“You can dance to it,” is how Darwin Deez describes his music to people who haven’t heard him before, and it’s true. The kooky indie-pop he creates—dressed with synths, jangly guitars and electronic rhythms—defy any real kind of genre-lization other than it makes you want to spastically move your arms and legs to the beat. On his third set, Double Down, Deez says his goal was to “re-make anew what has always appealed to me and to share that with everyone, but with enough of a twist that it feels completely fresh.” Deez talks to Myspace about being a hipster, writing pop songs with depth, the origins of his name and his perfect hipster ‘do.

Hometown: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Homebase: Brooklyn, NYC.

I know your real name is Darwin Smith. So where did the monicker come from? Did Deez have anything to do with deez nuts?

Deez nuts is part of it, yes. Deez being sort of a hip-hop flavor is part of it. Before dizzle there was only deez, if you recall correc-leck. The monkey-er came from my BFF Michelle Dorrance a.k.a. Mash Deez. That’s just what she calls me.

Why did you call your new album Double Down? What themes were you working on for your third album?

Again, came from Michelle. It was something she said a lot during a dance gig of hers that I worked on. She has a very positive spirit. Indefatigable human spirit. Which means she never gives up and she never gets tired. Goodnight! For the record, themes of frustrated friendship came to the fore. Friends who don’t like you anymore, friends you love who are in a bad place. That and the usual romantic problems. Dating people who suck for one reason or another.

Talk about the first time you realized you wanted to sing and perform for others.

For me it’s more about writing, composition. Singing and performing is more of a necessity that results from my choice to be serious enough about making music to try to make it pay my rent. I did a lot of performing as a tap dancer in my youth. But again I was more drawn to the music-making aspect of tap dance, making rhythms with your feet. Performing just naturally comes with that.

What was the first song you ever wrote about?

It was called “Missing.” It was about a girl who ran away or something and was a missing person. But like the one I loved. It was made up, I was 11. Am C, Am C. “Missiiiiing….Missiiiiiing….Missiiiiiing…from my heart” (repeat).

Who are your musical heroes?

Steve Porcaro from Toto. Because I thought he was writing the songs on Toto IV. Plus he was the synth whiz. He was my hero when I was about 16, when I was making tons of drum ’n bass. The Chemical Brothers. They were my hero when I was 13. Their beats were so loud and hype. They seemed really cool. My hero now is probably Guthrie Govan, a tasteful shredder who can play blues, jazz, funk, prog rock, anything. I like to watch him on Youtube.

When your debut came out you were dubbed so hipster it was anti-hipster. What do you think of those labels?

I’m a hipster. I used to champion hipsters because around 2007 the idea on craigslist was that we were all assholes. But I thought we were mostly nice people who happened to have great style and good taste in music. To me, there’s still nothing better than a sincere, nice hipster, of which there are many if you look closely. No one has better style than a true hipster. You can be decked out in American Apparel and look great but you’re not a true hipster without something that distinguishes you that isn’t for sale by a huge corporation, something second hand. To me being a hipster means looking cool unique, plus having a familiarity with the hipster music canon (see “Losing My Edge” by LCD Soundsystem) as well as lots of pop music from the ‘80s and ‘90s. You probably do something creative like music or visual art, but there’s a myth that hipsters do nothing. We all do stuff, and even the ones that don’t are cool in my book if they’re amiable.

What's the craziest thing a fan has ever done for you?

These two girls got matching ankle tattoos, one said Radar and the other said Detector.

Describe your songwriting process.

Sit down with guitar, play chords, sing over chords, find a rhythmic guitar part to anchor and distinguish the song even apart from any of the words or melody. Write the first line. This becomes the verse melody. Write more lines that fit into this melody. You may deviate from this melody on one line of verse two. Write a chorus or pre-chorus which starts on a different chord. Write a bridge which starts on a different chord. Happens that way most often I think.

Your blog talks a lot about gaming and computers. And the Kill Your Attitude video is in CGI. Would you consider yourself a gamer geek? Does that influence/help your music?

It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with my music, no. It’s just a hobby. I like code, programming languages, Defcon talks on Youtube. I’m very analytical, which applies to both games and my approach to songwriting. I play one game, Netrunner, but I play it a lot and I play it pretty seriously. I’m sure I’ll quit one day as quickly as I started.

What are your goals for this year?

Play Jimmy Kimmel Live! Avoid suicidal thoughts by taking care of my physiology. Spend less time on the computer. I made that one up today.

Your hair has notably perfect curls. Do you have any styling tips?

You’ve all been shampoozled. Seriously, you don’t need to wash your hair more than twice a year.