Band of the Week: DeastroHometown: Detroit, Mich.Fun Fact: The name Deastro is a
take on the infamous G.I. Joe villain, Destro, the “A” being
added to avoid copyright infringement. Although Chabot had intentions
of changing the name, after a kindly e-mail from a fan in Portugal
explained that the name meant “from the stars,” Chabot decided to
keep it.Why It's Worth Watching: Catchy,
clever synth jam gems combined with a traditional approach to power
pop results in a melodic car wreck of texture, tone and tenacious
tendency for dipping everything electro-fueled in a wide range of
flavors.For Fans Of: Of Montreal, Animal Collective, Late Of The Pier
the entire world, Detroit musicians have the distinct advantage of
being surrounded by the click, whir and constant hum of factories and
automobiles. This industrial music acts as a sort of subconscious
education, resurfacing as thick symphonies of bouncing beats and
slick keyboards, complemented with a historic disposition for jagged,
jangling guitars.Band of the Week: DeastroDeastro is a student of just such a
school, rising from post-industrialized art collectives and recently
signing to Ghostly International, a label that resides just west of a
city that is widely recognized as the electronic music capital of the
world. While Randolph Chabot, sole proprietor of Deastro, falls
within the fad, his potent blend of the proven past and the passing
current is what will leave him standing when tongues become numb and
tastes begin to change. Moondagger, Deastro’s debut on
Ghostly due this spring, is a genre-defying adventure with
electro-pop roots, complete with a ferocious one-two punch that comes
along with a live band—a refurbished outing for a guy who initially
quit playing in bands out of frustration, choosing instead to chase
his own musical ambitions and ideas.
“When I first started doing what I
was doing, not a lot of kids were into it,” explains Chabot as he
sips on a cup of diner coffee, regularly humoring an older woman a
few tables away who can’t help but interrupt the interview in
well-measured intervals. “I tried playing in a bunch of different
bands in college. I moved around on instruments—drums in one, bass
in another—and I could never get the ideas out because not everyone
was in the same place [musically]. That’s great if you connect with
the right people, but it doesn’t always happen. So, I just started
layering my own music and making it myself. [The sound] wasn’t
really there for a long time because…I was still hearing it with a
full band.”
Deastro’s pre-band era catalog runs
deep with a multitude of tracks that stem from Chabot's theory that
you “have to write a hundred songs before you write a good
one”—dozens of rusted hooks with potential, bouncing along with
crisp, captivating homemade beats but always missing a certain
something. After fostering an introverted music machine year after
year, his ability to craft intricately structured yet viciously
eruptive, spontaneous songs seems to have been fully realized,
culminating in a ticking time bomb finally able to be set off thanks
to the army of talented musicians now backing him both live and in
the studio.
“Parallelogram,” the first single
from Moondaggerto tell the people of Austin that while Detroit remains a one-act
smokestack in the public eye, innovative artists like himself are
reinventing the wheel underneath the haze.
Listen to Deastro's "Parallelogram"
from Moondagger on MySpace.