May 11, Saturday Death Set, Abstract Artimus, and Team Robespierre played at Don Pedro’s, the new Todd P. hang-out in New York. Todd P. is THE off-rock online portal for New York onder which banner concerts are promoted in the off-rock underground and whose concerts I regularly visit. Those Todd P. concerts are often a hit-or-miss with a bohemian Brooklynite artsy following, which gives the shows a certain cachat of their own. The concerts shift from location to location, but lately often take place at Don Pedro’s.

Don Pedro’s looks mostly like a local Ecuadorian society that for the occasion functions as an off-rock hang-out with a decadent pretention to look like a low-budget nightclub, and the lack of design brings an authentic charm. The ceiling consists of triplex cassettes with in each corner the logo of a Spanish language soccer club, of which I only think to recognize the logo of Barcelona. Behind the bar three hot girls with sexy outfits poor drinks, a unique feat for a grungy concert hall, and they were likely selected personally by the Hispanic owner, who I guess is the fairly small, fitted in a green ‘gangsta’ shirt and cap Latino who cheerfully walks around and has a smile and a few words for everyone. The only real decoration of the bar are the two huge flat-screen televisions that are located behind the bar and the back of the hall, playing classic movies from the fifties.

The in origin Australian duo Death Set is based in Baltimore nowadays and plays a kind of electro-grunge: simple melodies with fast rhythm guitar and an electro sample on the background. But despite one of the simplest setups you can think of, they succeed to bring the small crowd of which half shares the stage with the group, in motion right from the start, creating the sensation you are in the middle of a Smells Like Teenspirit video clip. The fragile but agile duo has one of those natural stage charms that makes you think of David Yow. Naturally, the two don’t have teh same musical genius of the Jesus Lizard, but they do share the no-star allure of Nirvana. Besides, their songs are infective and their live sound is overwhelming. You can never predict exactly when a certain band or style is ready to be hyped, but electro is hot and most other electro bands are as boring as the campus life of the people who play in them. But if time is ever ripe for it, than Death Set has the potency to set a crowd into motion.

Negative thinking - Death Set

A band that will never generate a broad following Abstract Artimus from Mobile, Alabama. Mobile, Alabama lies in hurricane territory in the US and perhaps that’s the best epiteth to summarize Abstract Artimus. The duo who reside in Brooklyn raps in an unreluctant stream of verbal abuse on an electro hardcore sample. Stand-up rap, a combination of comedy and savvy stage presence are their core elements that entertain nevertheless. Electro rap is a giant kick to attend, but too undosed to ever grow above themselves. Nevertheless, you can easily extract the talent of Abstract Artimus and perhaps it’s a pity that that talent only expresses itself on the apparent and acted influence of a deject life of crack-cocaine, sexual abuse and alcoholism, but to be god-honest truthful, Abstract Artemis is very entertaining.

young and wet @ don pedro’s- brooklyn

Team Robespierre on the other hand doesn’t hurt to listen to on their recordings, but obviously lacks all the originality and talent of both Death Set and Abstract Artimus. The quintet excells in almost that is emphasized by a lack of stage charisma. The only ingredient for succesful electro-punk that jumps out positively is the vocal interaction, which is on-cue and the counter-vocals, emphasis, tonal differences etcetera, but then it still does not compare to what a band like Blood Brothers or Help She Can’t Swim accomplishes.

Links:
Todd P.
Don Pedro
Don Pedro’s @myspace
Death Set @myspace
Death Set
Abstract Artemus @myspace
Team Robespierre @myspace
Team Robespierre @youtube