At this point the carefree excess and hedonistic gluttony of the early- to mid- 2000s exists solely as a damn fever dream. We were unbothered by life, untethered to technology, and free to do crazy shit, like mix Red Bull and vodka and take selfies from angles the Empire State Building could only dream of. It was a simpler time, and it was a sweatier time, as when bands like Death From Above 1979 would roll into shadowy joints like T.T. The Bear’s Place (sup, ’04), we’d all lose our collective shit before heading to the indie dance night afterparty to recalibrate our sinuses and forget the name of who we’re shagging.
But times change and our era of techno-slavery has forced us to dance only while standing still. And yet, never have our limbs gone so rogue as when being possessed by DFA’s new single, a kinetic release of rock and roll tension called “Private Lives.”
This noisy skeleton n’ muscle banger is the title track to the Canadian dance-punk duo’s new album out in January, and it absolutely fucks. It’d be flying off the shelves of Other Music or that other dope shop where the employees hated you, if only we still had nice things.
Instead, we got 2026. And DFA see it right through the screen.
“The song ‘Private Lives’ is a declaration of privacy in an era of overexposure,” says Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler. “We are compelled, often by one another, to share our most intimate moments and quietest thoughts. To what end? More often than not, to be part of a cheap consumer feedback loop. Ultimately though, it’s just a ripping rock song with maniacal riffs! Our new 10-song LP, Private Lives, represents a renewed commitment to the pure industrial magic of electricity. We’ve never been able to do anything halfway. Much like Kim Bodnia’s dance performance in the video for the lead single, it’s all or nothing for us.”
Good advice all the way through. See what Bodnia’s moving about in the Eva Michon-directed music video below, and throw it back to curse-reversing days when Death From Above 1979 play Brighton Music Hall in a changing Allston on March 3.