Deus Ex Machina Magnifica, or: Why Do They Have Trunks, or: But Seriously, What’s with the Elephant Trunks
As you all have no doubt noticed by now, I have a thing for Nine Inch Nails, and also, apparently, for bands I have seen open for Nine Inch Nails on tour. This month’s look back will be no exception. I saw Death From Above 1979 open for Queens of the Stone Age, opening for Nine Inch Nails (what a bill!) back in 2005, one year after this album came out and was immediately obsessed. How could two people possibly make so much noise? Sure, in a studio it was possible, but on stage? They kicked huge amounts of butt, and continue to do so to this day. If loud, hard, dance rocking is the cure for your fever, then this is a concentrated double-dose.
You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine
Death From Above 1979
Dance-Punk | 2004
As noted in the fantastic video essay by Middle 8, punk and post-punk move through ebbs and flows of popularity and sound, beginning in the 70’s with the emergence of the original punk, which then saw its reinvention as post-punk. Later, in the 80’s punk reemerged with a faster, gnarlier sound, which then seeped its way into grunge (yes, grunge is post-punk, and punk…and a reaction to glam-y hair metal, but that’s a different tangent for a different day). In the 2000’s we finally saw the emergence of what we know as dance-punk, and the combination of emo, pop punk, and disco revival that was most exemplified by LCD Soundsystem, with their first single, 2002’s “Losing My Edge,” and continued through the sort of British-ish re-invasion of garage-ish-post-punky-dance-punk of Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and New Young Pony Club.
But none of them would compare to the loudness and the speed of Death From Above 1979. From the release of their EP Heads Up in 2002, just months after that first LCD Soundsystem single, DFA1979 were changing the scene with the crunch and ferocity of Lightning Bolt mixed with the funkier post-punk stylings of Gang of Four. Take the mixture and blast it through a hyper-compressed, overcranked speaker system, and you’ve got You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine.
Turn It Out
Our 35-minute workout of pure energy begins with an ominous piano played over a tinny built-in speaker before utterly exploding with the effects-driven, sub woofer rattling bass of Jesse F. Keeler. The strange squalling interrupted only by a massive, deep rumble of his trademark chord-centric playing style. Sebastien Grainger’s combination hardcore and four-on-the-floor drumming sets a relentless pace before he delivers some of his most livid, blistering vocals. They don’t really…mean anything, as far as I can tell, but they sure feel powerful. So much headbanging.
Romantic Rights
“Romantic Rights” was the song that everyone who knew this album listened to and played for other people. Here we hear the introduction of that dancey, punky groove. The song cracks open with Keeler’s squelching, metallic bass effects before settling into a funk-disco line run through 10,000 amps and distortion pedals. When I first saw this live, that intro was about 3-minutes long as each piece of Grainger’s drum kit built on top before finally creating the dance floor hit rock didn’t know it needed. The lyrics are…problematic, as are several on the album, a discussion of which is ↓ down that-a-ways ↓, which is to say that an enjoyable listen may require some “just don’t think about it”s. It’s still an all-time classic track though.
Going Steady
Powerful teenage schmaltz mixes with cranked bass on the first proper album single. One of the loudest songs on the album, “Going Steady,” in one of the more wholesome bits of the record, tells the story of a first date from the point of view of the teen’s parents: “She’s going steady / But we’re not ready / To see her fall in love.” The combination bridge/outro sees Keeler use an array of effect pedals to create a synth-esque sound from his bass, while Grainger slowly builds the beat back up, as the closing lines repeat, to a full hardcore freakout. A strange jam reveals itself in the ether of the destroyed studio, leading us into…
Go Home, Get Down
One of the oddest bass lines I’ve heard starts immediately to kick off an equally odd breakup song. Or, is it a love song? It’s really more of an exasperated but dedicated relationship, with Grainger frustrated that his partner is still guarded and untrusting of his fidelity: “Don’t tell me you don’t know / I’ll come back if I go.” Keeler’s playing is frenetic and erratic, with his bass settling into a kind of Doppler effect through the bridge. It’s incredibly unhinged and I am here for it.
Blood on Our Hands
Another of the pre-album singles, “Blood on Our Hands” is a great breakup song, likening the ending of a relationship to being complicit in government-sponsored violence. It also includes some of Grainger’s most emotive vocal deliveries, particularly at the end of the first verse: “There is blood on all the shoes you’ve worn / From the people you were stepping on / There is blood in all the things you say / I won’t hate you if you go away.” His drumming keeps a tight, marching disco beat while Keeler’s bass is as times a massive wall of rumbling noise, and at others a groove machine. It’s one of the best songs the duo have recorded.
Black History Month
Jumping straight from the weird little synth ditty that ends the previous song, “Black History Month” nearly jump scares its way into your ears, especially with the monstrously huge bass line that opens the track. The song is at first listen about the death of childhood in the face family dissolution, but on further listens is kind of just…set up to sound that way, and in actuality is (brilliantly, in my opinion) a stream-of-consciousness list of things that exist only in the flashing memories we have as we’re falling asleep. As a fun fact: the song gets its name from being written and recorded in February, and the name “Black History Month” is, obviously, a catchier name than “February.”
