The mini-amp buzzes like a swarm of angry hornets when Jesse Newman plugs in his bass guitar. It’s a foretaste of what is going to come when New York based five-piece band O’Death let their instruments off the leash. Jesse takes his shirt off, not caring whether he plays in a sweaty club or in front of a sausage stand on a calm Monday afternoon. O’Death are performers. Even if they play almost unplugged their bodies shake agitated, legs and arms are quivering and the beat stomps like a steam train. It is controlled chaos kept together by Greg Jamie’s characteristic voice and the simple, ear-catching melodies he sings. O’Death songs connect southern-state-dust with punkish anger and the instrumental virtuosity of traditional Balkan music. This attracts not only concert-goers and consumers of their fittingly titled 2008 record “Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skins” but also passing-by seniors and cyclists who take a break in their promenades or tours to watch the energetic O’Death performance on the bank of the Donaukanal.

myspace.com/odeath