Future Shock

By Matt Parish

Developing over the last few years and grounded mainly in the Baltimore DIY scene revolving around a warehouse space dubbed "Wham City," Future Shock mixes elements of spastic dance rock, day-gloingly positive melodies and fashion, Dadaist vocals and songwriting and a decidedly lo-fi modus operandi for recordings, CD packaging and duct-taped equipment.

One-man band and haywire Casio keyboards guru Dan Deacon (whose Spiderman of the Rings album launched him into Pitchforkstardom last year) is turning out to be the torchbearer of this scene that includes bands like Ponytail, Video Hippos and The Death Set. Followers of Future Shock (which takes its name from a 1970 book that invented the idea of "information overload" and has since been namechecked by everyone from Curtis Mayfield to Magic: The Gathering) will find aesthetic compatriots in the scrappy art and heavy pop-culture sampling of Providence, R.I.'s Paper Rad and Lightning Bolt and Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Parts and Labor and Japanther.