MSTRKRFT are the Daft Punk-loving alter ego of Death from Above 1979's
Jesse F. Keeler along with producer Al-P. Hailing from Toronto, the duo makes
a move from DFA 1979's abrasive rock to robotic electronic complete with vocoders and handclaps. In addition to releasing two singles ("Easy Love" and "Work on You") and an LP in July 2006 on Last Gang Records. For their second album, 2009's Fist of God, the duo jumped to Dim Mak/Downtown and scored guest appearances from Ghostface Killah, N.O.R.E., John Legend, and E-40. Kenyon Hopkin.

At first, however, the rappers needed a little convincing to work with these Canadian club dudes in suspiciously tight jeans. “E-40’s son [the pioneering hyphy producer Droop-E] is a fan of ours,” Jesse says. “Droop told him, ‘You should do this, Dad.’” The Bay Area mic legend came around, when he heard MSTRKRFT’s powerful beats: as E-40 spits on “Click Click”, “How many rappers you know can get on an up tempo 120, man, and still gas it?”

According to Jesse, Fist of God’s curveball nature was a natural progression: MSTRKRFT had no interest in exploring the trendy electro or New Wave nostalgia so prevalent on today’s dancefloors. “We wanted to get more of the raw Chicago-Detroit vibe in our music. That whole era of rap, hip-house and dance music resonates emotionally for me—it’s my youth. It was pre-computer music, and much more emotional; the more modern intricacies and nerdiness distract from getting emotion across.” Jesse says.

MSTRKRFT have never in fact played by the fickle genre rules of the club scene—they’ve toured with everyone from John Digweed to Z-Trip, and remixed everyone from Wolfmother and Metric to Armand Van Helden and Usher—and they’re not about to start. As such, Fist Of God creates a new lane, per standard practice. “MSTRKRFT isn’t defined by form, but by substance,” Jesse concludes. “Neither of us pay attention to what’s going on in music: our goal is to have our own scene, like Sonic Youth. They do whatever the fuck they want, detached from whatever trend is happening, and people respect that. We spit in face of purists all the time. Our next record, we’re going to do something completely different, so you’ll have to rethink us again. So go fuck yourself—we just like music.”