Album of the Month:
Death From Above 1979 / You're a Woman, I'm a Machine



Oh my God does this album kick ass. I kind of lost my shit today at work when I listened to the first three songs I could find and thought they were all really good--while I find good new music relatively frequently, it's rare I will hear a few songs from a band and instantly think it's all fucking awesome. Everything about this album just works--cool music, cool vocals, cool title, cool band name, cool artwork. (I apologize if my fawning is annoying)

I'd heard of DFA79 when they got good reviews from Pitchfork and CMG, but as happens all too often (the Rapture come to mind), I heard part of one song and for some reason kind of dismissed them without putting in any more effort. DFA79 are two guys from Toronto (a bass and a drumkit) who make muisc which falls into the aggressive dance-punk genre, if that really exists; it's not poppy at all, but aside from the occasional deterioration into noise, there's melody and terrific riffs in spades. I'm always skeptical of the musical potential of bands with less than four members, so me liking a two-man operation is strange (aside from French electronic outfits, which aren't really bands, so they can all have two members and just add more for the live stuff).

Jesse F. Keeler shreds on bass and generally complements Sebastien Grainger's drumming perfectly. Because there's no guitar, the sound is similar to the way BRMC used the bass circa BRMC; it's more like a filthy guitar than a typical bass (where you're only getting rhythm). The occasional synth creeps in, but rarely, and the last track, "Sexy Results" has handclaps and cowbell as well. That track might be the album's best, if only because it's the most danceable and it's the most different from the rest of the album. It's hard to say where they can go from their current sound given their limited instrumentation, but the effect here is terrific. My other immediate favorite is "Black History Month" which aside from its terrific title has some nice layering (can't tell if it's two bass-lines or a keyboard that complements the main bass riff). The vocals in general are also good--surprisingly good lyrics, and the vocals themselves just match the tone of the music just right.

Note about the name: they originally called themselves Death From Above, but then James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy of the DFA (who I have mentioned in this space and apparently came up with the name first) sued and thus the other DFA added the 1979 which is apparently the minimum number of characters they were required to add to their original name. Not sure what the '79 is for, but I do know that at least one Vietnam-era helicopter squadron used "Death From Above" as their slogan. Unfortunately I don't believe my Dad was in this group...

Anyway, here are free songs to download:
Romantic Rights
Little Girl
Blood on Our Hands

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Track(s) of the Day:
The Fatales / Ministry of Defense
They've got a few more free DLs on their website, so click it. Kind of Interpol-ish.

French Kicks / Trial of the Century
I saw (the) French Kicks last summer with Kev because Ambulance was opening for them, but thought they were pretty good. None of their stuff has knocked me over, but this is pretty good, off their recent album of the same name.

The Race / Sinking Feeling
Actually reminds me of the above French Kicks song. Hmm. I'm not sure what that means.

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Can't remember if this was posted earlier, but they reloaded the Burger King office commercial which I love, so here's where you can see most of the old ones, at the ad agency's website. Arrow through the other bullshit ads until you get to the good stuff...

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I guess Britney Spears and Kevin Federline like to back the underdogs...and it makes sense that when Britney wears her Harvard sweatshirt, it's on a day she looks just about her worst...


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Because Pitchfork are a bunch of assholes. But I still read PF daily.

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Perhaps no site is a better time-waster than iFilm...especially their Viral Video section. The whole idea of the site is kind of interesting because it has movie trailers, music videos, and all the funny shit that happens on tv (Ashlee Simpson lip-synching, the Jon Stewart Crossfire thing, etc), but then it also has essentially porn and stuff. Yet it's all sponsored by major corporations, so basically regular companies can profit from people watching porn. Good times for all I guess.

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The Onion just never gets old...
Iraq Adopts Terror Alert System