Death From Above 1979 have always been outliers, out of place but always on time. The Canadian duo of bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger stood out like a sore and bloodied thumb when they arrived with the brutal debut of 2004’s You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine. For Messed!Up the encounter at the Roskilde Festival 2005, on the smallest stage at the festival site, was a decisive moment and the rest is a 15-year long love story.
Death From Above were always much more rough-and-ready than other bands at the time. They couldn’t give a shit about the blues and had no time for nostalgia. While ‘00s indie was about to enter its glam and coiffured phase courtesy of debuts from The Killers and Franz Ferdinand, DFA’s is a brand of sleazy and primal dance-punk that demands you to get down – right now. Last week DFA released their 4th album Is 4 Lovers, a heavy and unpolished but full of charm and memorable hooks to go with the rumbling bass and bruising rhythms, and described as the band’s most balanced and stylistically engaging album so far. Have a listen!
Death From Above 1979 pages
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