Death From Above 1979
Zilker Park, Sept. 18Opposites attract, of course, but coexistence thrives on a middle ground. Dressed in something approaching white long johns, hair bleached blond, Sebastien Grainger of reunited Toronto twopiece DFA1979 cut a stark contrast to partner Jesse Keeler, all in black with hair dyed to match. “Wind and rain kinda like a Garth Brooks video,” exclaimed the drummer surveying Zilker at dusk. “It’s kinda awesome.” That went double for the duo’s megaton boogie, a distressed tangle of progressive post-rock that gave up a sole LP in 2004, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, and was gone two years later. Disc opener “Turn It Out” promised the same hurricane of energy that last year’s Honda stage equivalent, Matt & Kim, delivered, but halfway through the set, after a sadistic beating on “Little Girl,” Grainger’s “mulligan” at the beginning of “Blood on Our Hands” didn’t prompt even a hint of amusement from bassist and sound manipulator Keeler. In fact, while the two musicians faced other the entire set, they interacted not at all. As killing as the scraping disco-funk of penultimate set staple “Romantic Rights” came off, and for as many hints of nuclear Nirvana in DFA, a steadily dwindling crowd proved the point: Chemistry’s no substitute for love lost.
This article appears in September 23 • 2011.
