why you should see deastro this sunday at the vollrath

(The following blog post was interrupted, initially, by the news of The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, being rushed to UCLA Medical Center from "cardiac arrest." Shockingly, his death was announced some two hours later. I wanted to continue with this post because there are few things – if anything – that I am more passionate about than music. I can't imagine life without it. This passion started when, as described in an earlier post, at the age of four, I heard Michael Jackson's Thriller. Deastro is no Michael Jackson, but his music, like the sounds of so many other musicians I surround my life with, remind me of that initial flicker of sound. When a song catches you, it stops you and everything in your orbit; the sound triggers some mysterious inner signal. I don't know, it's difficult to explain but impossible to ignore; and those who share my passion know exactly what I'm writing about. The music of Deastro is, not to be melodramatic, but magical. It really is. But, I suppose, music possesses some supernatural quality, which is why it attracts us so.)

Last weekend The Vollrath hosted indie darlings The Rural Alberta Advantage. This Sunday the neighborhood bar hosts Deastro. And I'm very eager for this one, boys and girls. Deastro, which is 22-year-old electro whiz kid Randolph Chabot (live he is accompanied by Jeff Supina, Mark Smak and Brian Connelly), released his second album, Moondagger, earlier this year on Ghostly International (if you like The Field, check out Ghostly International artist The Sight Below). I've never been able to connect with his debut, Keepers, but Moondagger is a different (and wonderfully glorious) beast. To classify this album as "electro-pop," "synth-pop," whatever, is severely undercutting the scope of musical territory covered here. Each track is dense, but neither Cabot's voice nor his instruments drown in the mix. Upon a recent listen, Paul Simon's Graceland came to mind; there are some progressive rhythms within Moondagger that aren't indigenous to "electro-pop" records, and Chabot instills an organic, earthy energy into the cold components of his hardware. I've gotta say that, thus far, Moondagger is my favorite release of 2009. It's a grower, but if you give the album time and aren't discouraged by the album's first two songs ("Biophelia" and "Parallelogram"), which are a bit challenging, it will wrap around your spirit like cosmic ivy.

If you need to know why you have to check out Deastro this Sunday at The Vollrath, you can listen to the album HERE at spinner.com. (BTW, the fact that this album has been largely ignored by such indie-review beasts like Pitchfork and Cokemachineglow is, well, criminal!)

Or, just watch this live performance:

Deastro @ Be - Proud Gallery 09.05.09 from Be Events on Vimeo.