Dan Deacon and SO Percussion @ LPR

Dan Deacon made his latest foray into the classical world last night at LPR, reviving his collaboration with SO Percussion which began during last January's Ecstatic Music Festival. Dan's unique style of music – usually manufactured with a battery of electronics – naturally lends itself to SO's propulsive rhythms

The centerpiece of the program was a reprise of the extended piece Dan and SO performed together back in January: "Ghostbuster Cook: Origin of the Riddler." Dan wisely abridged some of the piece's less captivating moments for the standing room audience at LPR, such as the ten minute stretch during which a row of hanging soda bottles silently empties into a plastic tub. (The last time, one impatient guy shouted: "Are you fucking kidding me?" and stormed out.) During the loud and appreciative applause at the end, SO cajoled Dan into taking a couple of curtain calls – to which he responded with a sarcastic curtsy, a cherubic grin peering from behind his outsized glasses. 

Kicking things off was a new piece by Dan for the 27 musicians of SO's new summer program for college students, SOSI (short for SO Percussion Summer Institute) housed at Princeton. (Clearly, having a summer institute has become de rigeur in the new music world.) As the woolly piece hurtled deliberately along, it was clear the kids all had serious chops, to go with the smiles on their faces. 

More pics on the photo page.