andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

How many people does it take to shut down a New York City block and cause a riot? Two, provided they are armed with a synthesizer, drum machine and a discography under the guise of Mstrkrft.

It’s true, Toronto’s electro-house darlings were slated to play a club in NYC two weeks ago and oversold the venue so much that more than 2,000 hipsters were stuck in line outside. But the hype surrounding the DJ duo drove the mob into frenzy, inciting a riot that was eventually quelled by the NYPD itself.

“It was a pretty proud moment that we double-sold the club and had a street in New York City closed down, even if just for a few hours,” Jesse Keeler, one half of Mstrkrft, tells andPOP. “The fact that that’s happening … that takes a long time to build.”

Mstrkrft was born in Toronto in 2005, storming clubs and parties with their take on the burgeoning electro-house trend. After dominating the GTA scene, the duo made up of Keeler and Alex Puodziukas (otherwise known as Al-P) stepped up their game.

First came the singles “Easy Love” and “Work on You” before an official LP, “The Looks,” debuted in July 2006. Then came the tours: Canada, North America, the world.

READ MORE »

Death From Above 1979, one of Canada’s best musical exports in recent years, has broken up. The news was broken on Friday morning by bassist Jesse F. Keeler on DFA’s website and MySpace page.

“We decided to stop doing the band…actually we decided that almost a year ago,” wrote Keeler, explaining that the duo kept playing shows so that workers involved with their tour commitments wouldn’t be left jobless.

He also explained that the band kept quiet about their planned break-up at the request of their record label. The company had hoped that the time needed to finish DFA’s scheduled tour dates would be enough to head off the split.

However, the situation had been building for quite some time — and was more serious than many fans realized.

“Over the last 3 years of touring, (drummer and vocalist) Sebastien (Grainger) and I had grown apart to such an extent that the only real time we spoke was just before we would play and during interviews,” he revealed. “It’s not sad. It would be more sad if we stopped changing and growing and kept playing the same songs for 40 years like the Rolling Stones. For me that would be a nightmare.”

Keeler also noted that in terms of his career in music, the timing was perfect for the band to dissolve.

“A few weeks ago, ['You're a Woman, I'm a Machine'] finally went Gold in Canada and that was the final mark I really wanted to reach,” he said. “It was my goal to see how big we could become without ever compromising or changing what we did right from the start.”

Sadly, there has been no comment from Grainger.