After receiving their diplomas, many music school grads might be tempted to indulge in creating music so cerebral that only their peers can make head or tails of it. The members of My Dear Disco, formerly of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, took a different route.
Their sound might be built around jazzy time signature changes and key shifts, but the musicians deliver hooks aplenty. With its synth-keys and throbbing beats, the band’s music might bear a resemblance to pop music, but its members weren’t satisfied with standard labels. Instead, they came up with their own: DanceThink or “high-brow guilty-pleasure dance music.”
“(DanceThink) captures what it is and what we’re trying to do all at the same time,” said founder Tyler Duncan, who plays keyboards and bagpipes. “Hopefully, it’s something that’s relatable to most people, or at least more people than free jazz.
“I want to make something that’s purely visceral, that comes out and hits you in the chest and makes you want to move in some way. It’s dance music that you can hopefully not feel like you can only turn on when your friends leave the room.”
Saturday, My Dear Disco will pile in their vegetable-waste-powered van to continue their summerlong tour with an appearance at JJ’s Bohemia.
The musicians are still reeling from the attention they received from their debut appearance at Lollapalooza in Chicago earlier this summer. Combine that with working on their sophomore full-length album, and this has been a stellar year, Duncan said.
“(Lollapalooza) was one of those reality checks where it was like, ‘We’ve been believing in it … but we’ve caught some momentum, and it’s worked it’s way up to a much higher level,'” he said. “Now, we’ve just got to make it better — 10 times better.”
IF YOU GO
* What: Wizard Staff Party with My Dear Disco and How I Became the Bomb.
* When: 10 p.m. Saturday.
* Where: JJ’s Bohemia, 231 M.L. King Blvd.
* Admission: $5.
* Phone: 266-1400.
* Venue website: www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia.
* Related links at fyi.timesfreepress.com.
DISCOGRAPHY
2007: “My Dear Disco” (EP)
2009: “Dancethink” (LP)
2010: “Over the Noise” (EP)
2010: The Remixes” (EP)
WHAT’S NEXT
My Dear Disco founder Tyler Duncan said the band has written about 20 songs, to be culled down to 12 tracks, for its second full-length album. The as-yet-untitled project is being produced by Mark Saunders, who also has worked with Shiny Toy Guns and The Cure.
RELATED LINKS FOR WEB: http://www.mydeardisco.com