Some small thoughts on the new dEUS

dEUS are a band that, in some ways, just can't win. They're from continental Europe, which means that they're invisible to mainstream ( read "American") pop culture. They don't make really esoteric music, so hipsters can't use them as some sort of totem to designate hos sophisticated they are. In fact, it's kind of charming how some UK fans try to "hip them up"- I even have seen, more than once, Drowned in Sound refer to them as "Europe's Sonic Youth", and they're nothing of the sort.  They had a mid-career shake up, going from playing Zappa and Beefheart influenced Alt Rock to a much more straightforward Alt pop sound, which split the fans up, further. So, despite playing more ear pleasing music than 99% of either the pop charts or the Indie blogger favorites on Twitter, they're a cult act.
Here's how they win, anyway- they play better music. I can only relate them to the top echelons of pop and rock music, even though they don't really sound like any of them.  They aren't really a "RIYL" type band. Instead, I hear little bits of everything from Beefheartian skronk, to Brel and Bacharach pop to Afghan Whigs styled soul punk, to doomy bits of Sabbathian blues metal, but all blended nicely into a very fine grained lager.  So, if you're discerning, but have a broad palette, dEUS is for you, even if they don't sound like your other favorite acts.
So, they're shaking things up, again. They're getting a bit more spontaneous, which is a return to the methodology of dEUS mk1, but they're keeping the aesthetics of Mk2- this is still fantastic.  See, I wasn't a fan until mk 2, because the mk 1 improvisations seemed unfinished, rough, and awkward. Mk 2, even when they're a bit looser, as this release is, still hew closely to an aesthetic- no abrupt changes, no awkward bridges, no crowding, all of which marred mk1. Instead, this reminds me of beatnik jazz, only in a rock format. Superlative players taking a familiar form and trying to move that form into an idiosyncratic direction. They're not like a bad jam band choogling along while one player at a time plays scales in E- instead it's a real coherent group following the melody to where it leads, with a half drunken poet reacting in real time. If that doesn't interest you, I think it should.
So, song by song, but quickly, you haven't got all day-
Quatre Mains- The Edge of Seventeen meets Bauhaus playing french bop- the title references two people playing the same instrument- you can guess what the lyrics are about from there.
Sirens- a more Cowboy reading of 'Ghosts' with a lonesome echo.
Hidden Wounds- early 1980's dub post punk as a soundtrack to war stories. Striking, in every sense.
Girls Keep Drinking- Skeletal No Wave Funk meets Captain Beefheart spinning Minneapolis R and B and grinning on an inside joke
Nothings- A R Kane sings a mash note in zero G
The Soft Fall- "Security'( yes, the American title) era Peter Gabriel plays a summer pop song, and drinks wine coolers- as happy as can be.
Crazy about You- Envelope Filter Funk meets Hootie folk pop with a tequila twist.
The Give Up Gene- Stark Beefheart realizations meets Morse code Bill Laswell cocktail hour.
Fire Up the Google Beast Algorithm- Stream of consciousness gets absolutely dangerous
One Thing about Waves- Greg Dulli forcing Pelican to play soulful doom rock.

That's as close as I can explain. Hope I didn't use more obscure references than Dennis Miller on an University of Alexandria research bender....

Surprise!

So, a couple of surprises, today: I was going to get the new Workers CD- Both Hands, but, unexpectedly, couldn't. I have it on good (Label) authority that the release has been pushed back, and that it will come out this summer. Well, cool, I guess, and welcome to the world of indie labels, but I was still bummed. However, I've heard from Pim, and the new Silence is Sexy is still a go, but the digital release may come a few days or weeks after the CD comes out on the sixth. Still- very cool to hear there will be a digital release, because even though I will want the CD, my mail service sucks, and it'll take over a month for the CD to reach me, so I was bummed about that, but this is where it turns around, completely out of the blue, dEUS just released a new album- they announced it, released it on Itunes, and put up a stream of it, all today. Nobody knew. So, I swallowed some pride, and opened up an Itunes account on an older laptop ( I wouldn't put Itunes on a decent computer, that shit is malware, of the highest order) downloaded it, and DRM be damned, managed to burn a CD. I just finished listening to it- yes, it's awesome. It's simpler, more streamlined than "Keep You Close', and it reads like dispatches from a war correspondent, so it has a sense of immediacy, and urgency, which fits the "Damn the Torpedos" surprise of the release. I can't say that I love it, yet- I've only just met these songs, and they're not like strippers, where it's all reveal, with no aftermath- these are real songs- you get to know them like friends. But, I will say that I like them. and clearly I'm nuts for dEUS. So, stream it, and get to know for yourself.
In any event- way for them to prove that there is a way to co-exist with the internet, when everybody  else seems to hate it. See,  David Lowery's  completely awful music aside ( yes, I hate Camper Van Beethoven, and always did.) he's a damn derivatives trader, so he's evil. Done and done. Q Magazine, well, I respect them, a little bit, but you'll note they lack the bollocks to put the article online, and the register is Crap. So, the chickenshit response is to say- online piracy is an awful theft, so we'll just put our Art in a commercial cage, and  surround it with DRM landmines. No, I don't pirate music, but I do think that there should be ways of hearing music for free, and I can name you three bands, right off the bat that hooked me by giving away some downloads- The Comas, Silence is Sexy, and Pandora.s Box. I've purchased things from all three, and plan to do so in the future ( that is, if the Comas re-form) . It works. So, dEUS  stream the whole record, release it on Itunes at the same time, don't sell it to the godawful music press first, and then, they'll release the physical product. and how much you want to bet they'll make money at it? Hell, they've got me  hawking it, for free- think about that Mr Cracker.  ( Seriously, the dude is a walking reason to steal from these supposed Artists- if it'll put him out of business, it's done a good thing)
So, what a nice surprise from a bunch of guys who really do deserve your extra cash- go stream it, and tell me you don't want a track or two....

Keep you Close

Ok, thanks to a Belgian friend, I just secured a copy, and I've got it downloaded. I'll commence listening, now. For those without such connections, it'll be out everywhere by mid-October, but you can listen Now. I've not listened enough to pass along much in the way of what I think, but suffice it to say that I love dEUS, both the version that self destructed in the 1990's, and the new, suave, sophisticated version that came about in 2005. I might even like that version more, because I'm a sucker for pop music. Regardless, I know that a goodly percentage of those who check on this blog are in such a position that they are getting their copies this week, and I'm with you people. I'm excited, and I'll say more when I know more.