Death From Above 1979 - Going SteadyAlbum: You're a Woman, I'm a Machine [2004]
death from above 1979 makes their considerable racket with only bass and drums. this isn't a gimmick - between sebastien grainger's frantic wail and the overdriven bass riffs of jesse f. keeler, the duo's "you're a woman, i'm a machine" pulses with a steady, sweaty energy that's punctuated with arena-sized hooks. "blood on our hands" boils dance-punk nearly all the way down, leaving only a relentless hi-hat cymbal, while "turn it out" and "cold war" churn on double-time rhythms and rudimentary, yet completely effective bass runs. the duo's setup certainly limits their range, which means the album can occasionally resemble one long song. but at just over a half-hour, it's over before any questions about the lack of guitars can even start to form. there are hyper indie rock flare-ups ("going steady") along with amplified crosses of new wave ("sexy results"). in the 2000s, dance-oriented energy kept creeping regularly into rock & roll, and on this album, the band makes people move by exposing the live-wire tension rock music had all along.
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