The Show Is the Rainbow: Wet Fist

It’s hard to review the sophomore album from Nebraska’s Darren Keen and not fly off the handle with contrasting comparisons. He’s like the Rapture and Kraftwerk on speed at a degenerate Art Ensemble show, like Bruce Haack being interviewed by Television, or the Talking Heads making an Asthmatic Kitty record with Dan Deacon, sometimes all in the same track. The self-proclaimed Andy Kaufman of the DIY indie-electronic scene develops his material during the rigors of constant touring and the spunk of his visceral performance art spectacle comes through on this record.

Wet Fist isn’t all gold, but, at the very least, all of the tracks here are totally unique and always interesting both musically and lyrically. This is a feat for indie electronic music such as this, since it’s so easy to make everything sound the same (using the same annoying synth patches, song structures, the same trying-too-hard-to-be-cool vocals, etc). Frankly, the guy prolly isn’t quite right in the head, and that works in his favor. While it’s not album of the year material exactly, I could see Darren making that album in the not too distant future. All the tools for a pop culture movement are here in one form or another. He’s so close you can smell the sulfur.