LondonNet Gig Review

Death From Above 1979

Infinity
Tuesday, February 8

The moustachioed lads of Death From Above 1979 are about to blow up. With hordes of college DJs salivating over their lustful dance-cum-rock 'n' roll maelstrom, and drummer Sebastien Grainger having recently taken up with Kelly Osbourne (of arguable relevance, but it probably won't hurt), the group is on the cusp of stardom - which is what made their short set at White Heat on Tuesday that much sweeter.

Grainger and bassist Jesse Keeler formed DFA 1979 after splitting from Toronto hardcore band Femme Fatale, originally with the intention of forming a double-bass band. Grainger took up a drum set instead, and their Jesus Lizard-on-ecstasy sound was born. Although they've certainly pumped up the danceable factor since the release of the heavier Heads Up EP in 2002, they still can't be relegated to skinny-tie limbo in the diehard school of 80s revivalists.

Accordingly, their brief and immaculately tight one a.m. set at White Heat was packed. After navigating their gear through a crowd dancing to the spinning of regular DJs, they took stage and immediately churned out the crowd-pleasing Romantic Rights, a song that pulsated with brimming libido while, ironically, Grainger sang about wanting to raise children, a curiously recurrent theme in the band's songs. Pull Out, a song that Grainger unceremoniously announced was about sex and nothing else, followed. Like their music, DFA 1979's stage antics are compact, hard and fast - Grainger and Keeler are both intense but contained, assaulting their instruments calculatedly with a minimum of small talk. Little Girl from their new album followed, with Grainger howling orgasmically over Keeler's loping bass line.

They seem to have purged their set of the volatile interludes that made their first EP so explosively appealing. Although the band's post-hippie communal love vibe can be a bit grating (see Losing Friends and their fawning message board) and incongruous with their musical thrashings, they take a thankfully methodical approach to shows, and had the throng before the stage at Infinity gyrating happily with a set that ended as abruptly as it began.

Ashley Brown

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