Little Girl
The second longest song on the album at a whopping four minutes, “Little Girl” has some of the grooviest, danciest bass playing you will ever hear. Grainger’s punk-disco mix of drums rises to meet his vocals which, despite the appearance of being as problematic as “Romantic Rights” up there, is actually about how excited he was to become an uncle: “My brother has a lady / And one day she will have a baby / … / When can I see you? / Can I know you? / Can I hold you?” It’s a rather cute little song wrapped in a kick-ass drum-and-bass set-up that will rock your world.
Cold War
On one of the fastest, most hardcore-inspired songs the album, Keeler plays his bass as fast as he possibly can, while Grainger slams every drum like a caveman wielding clubs. The metaphor of breakup as crime returns, and Grainger’s delivery of the final chorus is a chef’s kiss of a transition to the outro that fades as Keeler’s bass switches up the pattern and song becomes a bizarre combination of reggae beats and jazz fusion.
You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine
Another speedy wind-up kicks off the title track, with Keeler’s bass at its maximum volume, and Grainger’s drums are back to smashing everything in sight. The shortest mainline on the album is then quickly discarded for an extended outro that slows the tempo down for a bit of a jam between the two bandmates that includes everyone’s favorite: cowbell.
Pull Out
The shortest and arguably most aggressive song on the album is a mosh pit staple revived from the cutting room floor of the Heads Up sessions. The speed, the volume, the noise, they all perfectly complement Grainger’s manic and demented vocal delivery, making it a fan favorite. And all that noise still doesn’t sacrifice the groove behind it all, highlighting the genius of DFA1979 in their ability to so effortlessly combine what should be such disparate genres.
Sexy Results
The final, and longest, track is also the most obviously concerned with the dance floor. Keeler’s bass acts a second drum kit to Grainger’s disco beat accentuated by congas and tambourines. It’s also his most straightforward, least over-the-top vocal delivery, though it is often to deliver Mad Men-style platitudes that would never fly in the real world. The chorus sees a super-fast bass with expanded range and the addition of some choice synths and claps. The resulting get-down slowly fades, leaving a lasting image of sweaty masses dancing on backlit floors. What a ride.
Before we begin placing our laurel wreathes, we need to have an uncomfortable conversation about journalism, consumerism, and authorial intent…
Many, MANY outlets, both contemporary to the album’s release and retrospectives have described it as “sexy.” To me, this is, at best, a pandering, surface-level engagement of the work, and at worst, a tacit approval of the lyrical content on a literal level, which, for the record, is sexual, but most decidedly not sexy.
What is contained in several of the songs are tales of sexual and sex-adjacent actions, many of which are (and remember, this is in the lyrical content) coerced or of dubious consent. Dog whistle terms like “you know what you want” and “you don’t know what you like” are littered throughout the album with no mention or even allusion to a response stating that, yes indeed they did want to.
In the many interviews with bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer/singer Sebastien Grainger that I read and watched while writing this rewind, I never discovered anything that would imply that these lyrics were factual, or even honest. In reality, the opposite appears to be the case, that much of this album’s (and the earlier EP’s) lyrical content was written with a naïve sense of “but the songs by our influences had this same approach” or “but this is what people expect this music to sound like,” or “we’re just being provocative.” Is that a cynical response? Yes. Is taking this content and telling millions of readers and listeners that it’s “sexy” a terrible and irresponsible use of journalistic integrity? Also yes.
In the years since, including a ten-year hiatus and three more albums, DFA1979 have since changed their approach, writing songs and lyrics with more subtlety and with a greater focus on social issues and life events that produces more inclusion while greatly reducing the…ick.
None of this is to say we should all stop listening to You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine; it is a product of its time, and I doubt you’ll find many examples of songs from the mid-2000’s that were big rock hits that don’t lean on some sort of relationship power imbalance, creepy parasocial behavior, or outdated views on the trans community (looking at you, The Killers). In fact, the opposite is true: with these elements exposed for what they are, we can focus on these works with a more objective lens, with the veil of nostalgia removed.
All of that is to say, I still love this album. I play it incredibly often, incredibly loud, because musically I engage with it. It’s difficult not to. The loud, distorted bass, the emotive sing-screaming, the glorious beats. I don’t agree with the messaging, but music is always more than one thing. DFA1979 wrote an album in 2004 that makes use of outdated and problematic lyrical clichés, but that album and their future releases also include some of the greatest rock tunes of their respective eras. Both things are true. Muddy Waters did it, Led Zeppelin did it, Queens of the Stone Age did it. It’s a thing we just have to reckon with as rock fans.
The majority of songs here evade or just plain don’t use those conventions, which is not to excuse or dismiss the problems with the ones that do, but merely to say that it is a small part of a larger work that, on the whole, I adore. Some of that adoration is because of who and where I was in life when I discovered it for the first time, and some of it is for the technical musical genius on display. You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine is a perfectly performed, perfectly produced album that has since been recognized as a pinnacle of the dance-punk genre after going basically unnoticed during its original release. Blistering, dissonant, hedonistic, and accessible, it’s flawed and brilliant, a classic combination.
Oh, and as a note, no, I still don’t know why they have elephant trunks.
