"We could be in an igloo inside of a cave of ice," gasped a sweaty Dan Deacon. "And I would still be a puddle." To be fair, the KEXP studio's ventilation was only partially the reason why the Baltimore-based musician was drenched in sweat. The other reason was that he was two songs into a breakneck set of songs from his latest album, this year's galvanizing Gliss Riffer. Situated behind a colorful deck of samplers, keyboards, and effects, Deacon's compositions jump from one explosive movement to the next, with his rotating array of shifted vocals leading the sonic charge. Only taking a break to talk about some choice topics (regrettable musical projects, talking like Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master, recycling aluminum cans to buy CDs) with DJ Troy Nelson, Deacon's set was absolutely electric in every sense of the word. Watch the electronic musician's tour-de-force performance below.
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"I just wanna keep very, very quiet," admits Aly Spaltro (a.k.a Lady Lamb) at the end of the fourth verse of "Billions of Eyes". It's not an inaccurate statement, but it also doesn't mean she won't get loud when she needs to. Spaltro builds intricate songs that move through dynamics and lyrics more…
