Thursday 12.01.11: KICK OFF PARTY FOR THE ECHO TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY MONTH with DAN DEACON / XBXRX / JUICEBOXXX / FREEZEPOP / DJ FRANKI CHAN @ Echoplex

Get Tickets Here

8:15pm / $12 adv; $14dos; $15 walk up dos / 18+

Dan Deacon||Listen|| Watch
The art made by Baltimore artist Dan Deacon is about community and how to organize and inspire it. From founding a now well-known art collective (Wham City), to organizing and running an annually sold-out DIY music festival (Whartscape), to conceiving, planning and curating a massive 60 person/30 band tour (Baltimore Round Robin Tour), it’s clear to see that community and bringing people together is the major theme of his work. Bromst is the embodiment of that way of thinking.

For the last three years Dan Deacon has been working on Bromst. Fusing together the growing intensity of his live performances with his background in electro-acoustic composition, the outcome is a collection of pieces that are intense and epic and at the same time down to earth and welcoming. Bromst embodies the same energy and excitement as Spiderman of the Rings, however the craftsmanship and composition on Bromst have a wider scope and richer palette.

Unlike the completely electronic Spiderman of the Rings, the instrumentation on Bromst is a mixture of acoustic instruments, mechanical instruments, samples and electronics. The player piano, marimba, glockenspiel, vibraphone, live drums, winds and brass give Bromst a much richer tone than his previous work. The intricate and complex parts, skillfully executed by the performers, are woven together into a rich, dense, noisy dance pop that has become Dan Deacon’s signature sound.Windish

XBXRX|| Listen|| Watch
The legend of the chaotic phenomenon known as XBXRX began back in ’98 with a group of southern-bred kids aged 13 to 15.

Fueled by explosive adolescent energy and brimming with rebellion against the complacency of their conservative hometown, the youths hit the studio soon after, tracking their initial sides before heading off on the first of what would become dozens of separate tours. These tours would bring them across the entire continental US, Hawaii, Europe, and nearly Canada- a trip cancelled by an uptight Canadian border guard.

That initial East Coast jaunt threw down a gauntlet for standards of high energy performance: blazing from town to town in a van stolen outright from the drummer’s mother; leaving a smoldering pile of decimated guitars, drums and keyboards in the wake; and racking up a kamikaze-like tally of hospital visits and general mayhem – all in the hyper-compressed duration of 8 minutes!!! No stage could contain the blisteringly positive frenzy of XBXRX!

Love them or hate them, you’ll never forget them. The band has blinded their audiences with racks of colorful flashing lights, bombarded them with balloons and even abandoned the stage to incite dance riots and group hugs in an attempt to make the XBXRX experience something much more than just another show. The band has always sought to erase their individual identities and considers itself a flexible entity whose sum total is greater than the parts. Over the years the band’s style of relentlessly joyous musical assault has been championed by many major figures in underground rock – having opened on tours with buddies such as Sonic Youth, Peaches, Unwound, Mr. Quintron, Deerhoof, and Q and Not U as well as having worked with accomplished producers/engineers like Steve Albini, Don Zientara, Ian MacKaye, Vern Rumsey and Tim Kerr….Poly Vinyl Records

Juiceboxxx|| Listen|| Watch
JOURNEYMAN FROM THE HEARTLAND. THE MILWAUKEE MANIAC. DEEP IN THE GAME SINCE THE AGE OF 13. TOURS AROUND THE WORLD. SINGLES, EPS AND MIXTAPES. DEBUT ALBUM SOON. CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN RAGER MUSIC. RAP MUSIC. NO LIMITS.

Freezepop||Listen|| Watch
Freezepop has always been something of an oxymoron: embraced by both hipsters and nerds; serious about irony; and retro-futuristic. A synth band in a guitar videogame, singing pop songs about rock. And it all somehow makes sense when you listen to the music.

Formed in Boston in the summer of 1999, when electropop was barely a blip on the indie radar, Freezepop released two homemade EPs and started a DIY machine that would become one of their trademarks. Their debut album, 2000’s Freezepop Forever, was released domestically on their own label, Archenemy, as well as licensed in Europe by the Spanish indiepop label Elefant. Several more EPs followed, and in 2004, Freezepop put out their sophomore album, Fancy Ultra•Fresh. After nearly eight years of self-releasing their CDs, they partnered with Rykodisc/Cordless Recordings for their third album, Future Future Future Perfect. Their single “Less Talk More Rokk” was the iTunes #4 dance/electronic song of 2007.

While the band has done well on college radio, repeat-charting in the CMJ Top 50, a key factor in Freezepop’s success has been that they have sought out licensing opportunities to get their music out into the world. A natural fit on videogame soundtracks, the band saw their following grow through songs in the cult music-based games Fre¬quency and Amplitude, and then increase exponentially after appear¬ing in several installments of the massively popular Guitar Hero series, Dance Dance Revolution, and Rock Band. Freezepop have a strong connection with their fans and have toured extensively, playing ener¬getic, fun, and chaotic shows throughout North America and Europe.

Some may see Imaginary Friends as the grown-up Freezepop. For the first time, new songs from this record were tested out on live audiences rather than being crafted solely in the studio, which in many ways streamlined Freezepop’s sound into a focused force that reflects the energy of the live show. With a whimsical spirit still intact, Imaginary Friends is a more impactful and refined record than fans have heard in the past and finds Freezepop taking the leap to dance floor legends.

Franki Chan || Listen
Over the last seven years, Franki Chan has made a name for himself with a dizzying variety of successful creative endeavors. His IHEARTCOMIX empire includes comic book publishing, a record label, and well, partying. The company is perhaps most famous for throwing groundbreaking and innovative parties all around the world, many of which feature Franki serving as DJ, revving up the dance floor crowds in his signature fedora and glasses.Spinner/a>