Band : The Death Set

Album title : Worldwide

Label : Counter Records/ Ninja Tunes

Distributor : PIAS

Release date : 07/04/2008

Release : CD (and double 12" EP)

The Death Set is a rag-tage assembly of people hailing from Gold Coast, Sydney (Australia), Baltimore, and Brooklyn, who found each other in Baltimore at the beginning of 2005. With common musical interests in a humoresque and catchy Electro Pop Punk which has resemblances to Devo , Monokiri , Cabaret Voltaire , The Scissor Girls , The Ramones , The Scandals , and even B52's , the lads (song writer/ guitarist/ singer/ producer/ more Johnny Sierra , guitarist/ singer Peter O'Connell , song writer Beau Velasco , and drummers Japhet Landis and Joey Suldowski ) immediately set to recording their own debut EP To , which quickly sold out but was equally swiftly picked up by US label Morphius .

Halfway 2005 the band did their live debut, and since then they've played hundreds of shows which have not only taken them throughout North America but also to Australia, the UK, Germany, Holland, France, the Czech Republic, and Austria. The list of band with whom they shared vans and/or stages is simply too long to mention here, but I insist on mentioning at least Suicide and Meat Puppets (because the first is an electronical band, the second a develishly humoristic one in the, ehrm...Post-Punk Rock genre). Before the ending of their first year, the guys managed to get a split 7-inch out (on the The Arm imprint) with Best Fwends (another act they played/ toured with). Not surprisingly, interest picked up from abroad, and 2006's self-titled 7-inch was issued by British label Modular . 2007's double 12-inch EP Limitations Can Make You Creative was even released simultaneously by the Japanese Every Communication and Canadian We Are Busy Bodies labels. Also in 2007 Modular released the Rad Warehouses Bad Neighborhood EP.

In the UK, the frenzy about the band was noted by quality label Ninja Tunes , who contracted the band for an album on their Counter Records subsidiary. The resulting full-length I'm now listenening to for the second time since sitting down to start up this review (takes sóme time to sift through the info to see what's necessary, but in truth the 18 tracks only last a grand total of just under 26 delectable minutes!) displays a manic but enticing Elektro Punk Pop with the weirdest vocal signatures. I mean, in about half of the songs you'll swear on your honor that the vocals cannot be brought but by a set of frantically screaming females...but as it turns out the guys produce that (helium-induced?) craziness themselves. Check it out for yourselves by surfing to myspace.com/thedeathset, where you'll find 4 mp3 sound-files and two videos posted.

When it comes down to rating the album, I have to admit being somewhat positively prejudiced in favour of TDS , as I DO happen to love this kind of frantic silliness. I'll admit to the fact that, as mentioned in a review I recently read (hum, in said review the "journalist" compared it to the volatility of the stain remover he used to occasionally sniff at parties while in his youth – well, dear friends, in MY youth, I did nót use toxic substances which cause brain damage!), this band's music may sound fleeting to some people...but then for those among us who're actually into this kind of music, such a statement would be like cursing! So...if you don't like, abstain from making (negative) comments, and leave more open-minded people the joy of being entertained by this wonderous album! Well, there you went and got me all rattled up! I wasn't planning to do this when I first listened to the album, but even after now numerous sessons I still can't get enough of it...so there it goes into the "Best Albums Of 2008"-list!!! Oh yeah, there's to be the 7-inch MFDS single to back up the European/ UK tour that's coming up. Also released by Ninja Tunes , that would be a limited afair, available through the label's store only...I think (because the infomant wasn't certain either).

98/100

Tony.