The Death Set Albums (2)
What The Critics Say
Back in the late '70s, the Dickies set the punk scene ablaze with their zippy music and destructo-covers of pop/rock icons. The Death Set speed along in their footsteps, scathing through punk/post-punk much like the Dickies cleaved through the '60s. Their debut full-length album, Worldwide, gives a shot of amphetamines to the blank generation, and although the group don't actually cover anything from that era, they don't have time to, they're too busy stomping deliriously over the grave with their own songs. All 18 of them, packed into a set that runs less than 30 minutes. In short order they steamroll over synth pop and its more experimental brethren, demolish the first generation U.K. punk bands and many of their off-spring, take an axe to art-punk, lay waste to the new wave, and ravish the New Romantics. The tracks fly by so fast it's almost impossible to keep up. But that's the fun of this set, for the energy never flags and the joie de vivre never slackens. "Intermission" is obviously Death Set's theme song, a frenetic mix of shout-along vocals and sweeping New Romantic synths. But that's just one of the dozen or so anthems within, others include the digitized delight of "Around the World," the hip-hoppy "Impossible," the hardcore slam of "Day in the Wife," the blistering pop of "Moving Forward," and the punky punch of "Heard It All Before." You'll find your own favorites soon enough for amazingly, considering the inexorable tempo, there's nothing slap or dash about this set, which is as tightly wound as a watch spring. ~ Jo-Ann Greene, All Music Guide
'Rad Warehouses Bad Neighborhoods'
Release Date 6/19/2007
Tracks 13
Label Morphius
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
In and out in just under 16 minutes -- and nearly a third of that is devoted to a pair of extended remixes of two of the album's strongest songs -- Rad Warehouses Bad Neighborhoods is minimalist, punky new wave revivalism cut to the bone. Like Suicide with slightly better equipment and a more sure sense of pitch, or the Go! Team in a much crankier mood, this Australian duo are all about the creation of unnerving atmospheres: even the most pop-oriented tunes here, like the perky cheer leading chant "Distressed by Late Night Television," have an unsettling, needly edge. Some of the 12 songs aren't even long enough to do much more than that, but a couple of listens reveal some clever, catchy hooks half-buried amid the buzzing synths, hectoring vocals and malfunctioning rhythm boxes. Perhaps not for the faint of heart, there's a smart sense of structure underpinning these songs that at first seems almost random and improvised. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
