"you and me, that's so romantic" photo by Norman Wong
We all know off and on again couples right (?) and, most probably, the connective tissue that keeps these kinds of relationships forging ahead is the underlying passion and unmistakable knowledge that when it is working, it is really working well. That and maybe terrific make up sex. Translate that deep kind of syncopation of emotions to a band and you have Death From Above 1979.
I saw them after their first reunion in 2011, after a 5 year break up of being together for 5 years (2001 to 2006) during which time they set their unique DIY dance punk / alternative art rock milieu ablaze with their 2004 debut full length album "You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine" blowing away critics and fans alike. Other break ups and substantial albums followed including 2017's potent "Outrage! Is Now". I can tell you one thing. I shot them at thed 2011 reunion tour in Los Angeles at the now defunct (and disgraced) Fuck Yeah Fest and they left a deep impression on me like an indelible caustic tattoo. Playing at the very end of one of the festival's nights they experienced on stage monitor problems but powered through. The image of Sebastien Grainger on his drum kit, all in white, with his then shock of blond hair diagonally falling across his face, pounding away and Jesse Keeler, the ying to his yang, adorned in black, looking like a sinewy Goth punker pummeling on bass will always stick with me and I think about it often in the decade since I saw them. For me, they were the highlight of that festival and as a musician I can't think of a better set up. A band of two cranking out music that at once can feel like opposing forces but congruent as well. Each, for me, is an enviable position. Playing the drums and singing or facing that force with an equal barrage of bass and synths pumping through two speaker cabinets via simple effective pedals. A set up that even with those two large cabinets could still fit in one van. The ultimate nomadic DIY kick ass art driven thing, a thing of beauty.
Death From Above 1979 latest release, "One + One", is a track that feels diatribally art punk potent with big glam undercurrents and a rock beat with trap affections on amphetamines. It is one of those kind of tracks that not only begs repeated listens but feels fuels whatever you are lacking, inspiration, clenched fists, running up hills and breaking down barriers. Equal parts cool and badass-ness, a crashing together of art alt rock, post punk, noise rock and gutter dance punk.
I saw them after their first reunion in 2011, after a 5 year break up of being together for 5 years (2001 to 2006) during which time they set their unique DIY dance punk / alternative art rock milieu ablaze with their 2004 debut full length album "You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine" blowing away critics and fans alike. Other break ups and substantial albums followed including 2017's potent "Outrage! Is Now". I can tell you one thing. I shot them at thed 2011 reunion tour in Los Angeles at the now defunct (and disgraced) Fuck Yeah Fest and they left a deep impression on me like an indelible caustic tattoo. Playing at the very end of one of the festival's nights they experienced on stage monitor problems but powered through. The image of Sebastien Grainger on his drum kit, all in white, with his then shock of blond hair diagonally falling across his face, pounding away and Jesse Keeler, the ying to his yang, adorned in black, looking like a sinewy Goth punker pummeling on bass will always stick with me and I think about it often in the decade since I saw them. For me, they were the highlight of that festival and as a musician I can't think of a better set up. A band of two cranking out music that at once can feel like opposing forces but congruent as well. Each, for me, is an enviable position. Playing the drums and singing or facing that force with an equal barrage of bass and synths pumping through two speaker cabinets via simple effective pedals. A set up that even with those two large cabinets could still fit in one van. The ultimate nomadic DIY kick ass art driven thing, a thing of beauty.
Death From Above 1979 latest release, "One + One", is a track that feels diatribally art punk potent with big glam undercurrents and a rock beat with trap affections on amphetamines. It is one of those kind of tracks that not only begs repeated listens but feels fuels whatever you are lacking, inspiration, clenched fists, running up hills and breaking down barriers. Equal parts cool and badass-ness, a crashing together of art alt rock, post punk, noise rock and gutter dance punk.
You can Pre-Order, DFA's 4th full length "Is 4 Lovers" dropping March 26th - HERE.
-Robb Donker Curtius
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Death From Above 1979 (DFA), the boundary pushing musical alliance created by Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler, roared out of Toronto with the uncompromising one-two punch of 2002’s fuzz-bomb EP Heads Up and 2004’s epochal debut album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, complete with a North American arena tour with Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age, before deciding mid-tour to part ways due to the strain of constantly touring.
Almost a decade later, the rekindled DFA fireworks lit stages around the world a blaze - amassing a posse of fans so passionate they incited a genuine, barricade-smashing riot at Austin’s Beauty Bar at the 2011 South by Southwest festival. Playing Lollapalooza, Coachella, Glastonbury, Reading / Leeds, Osheaga, Lowlands and more, DFA continued to take the world by storm. Their second album, The Physical World (2014) took a No. 3 spot on the Canadian Billboard album chart and peaked at No. 28 on the U.S. Hot 200, not to mention No. 3 and No. 7 shots on Billboard’s Top Alternative and Top Rock registries, respectively. TV appearances around their first two albums on iconic late-night shows including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon showed a whole new audience the DFA live goods.
Arriving at No. 20 on the Canadian Billboard album chart, DFA’s scorching 2017 outing, Outrage! Is Now prompted Pitchfork to remark that “Death From Above now sounds more vital than ever.” With three smashing albums to their name, the duo drummed up an easy 10 million views before going silent once more, to the dismay of fans.
DFA is back with their new single, “One + One” - reimagining the Dance Punk format they created more than 20 years ago.
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