March 27, 2009, 8pm
The Summit
2210 Summit St.
(614) 268-9377
$8 in advance / $10 at door
Ages 18+, under 21 pays $2 surcharge at door
The Death Set
http://www.thedeathset.com/
Though Beau Velasco and Johnny Siera were both aware of one another growing up in Gold Coast, Australia’s relatively small music scene, it wasn’t until Siera saw Velasco playing his guitar and thrashing about in the local band Black Panda that he knew he wanted to be friends. But it was Velasco, in fact, who asked Siera to join Black Panda on guitar, and when the other members dropped out because of other commitments, the two decided to continue on as a duo. After touring on Australia’s East Coast with the similarly minded Brooklyn duo Japanther, the two were inspired to move to Sydney, where they worked on writing and recording their own music, which consisted of their guitars, keyboards, and tinny laptop beats, the vocals sung through microphones Velasco had rigged up. Calling themselves the Death Set, they eventually decided they should move to the U.S., and after a brief stint in Brooklyn, settled on the city of Baltimore. Their self-released debut EP, To (the majority of which was written in Sydney), caught the ear of Morphius Records, which reissued it in 2006. The following year Rad Warehouses Bad Neighborhoods came out, and in the spring of 2008 the Death Set, which at this point consisted of Siera and guitarist/vocalist Peter O’Connell with the help of a rotating cast of drummers, issued Worldwide (which Velasco did appear on) on Ninjatune’s rock imprint, Counter Records. - ©1992-2008 All Media Guide, LLC
Team Robespierre
http://www.myspace.com/teamrobespierre
Dance-rock and socio-political messages have been strange bedfellows since Gang of Four’s early 1980s heyday, and with Team Robespierre’s “Billz,” a tune of their just released EP Bad Habit, the unrest continues as the Brooklyn-based quintet offer a logical extension of Andy Gill’s capitalist-baiting tendencies. Team Robespierre lift a page out of the Four’s playbook by chanting in unison, “There are things that I want / These are things that we need,” before finally admitting, “Good times cost too much.” The jarring shouts of “Who needs money?” that end the track might motivate you to start a riot; however, the 8-bit synths and steady drum work will keep your body on the dance floor. - Pitchfork
Ninjasonik
http://www.rev-mcfly.blogspot.com/
Brooklyn-based duo Ninjasonik, comprised of Reverend McFly and DJ Teenwolf, established itself in fall 2007 with “Tight Pants,” a song that generated an impressive amount of blogosphere buzz as an MP3 and YouTube video. Remixes of the song, along with other similarly styled songs such as “Internet Bitch,” followed, as did a series of downloadable DJ mixes. In terms of style, Ninjasonik falls somewhere between indie dance and irreverent rap, comparable to other fashionable indie electronic/rap acts like Spank Rock, Uffie, and the KnuX. The duo also established itself as a performance act, hosting dance parties at the Knitting Factory and South by Southwest, among other venues. - ©1992-2008 All Media Guide, LLC