Wednesday 14 April 2010

Fugazi 'Red Medicine' (1995)


The most eclectic and unconventional sounds of the post-hardcore variety. Words seem pointless here, plus I ain't got the brain for many.
Luminary of the great Washington D.C. scene Ian MacKaye leads us throo noise rock, Beefheartized punk, downbeat instrumentals, a distant reggae flavour (scratchy guitar lines, 'Ring The Alarm' reference on track 7?) and some of the best dual guitar work you'll hear this side of... Slint or Sonic Youth, I suppose. Former members of Rites of Spring (who also featured in this D.C. 'supergroup') see to that, and Picciotto's vocal earnestness counters MacKaye's classic pubescent punk growl perfectly. Almost in-credibly good. The wheels were removed at some point and these guys just decided to clear their own way, off the beaten path. Even the faintest animal tracks seem to have been eschewed in favour of... this ... Checkit out. Gotta love dem righteous Fugazi/Dischord business/performance ethics too! And to think we were mired in Britpop.

As a bloke on the Boobtubes comments: ''Genres are for fucing books. This is music.''