Death From Above 1979 is a now defunct Canadian bass & drums dance-punk/rock duo that released a brilliant EP, an amazing album and a stinking turd of a remix album in the early-mid 2000's.
Jesse F. Keeler and Sebastien Grainger managed to take bass, synth and drums and create a sound that was part Queens of the Stone Age robot sleaze rock, part overblown fuzz ala Lightning Bolt and wrap it with cotton candy vocals and punk aesthetics. The result was an astounding live show and one of the best albums of the decade, 'You're A Woman I'm A Machine'.
Although they reportedly met at a Sonic Youth concert, Keeler and Grainger sometimes jokingly claimed to have met in prison, on a pirate ship, or in a gay bar, leading many journalists and fans to believe these to be hoaxes.
The band originally began its life titled 'Death From Above' only to run into troubles after Death From Above Records (aka DFA) demanded the band change its name. The duo responded by tacking on the legal minimum of numbers to their moniker and posting to their former web site: "FUCK DFA RECORDS FUCK JAMES MURPHY WE DECLARE JIHAD ON THEM HOLY WAR ENDING IN THIER DEATH AND DISMEMBERMENT... james murphy is a selfish piece of fuck that will burn in the flames of a specially dedicated rock and roll jihad. if i had the resources i would fly a plane into his skull."
The duo enjoyed unexpected success, touring the world on the back of EP 'Heads Up' and 'You're A Woman I'm A Machine'. Taking them from their first show in a Long Island basement for 12 people to their last, a 12,000 strong crowd at Calgary Saddledome.
On 4 August 2006 Keeler, via the band's official website, announced the duo's split citing that,
"Sebastien and I had grown apart to such an extent that the only real time we spoke was just before we would play and during interviews. We both changed so much that the people we were by the end of it, probably wouldn't have been friends if they were to meet for the first time again"
Grainger has since gone on to form his own band whilst becoming a sometimes member of Broken Social Scene. Keeler has taken his music in another direction, becoming one half of dance duo MSTRKRFT.
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