Singles Mixer

Dan Deacon, “Lots” Ever the maximalist, Dan Deacon crammed lots into the first single off his forthcoming album America. The track, “Lots,” has the same kind of infectious lo-fi computer-y dance groove that has kept kids crowding around, ecstatic and sweaty, since the whole Wham City crew first burst onto the scene. But there’s something different and deeper here, something both more poppy and darker. Deacon claims that the fuzzed-out, CB-radio style vocals were influenced by Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, The Road. The book has quite a reputation for its grim view (uh, post-apocalyptic), but if you’ve read his other work, there’s actually a lot more hope in The Road than Blood Meridian. The viral poppiness of the hooks gives “Lots” that same sense of uplift amidst the doom: Cannibals may just eat me tomorrow, but we made it through the day. Since that’s sort of how the world feels this summer, Deacon may have written the perfect anthem for pre-apocalyptic America, the song we’ll all still be humming after the end of the world.

For more information visit dandeacon.com

Wye Oak, “Spiral” Adult Swim, the adult-cartoon franchise, seems to be branching out into the music business with their Adult Swim Singles Program. This week, the site debuted “Spiral,” a new track by Wye Oak, which may just announce a new direction for the duo. Wasner’s guitar lines sound more like her Flock of Dimes work: As the song begins, they wrap in tight circles around an electro-marimba beat. When the song picks up, a hollow techno-echo replaces the generally soaring-loud rock choruses of most Wye Oak songs. It feels part-Steve Reich minimal and part-New Wave dance, a bit, in fact, like the Dirty Projectors, with whom Wye Oak tours this summer. Given that our other super-indie duo, Beach House, has recently taken to loudly complaining (on Pitchfork and in other interviews) about how much they “hate it when bands change between records,” it is great to see Wye Oak still willing to experiment. (The Mickey Free remix of “That I Do” is still one of our favorite things they’ve ever done.) As for the fact that the song is “brought to you by the Kia Soul”—well, I guess only the old Gen Xers give a shit about that antiquated idea of “selling out” anymore, and after the miles this duo has logged, they gotta make a buck somehow.

For more information visit video.adultswim.com/promos/ wye-oak-spiral.html

Lil’ Scrappy, “Ice T” (Featuring Maryland Menace) As we reported on the Noise blog last week, big-time Atlanta MC Lil’ Scrappy’s new album has a track called “Ice T,” featuring a largely unknown rapper named Maryland Menace. Menace livens up Scrappy’s cough-syrup flow (which you think would help his chronically scratchy throat) with rapid-fire delivery and a sense of dramatic timing that makes the end of each line sort of thrilling, even when you don’t know what the fuck he’s saying. When you can figure it out, he’s mainly rapping about clubs, other rappers, and white girls. But, we get the sense that’s beside the point. He uses words like notes, crafting a crazy-ass solo in the midst of an otherwise boring song.

For more information visit youtube.com/watch?v=uOndRKaps7k

> Email Baynard Woods