Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine

Oh how the hipsters wet their pants over this one. I remember when You're a Woman, I'm a Machine came out, I had just moved to Halifax and all the trendy folk seemed to really dig it. They said it was one of the greatest Canadian records in years. It was metal and it was punk but you can dance to it and it justmakesyouwannafreakout!and party! I heard so much about this record that I avoided listening to it for 2 years. DFA1979 came, they conquered, and they even played in my city, and a few months after they broke up I finally decided to give their album a chance, the hoopla was over and I could get an actual sense of the music rather than the hype.

That's the problem with hipster hype, you can't trust it. Sometimes they are bang on (Bloc Party, Arcade Fire, MIA) and sometimes it's like they don't even have ears (Fleet Foxes, Pavement, The Decemberists). You have to let everything go away to really get to the core of a record. So I ignored the commercials, the videos and the Conan performance. I had nearly forgotten about Death From Above 1979 until I saw it on my roommates CD rack and decided to finally give it a shot.

Those pesky hipsters were right.

When you put out an album like this one, that's it, you're done. You completed the Rock and Roll level of life, congratulations, now move on. Try curing cancer, or maybe stock broking, just not rock and roll. I like to think DFAq979 broke up because they knew this, they knew they had done something special and would just be chasing it for the rest of their careers. In reality they broke up because they bickered more than a married couple, but that's besides the point.

After their breakup, Jesse Keeler did the right thing and stopped playing instruments, he is now 1/2 of a super successful electronic music act (MSTRKRFT). He did the right thing, he stopped making rock and roll, and tried his hand at something different. Drummer Sebastien Grainger however, felt that what the world needed from him was another plain ol' rock band. Current projects aside, Grainger was still 1/2 of an awesome band and 2/3rds of what is so awesome about it (drums and vocals), so I have to give him 'spect.

Grainger plays drums like he is in a fight with them. I always picture him with this terrified look on his face smashing away at the kit like its trying to eat him. His kick drum foot is mega fast and he throws a lot of double hits on it, keeping the momentum going. Songs like Black History Month have him playing with a little more groove, but with the same power as other songs. Sometimes he just flat out beats the hell out of them, like on the opening track, Turn it Out. It would take an impressive amount of energy and endurance to play these songs live, and the fact that Grainger sings lead as well makes it twice as difficult.

Tight pants and funny mustaches aside, sometimes the hipsters know gold when they hear it. Grainger is an important part of Canadian music because of this album. It is impossible to follow this up with anything better.

I just wish he would have realized it.

Audio/Video Evidence: You're a Woman I'm a Machine, Romantic Rights, Little Girl