This interview was contributed by new writer Michelle Nail. Dan Deacon is a weirdo. Not the crazy “I might knife you on the street corner” type weirdo but a weirdo that you can love. Based in Baltimore, Maryland amongst his fellow founders of the art collective Wham City, he’s been making strange a new art form since 2003. Now with 8 albums under his belt he’s far from the days of releasing his music on CD-Rs and traveling by public transit to his shows. Did we mention his live shows? No? His live shows are legendary and often require large-scale audience participation that far surpass the usual lameness of hand claps and jazz fingers. He’ll be here, rocking our socks, at Fun Fun Fun Fest this November so we decided to have a chat about evolution, performance, and his preferences for multiple cheeses. more ›

Anyone who's been to a Dan Deacon show knows that it ain't just any old party. It's a veritable showcase for lunacy in which the undeniably eclectic Deacon buries himself in the crowd and inspires snaking arm tunnels and circular dance routines through the audience, all the while increasing musical tension to a fever pitch. The Baltimore music maven (he has a graduate degree in electro-acoustic and computer music composition) is making tunes unlike anyone else, and despite what sometimes makes for a lack of traditional instrumentation, he's a whirlwind force of repetition and cartoonish weirdness that is impossible not to watch. more ›