Full disclosure: Tony Lien and I both sling as much
horsecrap as we can over at Tabs Out, writing our minds out about all kinds of
outsider sleaze. Not that that’s going to get in the way of how I feel about
“Future Deli,” Tony’s 2018 release as Dere Moans on his own Bad Cake label. I
would feel positively about it regardless. This is just a fact that I think you
should know. Professionals don’t hide this kind of information.
“Future Deli” is outsider sleaze of the highest caliber. “This
is a concept album – envision a deli filled with happy autonomous robots
beeping around while forever cleaning and getting orders.” Tony’s got a bunch
of synthesizers, or at least one really good one, and he perfectly encapsulates
the electric bustle of a downtown sandwich shop in some sort of Philip K. Dick
reality. Although, robots probably shouldn’t eat any of the meat – that would
mess up their circuits and stuff. I’m assuming there’s no humanity in this
future. We’ve barely got 10, 20 years as it is!
Speaking of circuits, Dere Moans is a project essentially
BUILT on circuit manipulation and the sound that comes from it. Good thing
Tony’s incredibly playful when he’s around his gear, otherwise he’d be crapping
out concept albums with overarching themes of Terminators and mass destruction
and nuclear wars and that kind of jazz. But he sticks to the human stuff, the
stuff we can relate to, and as such we can dig into a Dere Moans joint and
blast off to whatever future our imaginations can drum up. If it so happens to
involve sliced meat, all the better.
Dig into the full Dere Moans and Bad Cake catalogs, because
there’s SO MUCH you’re gonna enjoy once you get started.
--Ryan