1. Sufjan Stevens will launch a fall tour of smaller venues starting September 21; also, Dan Deacon designed the cover art for his BQE CD/DVD set. [via Pitchfork]
2. Mitch Hurwitz and Will Arnett, who previously collaborated on both Arrested Development and Sit Down Shut Up are developing a third comedy for FOX. [via Ain't It Cool News]
3. What does the music industry’s $675,000 victory over a Boston University grad student mean for file sharing champion Charles Nesson? [via NYT]
4. Many of your favorite Friday Night Lights characters are not long for this world, but Riggins is returning. [via The Watcher]
5. Richard Nash (formerly of Soft Skull Press) on why “indie” is dead. [via Richard Nash]

Sure Pusha T might be able to “blow a hundred thou’ in a recession with no second guessing,” but for those of us whose incomes aren’t bolstered by the historically solvent coke-rap industry, the shaky economy still sucks. But thanks to this, the eighth and latest installment in the Depression Special series, even us bindle-toting plebes can get a break from the liver and onions lifestyle with another hearty helping of ear candy. After the jump, five free and legal full-record downloads to help keep your mind off that nagging tummy, and those last precious dollars tucked safely away in your boot.

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Baltimore music king Dan Deacon has a bone to pick with a certain unnamed act. The electronic maestro — known for his elaborate stage shows and recent incorporation of numerous live musicians — told the Onion‘s A.V. Club he has little patience for artists who fail to innovate, tantalizingly singling out the mystery group in the process.

“If you’ve become a huge act and you’re still doing the same music you wrote with your friends when you were making zero dollars, you’re lazy. There’s one duo in particular — they’ll remain nameless — that tours with a ton of fake gear, and that pisses me off,” says Deacon.

We have our own ideas about who he may be referring to, but we want to know what you think. Give us your best guess as to where Deacon’s finger is pointing, along with any supporting evidence, in the comments.

Fringe music is an elusive beast. Whereas the points of slick tales of love and loss are usually pretty obvious, the undercurrents of the avant-garde are infinitely harder to navigate. Enter your intrepid guide: Earplug. In this bi-monthly series, Flavorwire’s sister publication — home to several experimental, indie, and techno experts — will separate the hidden gems from the record bin rejects, helping the adventurous pluck new albums from the outer edges. After the jump, reviews of Baltimore bleeper Dan Deacon’s new electronic opus and the Knife off-shoot Fever Ray’s magnesium-bright debut. Read More »

Known to eschew stages in favor of floors, sweet-faced Baltimore producer Dan Deacon regularly commands enormous crowds of sweat-drenched onlookers. Deacon, a former student of composition at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, uses crowds the way many would an instrument, dictating and inspiring the ways they interact. His bidding often includes dance-offs, human-tunnel formations, and trippy chorus chanting. Read More »

New music! Get your brand new music here! Impress your friends with a breadth of indie knowledge to make Ryan Schreiber cringe! Check out the latest downloads from favorites Dan Deacon, Neko Case and Morrissey! Grab free tunes to bolster your already overflowing collection of obscure artists from mid-level industrial cities who might or might not blow up and then enigmatically fade in the next eight weeks! Check out our Viva Radio show! Read a paragraph in which every sentence ends in an exclamation point!

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Today at Flavorpill, when we were supposed to be busy working… we guffawed over this sexist rejection letter from Walt Disney; we considered buying a dumbbell; we cheered on WALL-E director Andrew Stanton as he blasted some haters; we set our DVR to record Look Around You on Adult Swim; we were happy not to be this text-crazy teenager; we streamed the new M. Ward; we marked our calendars for a revival of Arthur Miller’s Holocaust drama; we rooted for McG in his battle with Michael Bay; we squeezed a banker; we checked out the Academy Award foreign-language shortlist; and finally, we applied to be Dan Deacon’s intern. We’ll let you know if we get picked.

For the last three years Baltimore’s Dan Deacon has been working on Bromst, an album that subtly veers away from Spiderman of the Rings’ simpler (albeit rainbow-hued) sound by incorporating player piano, marimba, glockenspiel, vibraphone, live drums, winds and brass to his electronic bag of tracks. While it isn’t due out until late March on Carpark, you can now stream the final track off the album, a throbbing ditty called “Get Older,” here.

So, whaddya think? Can you hear that marimba? More importantly, are you dancing yet?

We here at Flavorpill don’t have time to fix all the lonely hearts out there, but we can point you in the right direction. It turns out the events we list each week are fertile ground for finding someone, especially if you like Dan Deacon or Beach House. In an effort to spread the love during the holiday season, after the jump we’ve rounded up our favorite Missed Connections from recent events we listed in the hopes that you all can find one another — or avoid the guy who stalked you in the beer line at Vampire Weekend…these things can go either way.

Bonne chance!

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