. "Woof Woof," a song on the second half of the album, uses a sample of a dog barking, creating a melody that “woofs” twice every beat. If another artist were to do this, they would be called crazy, and the song would quite possibly be irritating, since dogs are annoying when they bark. Somehow Deacon manages to make this one of the most memorable songs. I don't know if I like it more because it sounds good, or because I can blast it, and have people think "What is that guy listening to - dogs barking?"
Dan Deacon- Bromst can be an amazing album if you open up your mind. Don’t just listen to what everyone else listens to. Make up your own mind. Music should be as free as the people making it.
Coleman Job Fair at the 
